Kate asks a fascinating question about translating the Bible into the language of an cannibalistic tribe in the Amazon that grammatically classifies non-tribe members as “edible”: Linguist/philosopher Steven Pinker and other researchers inform us that the language of one Amazonian tribe, the Wari, grammatically classifies nouns as either “edible objects” or “inedible objects” — with…
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…if so, Genesis 2 might not only allow homosexual marriage but, in fact, demand it.
According to the NRSV translation of Luke 1:41, Elizabeth’s “child leaped in her womb.” The Greek here for “womb” (koilia) means “belly” or “stomach.” It’s the same word used of the snake in Genesis, for instance, which is punished to walk on its belly. Because snakes don’t have wombs, contexts like this show us that…
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A New York Times article yesterday titled “Christians Debate Verses From Bible on Homosexuality” presents, among other things, two views of what Paul says about homosexuality in Romans 1:26-27. Unfortunately, both positions depend on translation inaccuracies. Romans 1:26-27 “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for…
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As I recently explained on my blog for “The Unabridged Bible” (“Why did they Build the Tower of Babel?“), the Tower of Babel was waterproofed, the goal being to protect the people against a future flood from God. The text even says so: “And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar” (Genesis 11:3,…
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Translators and poets, get ready! Now that I’ve submitted my second book manuscript to St. Martin’s Press, I’m looking forward to spending more time here. As part of my return, in the next little while I’m going to announce a project to translate Isaiah 54 collectively. Some of the most moving words ever penned, in…
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Was Haman hanged or impaled in the Book of Esther? And was the instrument of his death a gallows or a stake?
As I’ve said, I’m devoting most of my energy for the next little while to “The Unabridged Bible,” which will gradually start officially rolling out soon. In the meantime, readers here may enjoy my translations of the Dead Sea Scrolls on that site because of my copious translation notes, and because the passages frequently quote…
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Is the virgin birth a mistranslation, as a promo for the History Channel’s “Bible Secrets Revealed” suggests? Yes and no…
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