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.”
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God Didn’t Say That (@GodDidntSayThat) is an online forum for discussing the Bible and its translations, mistranslations, interpretations, and misinterpretations.
Dr. Joel M. Hoffman is the chief translator for the ten-volume series My People’s Prayer Book, author of And God Said: How Translations Conceal the Bible’s Original Meaning, and editor of The Unabridged Bible. Writing under “J.M. Hoffman,” he is author of the thriller series The Warwick Files. He holds a PhD in theoretical linguistics and has taught at Brandeis University and HUC-JIR in New York City. He presents widely to churches, synagogues, and other groups. more…
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My thriller series: The Warwick Files.
"A police chief with a secretive past. A quiet New York City suburb. And, officially, no spies."Watch the trailer: 
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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. […]
Pingback by clayboy » Biblical Studies Carnival XLVIII | December 1, 2009
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 […]
Pingback by The Power of the Footnote « God Didn't Say That | December 22, 2009