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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Last month, Bill Mounce, C. Michael Patton, and Clayboy all alluded to the issue of etymology, which is surely one of the biggest translation traps (and important enough that I devote considerable attention to it in my And God Said). Etymology is really fun. Tracing a word’s winding history, seeing how meanings mutated, and learning…
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From the About page: Wikipedia, the source of all truth, says that Nabal in 1 Samuel 25:25 is “euphemistically translated as fool.” So far as I can tell, it’s always translated as fool or something similar. I can’t seem to find a dirty meaning for “nabal” anywhere. Is that because mainstream scholarship is too prudish…
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One of God’s very common names in the OT is spelled with the four Hebrew letters Y-H-W-H. Folk wisdom holds that the proper pronunciation of that four-letter word — technically called the tetragrammaton (“four letters” in Greek) — has been lost over the ages, so it had to be pronounced adonai in Hebrew; because the…
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A common argument runs along the lines of, “Paul believes X, so here in Paul’s writing we have to make our translation say X.” For example, in translating Galatians 5:6 (recently discussed here, here and by me here), some people try to figure out what Paul believed about circumcision, faith, and love not only to…
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A conversation started by J.R. Daniel Kirk at Stories Theology (picked up by BBB here), addresses two questions: What does energeo mean in Galatians 5:6, and have translators purposely mis-conveyed the relationship between faith and love? Let’s take a look at the verb first. Galatians 2:8 is as good a place as any to start.…
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These questions about Proverbs 29:1 come in via the About page: 1. Is it possible that this verse refers to, or alludes to, a broken neck (spinal column), with no possibility of mending (except, in modern times, T-cells)? 2. What is with the references to “reprover” and “fire” in the LXX? The verse is (NRSV):…
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Thanks to A. Admin for pointing out an interview with Dr. Benjamin Shaw. I do want to credit the interviewer for asking for input both from those who agree and who disagree with Dr. Shaw. But I’m always skeptical of people like Dr. Shaw who recommend the KJV for accuracy. Even ignoring the flawed translation…
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Clayboy has an informative and well-written post about the mistakes that often follow after someone tries the “what the Greek really says” argument: One of the biggest warning flags in a sermon comes when the preacher says: “Now, in Greek, the word is … which (literally) means …” Sometimes they know what theyre talking about.…
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