Perhaps most relevant to the Bible’s view on abortion is Exodus 21:22, which is in fact relevant for two reasons. According to the NRSV the text proclaims: When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no further harm follows, the one responsible shall be fined what…
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I’ve received a lot of feedback on my recent piece, “What Does the Bible Really Say about Abortion,” in which I make the claim that even though the Bible shouts the importance of knowing when life beings, it doesn’t offer much specific guidance, and, in particular, doesn’t tell us if a fetus is a human.…
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What do dinner seating arrangements, shepherds, and Hebrew sacrifices have in common? It turns out to be an important question with an interesting answer. 1. Genesis 43:32 has a curious observation about the meal that Joseph ordered to be prepared for his brothers during their second visit. Joseph, still masquerading as an Egyptian — he…
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The prophet Hosea, we read, has three children, named yizrael, lo-ruchama, and lo-ammi in Hebrew, but in Greek their names are Yezrael, Ouk-Ileimeni, and Ou-Laos-Mou. What’s going on? Normally Greek names are simple transliterations of the Hebrew sounds. The answer is that the second two Hebrew names are actually phrases that mean “not loved” and…
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According to the Religion Newswriters Association, Bible translation stories were among the top 10 religion stories of 2011. The RNA singled out three events that contributed to the prominence of Bible translations in the news this past year: Celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the King James Version. There’s no doubt that the King James…
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CNN’s belief blog has an interesting story about a request by PETA not to call animals “it” in Bible translations: PETA is hoping the [NIV’s] move toward greater gender inclusiveness will continue toward animals as well. “When the Bible moves toward inclusively in one area [human gender -JMH] … it wasn’t much of a stretch…
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Adultery and Matthew 5:32 According to Matthew 5:32, divorcing a woman causes her to commit adultery. But Peter Kirk notices that the new NIV (“NIV 2011”) translation has a new take on the verse. Peter writes: One rather odd change I noticed, which some might attribute to political correctness: in Matthew 5:32 the “adulteress” (1984,…
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The Pope’s latest comments about condoms have again brought up the Ten Commandments, and, in particular, “thou shalt not kill,” which Catholics and some others number as the fifth commandment, while Jews and most Protestants call it the sixth. Unfortunately, “kill” is a mistranslation of the original Hebrew, which does not say, “you shall not…
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The latest incarnation of the NIV (“NIV2011,” released on-line in 2010) sometimes translates ioudaioi (“Jews”) as “Jewish leaders” because “the negative statements made about groups of Jews in the New Testament were clearly never intended to refer to every living Jew at that time….” (translators’ notes, available on-line as a PDF — emphasis from the…
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Recent posts from my Ancient Wisdom, Modern Lives:
