Note: this topic is from 6/18/2010. Thanks Alex Murphy.
Posted on 06/18/2010 12:16:49 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
NEW YORK, June 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ten Commandments don't forbid coveting or killing, claims Dr. Joel M. Hoffman, a noted Bible scholar and linguist who has applied modern translation techniques to the Bible.
Hoffman reports that the commandment commonly quoted as "thou shalt not covet" is more accurately translated as "do not take," and that the commandment applies only to actions, not to states of mind.
"We now know that the Ten Commandments take no position on how you feel, only on what you do," he says.
Hoffman claims that flawed translation techniques led to the familiar but inaccurate rendering of the Hebrew in this case. His evidence comes from how the Hebrew verb in the commandment is used elsewhere in the Bible.
"Perhaps more than any other part of the Bible, the Ten Commandments have shaped Western culture," Hoffman suggests. "The good news is that most of the commandments have been translated accurately. The bad news is that two have not."
According to Hoffman, the other mistranslated commandment is the one that concerns killing. (It's the sixth commandment for most Protestants and Jews, the fifth for Catholics.)
One familiar rendering, "do not kill," is too broad, he says, because the original Hebrew did not prohibit all kinds of killing. So recent high-profile political claims that the Bible categorically forbids killing are in error, says Hoffman.
But the other common variation, "do not murder," is too narrow, because the commandment included not just murder but also the equivalent of manslaughter and other illegal homicide.
The Ten Commandments are not the only parts of the Bible to be misrepresented in translation, Hoffman argues.
The well-known opening of Psalm 23, "The Lord is my Shepherd," is misleading, Hoffman says, because shepherds in the Bible were "brave, strong, valiant," and "regal," while the modern shepherd is "a marginalized loner who spends more time with sheep than with people." Hoffman explains that using the word "shepherd" to translate Psalm 23 "suggests all of the wrong images and none of the right ones."
Other translation gaffs include the prophesy of the virgin birth in the book of Isaiah --- Hoffman translates the word there as "woman," not "virgin" --- and the exhortation from Deuteronomy (quoted in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke) to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul," which is considered theologically central by Christians and Jews alike.
The words "heart" and "soul" there are mistranslations, Hoffman says. The first Hebrew word refers to all of the intangible aspects of life, including emotions and intellect, while the second connotes the physical flesh, blood, and breath.
Unlike most others who study the Bible, Hoffman's training is in linguistics and translation. "English speakers who read Ovid or Aristotle or Pushkin in translation have a better sense of the original texts than do readers of any existing English translation of the Bible," claims Hoffman, who has taught graduate-level translation courses in both religious and secular university settings.
Most Bible translations are produced by theologians, not translators, and their training doesn't generally include modern translation techniques.
Hoffman published his findings in his latest book, And God Said: How Translations Conceal the Bible's Original Meaning (www.AndGodSaid.com). The book, released in February by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, is already in its second printing.
Only the ignorant translate almah as virgin. See for example The New Jerome Biblical Commentary for a scholarly Christian view, or the introduction to the Zondervan Interlinear Hebrew-English Old Testament.
ML/NJ
LOL, but it does make one think, doesn’t it.
On second thoughts, never mind replying to this one, either!
Are you serious? Pray tell, what sign would there have been if a young woman conceived a child?
From the Blue Letter Bible online concordance:
almah
1) virgin, young woman
a) of marriageable age
b) maid or newly married
"There is no instance where it can be proved that 'almâ designates a young woman who is not a virgin. The fact of virginity is obvious in Gen 24:43 where 'almâ is used of one who was being sought as a bride for Isaac." (R. Laird Harris, et al. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, p. 672.)
I think it should be the other way around, "Only the ignorant translate almah as young woman.".
Praise the Lord for that! In the New Testament when Jesus spoke of the commandments concerning murder and adultery, we should remember that he was specifically addressing the self-righteous religious leaders of his day. They considered themselves perfect and keeping the Mosaic laws completely. Jesus turned them on their ears when he explained the spirit of the law - they only considered the letter of the law - hence to call your brother a fool was to murder him "in your heart" and to lust after a woman - any woman - was to commit adultery "in your heart".
The law was therefore the "schoolmaster" to point us to our sinfulness and our desperate need of a savior.
Galatians 3:23-25 (King James Version)
23But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Why are you jumping on this person?
I’m learning to read, write and speak biblical Hebrew myself. Once I master it, you gonna jump on me too?
a lot of his so called “original” claims that the Bible is translated incorrectly ignore that those of us who study the Bible deeply are aware of these things. (e.g.heart implies intellect and emotions, since ancient man thought the intellect was in the heart...yet when we believe “with our heart and soul” it implies more than a muscle in our chest)...
That is why there are biblical commentaries
as for “a young girl” claim instead of virgin: the word implies a young (unmarried) girl, which in a strict religious society would imply a virgin; and Catholics would point out that sacred tradition agreed with Matthew’s using the Greek word for “virgin” was an inspiration of the Holy spirit.
The King James Bible was written in modern English.
I’ve read somewhere an analogy between temptation/giving in to temptation and brushing a live ember off your sleeve immediately as opposed to letting it sit there and burn a hole in your jacket.
LOL
Pretty much, Hank. As one learned Rabbi once said. If you have faith, you don’t need proof. If you don’t have faith, no amount of proof will ever be enough...
Astray for 3500 years?
How can the “do not covet” turn into something as “do not take”? There is already a Commandment of “do not steal”.
As for the “murder is too narrow” - how can manslaughter seriously be treated as a real sin if it’s basically an accident? (I don’t really like the way it’s treated in legalese, but I could be missing something.) I don’t understand why someone should be punished severely for an accident.
“...he might say the same thing, but not be talking about women...”
Such as, goats?
I agree with him on the kill comment...obviously the command wasn’t against all killing, just murder.
But, he’s wrong on the other one.
Note: this topic is from 6/18/2010. Thanks Alex Murphy.
I’ve always wanted to know what was on that third Tablet.
I hope Mel tells us before he dies.
I am done, may God save as many souls as he can...
So over this progressivism... Only Christ’s cross and resurrection matters. Is this all that matters, it seems so... Just ask the theif.
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