DO NOT USE (deprecated)
8
votes
4answers
1k views
Has the meaning of “Love” changed enough to warrant substitutions in Bible translations?
The culturally accepted uses of the word "Love" seem to be a trite shadow of its biblical meaning. Common use of "Love" is now interchangeable with "Like," "Enjoy," or "Emotionally attachment" of ...
10
votes
2answers
526 views
How can I identify puns in the Hebrew Bible?
The Bible sometimes uses words with multiple meanings to the effect of an intentional pun or wordplay. Punning seems especially common in Hebrew. I think that being aware of these literary devices ...
9
votes
2answers
1k views
What is the translation philosophy for tachash skins in Exodus?
In Exodus (e.g.: 26:14) we learn one of the coverings for the tabernacle is to be made of "תחש" (tachash) skins. The translation of this term appears to be especially difficult or contentious as there ...
8
votes
2answers
175 views
In the Peshitta NT, what was the original meaning of the word often translated “first day of the week”?
Is there an Aramaic word for "week" different from "Sabbath?"
Is the word for Sabbath used in the Peshitta New Testament in the following passages:
But on the eve of the Sabbath, when the first ...
17
votes
5answers
741 views
“A god” or “God” in John 1:1?
John 1:1 (NWT):
In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.
This translation, the Jehovah's Witnesses New World Translation is, I think, unique in using ...
15
votes
2answers
364 views
Understanding Numbers 11:25
As I am studying, I have encountered different renderings of the last phrase in this verse, which describes the prophesying of the seventy elders of Israel after the Spirit was placed on them. An ...
10
votes
3answers
2k views
Which 'modern' English translation of the Bible is considered the 'closest' or most accurate translation?
Which 'modern' (anything inclusive of King James Version to date) English translation of the Bible is considered the 'closest' or most accurate translation from the original Hebrew & Greek texts?
...
26
votes
5answers
1k views
Does the Bible mention unicorns?
I was reading Psalm 22 (from this question) and I found this verse:
Psalms 22:21 (KJV)
Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
When I switched ...
4
votes
2answers
468 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 ...
20
votes
4answers
609 views
Is “kill” a valid translation for Exodus 20:13 (Thou shalt not kill)?
Exodus 20:13 (KJV)
Thou shalt not kill.
Many political statements have been made about this verse. This translation has been used by many to support their pacifist desires. However, it seems ...
7
votes
2answers
121 views
In the Peshitta, what is the difference between the original word translated “Sabbath” and that translated “week?”
In Matthew 28:1 of the Aramaic Peshitta text, the word translated "Sabbath" and the word translated "week" appear similar but with slight variation.
Does anyone know what the significance is of the ...
5
votes
1answer
1k views
What is the meaning of “encircled” in Jeremiah 31:22?
Yesterday, I read Jeremiah 31:21-22 (ESV):
“Set up road markers for yourself;
make yourself guideposts;
consider well the highway,
the road by which you went.
Return, O virgin Israel,
...
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 ...
10
votes
4answers
478 views
What translation best translates the word “vanity” (in the KJV) in Ecclesiastes?
The word "vanity" (KJV) in Ecclesiastes has been mistranslated in the NIV as "meaningless".
Is "vanity" the best translation for the hebrew word hebel (Strongs 1892), does a newer version do it more ...
6
votes
3answers
601 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 ...
11
votes
3answers
408 views
How should James 2:18 be translated?
James, when making the argument that faith without works is dead, makes this statement:
James 2:18-19 (ESV)
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith ...
11
votes
5answers
476 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 ...
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 ...
11
votes
4answers
303 views
Is there an English equivalent for Nephilim of Genesis 6:4?
Genesis 6:4 (NIV)Emphasis added
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes ...
10
votes
2answers
1k views
Translation of “abba” (Αββα, אבא)
What is the best English translation of abba (Greek: Αββα, Aramaic: אבא)? What are its senses in the original languages, and are those best captured by father, dad, daddy, or something else in ...
7
votes
3answers
483 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 ...
6
votes
2answers
183 views
Does John 7:15 mean Jesus was untaught?
John 7:15 (ESV):
The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning,1 when he has never studied?”
The footnote is:
7:15 Or this man knows his letters
So there ...
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 ...
5
votes
1answer
59 views
Does Mark 1:32 indicate two separate time periods?
The NET Bible reads:
When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were sick and demon-possessed.—Mark 1:32 (NET)
Two time references are present:
"When it was evening" ...
3
votes
4answers
280 views
Does Paul reject the idea of celebrating holidays in Galatians?
Paul has some very strong words against the Galatians implying that they are returning to their former state:
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not ...
2
votes
2answers
358 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
1answer
126 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? ...
