Tagged Questions
7
votes
1answer
79 views
What does Genesis 3:16 literally say?
I've noticed that sometimes words are repeated in the hebrew text.
Gen 3:16 אֶֽל־ H413 to הָ·אִשָּׁ֣ה H802 Unto the woman אָמַ֗ר H559 he said הַרְבָּ֤ה H7235 I will greatly אַרְבֶּה֙ H7235 ...
1
vote
1answer
123 views
Grammar-Literal Translation of Genesis 1:3 and 12:3
In Biblical Hebrew there are two simple verb types (Qal and Niphal) which convey no causation. Are the below revisions of the King James Version more accurate to the thoughts expressed by the grammar? ...
4
votes
2answers
36 views
Why does the YLT render “thunder” as “voices” in Exodus 20:18?
Most modern translations of Exodus 20:18a render it something like the ESV (all emphasis mine):
Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet ...
6
votes
2answers
61 views
Blessed is the man who WALKS NOT or HAS NOT WALKED?
I noticed in studying the Psalms that Psalm 1 in the old Coverdale text reads, "Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, and hath not sat ...
3
votes
2answers
87 views
the word for “seven” compared with the word for “Sabbath” in Scripture
Is there a connection linguistically between the word for "Seven" and for "Sabbath" in the Biblical languages, Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek? If so, could someone explain it to me.
This is related to the ...
2
votes
2answers
119 views
What's the root definition of the word “judge” in Matthew 7:1?
What is the root definition of the word judge in the below scripture? Does it correlate to the currently accepted definition of judge?
Judge not, that ye be not judged. (Matthew 7:1 KJV)
...
1
vote
1answer
36 views
Red Heifer or Heifer of Soil
How could we know if
פרה אדמה
in Num 19:2 refers either to
a red cow (parah edumah)
vs a cow of the soil (parah adamah)?
I would like someone to analyse the issue morphologically, ...
5
votes
2answers
94 views
Ezekiel 44:5 Mark Well
Ezekiel 44:5 ESV
And the Lord said to me, “Son of man, mark well, see with your
eyes, and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning
all the statutes of the temple of the Lord ...
2
votes
1answer
135 views
Psalm 23 - long long pursuit of the house of the LORD
I am puzzled by translations of the 23rd Psalm. I wish to bring those my puzzlement to your attention. Perhaps, someone could comment on it.
ינחני במעגלי צדק
The accepted translations are saying
...
3
votes
1answer
103 views
A woman is not to put on a man's dress?
I came across a web page belonging to a christian person/org.
The page (carrying on a trait I find frequent among christian fundamentalist web sites) critiques other fundamentalist christian ...
4
votes
2answers
151 views
Exodus 20:5 - Jealous
I asked this question here
Exodus 20:5 NIV
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your
God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the
fathers to the ...
7
votes
1answer
179 views
Is LXX “Enoch pleased God” a reasonable idiomatic translation of Hebrew “Enoch walked with God”?
The Septuagint translates the Hebrew phrase
וַיִּתְהַלֵּךְ חֲנֹוךְ אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִים
"Enoch walked with God," from Genesis 5:22 as
εὐηρέστησεν δὲ ενωχ τῷ θεῷ
"Enoch pleased God." I would have ...
4
votes
2answers
255 views
Psalms 46 - Be still or relax?
In Psalms 46-10 (Christian versions) or 46:11 (in Jewish versions), is the phrase
הרפו ודעו כי אנכי אלֹהים
In most English Bible translations הרפו is translated as
Be still .
With the ...
2
votes
1answer
78 views
Should קהלת actually translate to “Preacher”
Ecclesiastes starts with - words of קהלת son of David.
In Hebrew it does not say - the words of the קהלת.
Nor - words of the קהלת.
But simply - words of קהלת.
How do we know that קהלת translates to ...
2
votes
1answer
25 views
Is there a general way to know if a psalm or prophecy is talking about a tribe, a person or a mythical beast?
For example:
You rule the raging sea; you still its swelling waves.
You crush Rahab with a mortal blow; with your strong arm you scatter your foes.
Yours are the heavens, yours the ...
1
vote
2answers
58 views
Who is the good and beautiful person in Zechariah 9:17?
There seem to be two main variants of English translations of Zechariah 9:17a:
The newer one, of which the NLT is a prime representative:
16On that day the Lord their God will rescue his people,
...
1
vote
1answer
59 views
Did God shut up Satan before he had the chance to accuse Yeshua?
Growing up with the the New Living Translation, I had alway thought that Zechariah 3:1 said that Satan was accusing Yeshua:
Then the angel showed me Jeshua the high priest standing before the ...
2
votes
1answer
279 views
Leaping over the threshold in Zephaniah 1:9
It would seem from the various translations of Zephaniah 1:9 that is is tricky to understand. Some translations give an apparently fairly vanilla, literal rendering:
On that day I will punish ...
3
votes
1answer
94 views
What does “in the midst of the years” mean in Habakkuk 3:2?
The phrase "in the midst of the years" occurs in some more literal translations of Habakkuk 3:2:
Yahweh, I have heard the report of you, and your work, Yahweh, do I fear. In the midst of the years ...
4
votes
1answer
120 views
Is the death of the pious precious in the eyes of God?
How does one understand the word yakar in Psalms 116:15? Classic Jewish commentators explain the word in context to mean "difficult". However, that is not how is it commonly used nor is it in ...
2
votes
1answer
42 views
Judgment like light(ning) in Hosea 6:5
ESV, NIV and NLT each have a rather distinctive translation of the last phrase of Hosea 6:5:
Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment ...
1
vote
3answers
101 views
Is Hosea 4:11 teaching total abstinence from alcohol?
In Hosea 4:11 (ESV), God seems to condemn drinking wine:
They shall eat, but not be satisfied;
they shall play the whore, but not multiply,
because they have forsaken the Lord
to cherish ...
4
votes
2answers
145 views
What are the four types of “wise men” in Daniel 2?
In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar has dealings with four types of "wise men". NIV and NLT render them "magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers." The ESV does something rather confusing and renders ...
3
votes
2answers
209 views
Is “wept on his neck” a Hebrew idiom?
In a number of places, the English Standard Version uses a phrase like "wept on his neck," e.g.
Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. —Genesis ...
5
votes
2answers
218 views
Can “שָׂנֵא” mean “rejected”?
I have posted a question about the translation of μισέω in Romans 9:15, which quotes Malachi 1:2-3. To further dig into the question of whether "rejected" is a correct translation, I would like to ...
6
votes
1answer
470 views
Why does the King James have “turtle” in Song of Solomon 2:12?
Ernie Harwell was famous for starting his first baseball broadcast of the Detroit Tigers spring with the following quote:
Song of Solomon 2:11-12 (KJV)
11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain ...
4
votes
1answer
137 views
What is Shesh Mashzar?
The Hebrew words occuring all over the latter parts of Exodus:
שֵׁשׁ מָשְׁזָר
mean some sort of fancy fabric. Is it reasonable to think of this as silk? I was thinking this might be derived from ...
2
votes
2answers
352 views
Is El-Shaddai “Sky God” where Sky==Breasts?
I found the name "El-Shaddai" mysterious, but while going over Genesis, found the following passage (Gen 49) Wikisource translation
From the god of your fathers, and he will help you, and the ...
1
vote
4answers
313 views
What else can “Fifteen cubits from above” in Gen 7:20 mean?
When translating Genesis, I took pains to preserve the implied flat-Earth cosmology that a naive reading suggests. One of the places where this made a big difference is in the story of Noah. Noah is ...
6
votes
1answer
159 views
Is the ESV rendering “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever” in Genesis 6:3 accurate?
I am reading through Genesis in the ESV for the first time and was struck by some unfamiliar wording in Genesis 6:3. It reads: "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days ...
3
votes
1answer
43 views
What exactly does מִכְנָס (miknac) mean?
Researching a related question, I came across passages like:
You shall also make for them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; they shall extend from the hips to the thighs.—Exodus 28:42 ...
5
votes
3answers
116 views
What does Exodus 26:27 say?
I was reading through Exodus the other day and thought that the translation of Exodus 26:26-27 was odd.
OSB:
"You shall make bars of incorruptible wood: five for the posts on one side of the ...
12
votes
3answers
406 views
Does the original Hebrew support the NLT of Genesis 6:3?
Genesis 6:3 refers to when God set humans' lifespans to (approximately) 120 years. However, the NLT (the translation I prefer) has a slightly different translation for the 120-years part.
Genesis ...
4
votes
2answers
467 views
Why didn't the Septuagint translate 'ahabah to eros?
Song of Songs 2:7 in English (NPJS) reads:
I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem,
By gazelles or by hinds of the field:
Do not wake or rouse
Love until it please!
As the NET Bible points ...
8
votes
2answers
167 views
How should the first line of Judges 5:2 be translated?
So at some point, I'm hoping to be able to answer this question. In the meantime, though, I keep running into more questions, this one concering the first line of the Song of Deborah (Judges 5:2).
It ...
8
votes
3answers
257 views
Does the Hebrew in Judges 4:4 explicitly identify Deborah as a woman?
I have no skill at reading Hebrew, so I was using some tool to try and parse the sentence in Judges 4:4. I noticed that the definition given for the second word (אִשָּׁה) is "woman"; but what I'm ...
5
votes
3answers
4k views
What does it mean for someone to be another person's “portion”?
Searching for the word "portion" brings up a lot of results in the Bible. Sometimes it means a portion of food or of money. But what exactly does it mean in the following context:
LORD, you alone ...
10
votes
4answers
463 views
Is there a modern English translation of the Bible that uses the second-person plural pronoun?
I'm looking for a modern translation of the Bible (ideally in the public domain) that retains the distinction between second-person plural and second-person singular. In Early Modern English (the ...
3
votes
1answer
2k views
Original meaning of the expression “sexual immorality” in modern translations of Old Testament
For the Old Testament, a modern tool will translate the hebrew ערוה as “unchastity”, “nakedness” or “incest”.
This term is translated in modern versions as “sexual immorality”, but that expression is ...
2
votes
3answers
373 views
Accurate translations of original scripts/text
I've been on what is becoming quite the mission to find the most accurate translation of Daniel 9:23-27 (or the (Tenach/OT) bible in general) of the most original scripts/text available. It seems like ...
8
votes
2answers
190 views
Did Ahaz burn up his sons in the fire or pass them through the fire?
I believe the literal translation is that he passes his sons through the fire. Does that mean that they still lived but were scarred for life, or did they lose their lives?
2 Chronicles 28:3 ...
6
votes
3answers
592 views
Were the Nephilim in Genesis 6 aliens?
Could Genesis 6:1-4 be talking about aliens? (ESV):
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were ...
7
votes
3answers
430 views
Synthesizing Differing Translations of Proverbs 18:24
In the King James, Prov. 18:24 reads "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." This appears to be an admonition for the reader to ...
7
votes
3answers
478 views
How many people were involved in the Exodus?
According to Numbers 1:20-46 (NJPS):
They totaled as follows:
The descendants of Reuben, Israel’s first-born, the registration of the clans of their ancestral house, as listed by name, head by ...
5
votes
3answers
157 views
Why is “rega`” translated “peace” in Job 21:13?
Job 21:7-13 (ESV)
Why do the wicked live,
reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
Their offspring are established in their presence,
and their descendants before their eyes.
Their houses ...
5
votes
2answers
233 views
How did Biblical translators decide on cypress for the type of wood in Noah's ark?
Reading from Genesis 6:14 (NRSV):
Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover
it inside and out with pitch.
There is a note at "cypress" which says:
Meaning of ...
6
votes
1answer
150 views
Is “faith” a correct translation in Deut 32:20 and Hab 2:4?
I recently noticed that in the KJV, the word "faith" only appears twice in the OT: Deuteronomy 32:20 and Habakkuk 2:4. I thought maybe those anomalies were due translation so I looked up the same ...
1
vote
0answers
99 views
What is the actual word used in “Thou shall not kill?” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is “kill” a valid translation for Exodus 20:13 (Thou shalt not kill)?
What word is used in the original Ten Commandments for "kill"? What modern equivalent ...
6
votes
1answer
294 views
The meaning of “stranger and sojourner” in Genesis 23:4 and Leviticus 25:23
In Genesis 23:4 Abraham is in conversation with the residents of Heth and says:
"I am a stranger and a sojourner with you. Give me a possession for a
burying place with you, that I may bury my ...
11
votes
4answers
4k views
Translation of “Hosanna” (ὡσαννά)
What does "Hosanna" (ὡσαννά) mean (as it appears in the Gospels)? What is its etymology/derivation from Hebrew/Aramaic?
