Q&A: Is the Virgin Birth a Mistranslation?
Is the virgin birth a mistranslation, as a promo for the History Channel’s “Bible Secrets Revealed” suggests? Yes and no…
Q&A: Genesis 18:14 (and the right way to do Bible translation)
From the About page comes this question: I have a couple concerns in Gen 18:14. 1) “for the LORD” is prefixed with a mem which is what you see in Gen. 24:50 but is translated there as “from the LORD”; 2) Why is dabar translated as “anything.” This is an excellent example of why all…
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Q&A: What color is the “blue” of the Bible?
From the About page comes this interesting pair of questions: 1. Is it true that there was no blue in the Bible, and that the word “blue” in our modern versions is a mistranslation? and 2. How do we know what the Hebrew names of the colors represent? The first question was prompted by a…
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Q&A: On Sisters and Wives
From the About page comes this follow-up question from a presentation I recently gave: Thanks for your presentation for the ARC — You mentioned the use of achoti in Song of Songs meaning more than “my sister,” but better translated as “my equal.” How do you understand Abraham’s turning to Sarah and telling her to…
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Q&A: Why is Everything Vanity in Ecclesiastes?
From the About page comes this great question: This may be more of a philosophical/historical question than a linguistic one, but how would you render the word usually given as “vanity” in Ecclesiastes? Abstract nouns are notoriously difficult to track even within a language — “nobility” now is not what it was — but how…
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Q&A: The Original Baptism
From the About page comes a question about baptism, the essence of which is the observation that the words we now translate “baptize,” “baptism,” “[John the] Baptist,” etc. were actually ordinary words in Greek, like our “wash” in English. They were not technical religious terms like the English “baptize,” and the Greek words did not…
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Q&A: How Mistranslation Created Divorce in the Bible
From the About page comes this response to something I wrote in And God Said: On p. 155 of And God Said you claim that “there is no divorce in the Bible.” Yes. Two great questions follow. I’ll take them in reverse order: The Case of Two Husbands Also, you speculate that perhaps the Bible…
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Q&A: Who Are You(rselves)?
Anthony asks on the About page: I have a question about Heb 3:13. When it says “exhort yourselves,” is the Greek literally saying “you all exhort each other” or “you all exhort your own selves,” supporting Galatians 6:4? Would the expression in question be parakaleite eautous? Yes, that is the Greek, and it’s a great…
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How God Makes Peace
A question arrived via e-mail about the different Hebrew verbs that mean “create” or “make” and how they relate to “peace.” There are three Biblical Hebrew verbs that all mean roughly the same thing: asah, yatzar, and bara. Later Jewish thought would differentiate them, giving asah the most basic meaning (like “do” or “make” in…
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Here’s the Story of Toldot
From the about page comes a question about the Hebrew word toldot: I ran across Genesis 6:9 in the TNIV, which says “this is the account of Noah and his family.” Ive checked the KJV, NIV, NASB, ESV, Message, Luthers translation (1545), the Amplified Bible, the NLT, and the Leningrad Codex for good measure. Only…
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Ancient Wisdom, Modern Lives
Recent posts from my Ancient Wisdom, Modern Lives:
Interest Rates Old and New: How High is Too High? A short history of ancient interest rates, in light of a 10% cap on credit-card interest rates proposed in the US Senate by Bernie Sanders and Josh Hawley
Happy Year of the Snake Why is there a year for such a despicable animal as the snake? There might be a very good reason...
The Surprising Connection Between Hanukkah and Christmas Hanukkah and Christmas, which happen to coincide this year, happen to have a surprising shared history. Here it is.
Positivity Is Poisoning the Holidays (but It Doesn't Have To) Here is an antidote the poisonous pressure to be happy, especially during the holidays.
