A Curious Footnote
A curious footnote in the ESV:
Numbers 24:3 “The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,…”(1)
(1) “Or closed”
It seems to me that when the translator can’t narrow it down beyond “open or closed,” the footnote should be “we don’t know what it means.”
6 Responses
What at great catch!
That’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen in awhile.
I don’t think the editors intended that for humor, but it’s too late now. 🙂
[…] Joel Hoffman’s eagle eye spots a very odd translation and footnote. […]
Hahaha, that is just awesome! Yeah, we need more “uh… we’re clueless… continue reading” footnotes. 😀
[…] meanings without giving the reader any further guidance. (I have a particularly egregious example here.) I’m not sure how helpful these are, particularly as some lay readers may want to make do […]