Eloi

Eloi is the Aramaic vocative for "my God," preserved in transliteration in Mark's account of the cry from the cross. The evangelist immediately renders it into Greek for his readers.

The Cry from the Cross

Mark places the words at the climactic moment of the crucifixion: "And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani? Which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mr 15:34). The narrator preserves the Aramaic syllables, doubles them in the address, and supplies a translation in the same verse. The interpretation given by Mark — "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" — picks up the opening line of Psalm 22, voiced by Jesus in his native tongue at the ninth hour.