Ron Maimon

835 reputation

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	age	39
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I like translating the Hebrew of the Bible, and I think it can be done accurately and honestly, better than extant translations, so long as you ignore the theologically minded people completely. They generally are not honest enough, you can't trust anything they say.

	835 reputation	bio	website		visits	member for	1 year, 3 months
314 badges		location	New York City		seen	May 17 at 6:19

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Sep 21	awarded	Custodian
Sep 21	comment	What else can “Fifteen cubits from above” in Gen 7:20 mean? @MonicaCellio: I am not asking you to take my word, I am asking you to read it and come up with a good alternative. The crappy translations above do not do this, they just ignore the problem. The alternative "15 cubits above the mountains" is wrong, "15 cubits from above" meaning "upper estimate" is weird usage, but perhaps, and "15 cubits as judged from above" meaning from the perspective of the Ark, is also supportable. But far and away the natural reading is 15 cubits from the top, and with no prior exposure to the idea, this verse tips you off that Genesis is flat-Earth.
Sep 21	comment	What else can “Fifteen cubits from above” in Gen 7:20 mean? @JonEricson: The English septuagint is identical to my English. I think they translated it fairly.
Sep 21	comment	What else can “Fifteen cubits from above” in Gen 7:20 mean? @FrankLuke: That's allowed gramatically, 15 cubits from the top of the ark, but it doesn't make sense for a floating object-- the degree of the water rising has nothing to do with how much water there is, so it's no good in context (it really doesn't read well). The correct reading is still 15 cubits from the top of the dome of the sky, but at least these are passable alternatives, better than the rubbish in most translations.
Sep 20	accepted	What else can “Fifteen cubits from above” in Gen 7:20 mean?
Sep 20	comment	What else can “Fifteen cubits from above” in Gen 7:20 mean? I will accept this answer, as it is genuinely giving a proper alternative reading: "15 cubits from above" meaning "15 cubits estimated from above". It's a terrible alternative, but at least it's somehow coherent. Regarding "rubbing up against the top of the dome", that explains why the ark is 30 cubits high, half is submerged, the other half bang up against the top. This is what it means, and it's a nice homey image of a huddled mass against the top of the sky, like a flood catastrophe movie. The alternatives here are reasonable, though, so accept.
Sep 18	comment	What else can “Fifteen cubits from above” in Gen 7:20 mean? Except, no I didn't go wrong. The King James, Darby, English-revised, Orthodox Jewish are roughly accurate, but the rest are made up interpretations of something they didn't read right because of their round-Earth bias: milema'la means 'from above', and "fifteen cubits from above the water built up" is accurate. The interpretation is completely obvious in the Genesis cosmology, and I can't read it any other way. So sorry, every other translation is wrong (except King James et al, which are roughly ok) and mine is right. Accuracy of translation is not determined by polling, but by reading.
Sep 18	comment	Who was Moses supposed to say sent him, “Ehieh” or “Yahweh” @Nathan: These are not synonyms! They are textually different, and used differently. The text also has an obvious seam between the two, with a repetition of "thus you will say to the sons of Israel..." with two different continuations, in different styles and usage, in different voices, and either half works better without the other. It's a real contradiction, you should read the passage.
Sep 9	accepted	Is the punishment for sex during menstrual period banishment or a week's defilement?
Sep 5	comment	Doesn't Titus 1:12 show that apostle Paul promotes racism? The notion of "racism" in the modern sense is completely anachronistic here, modern racism dates to the colonial days, past 1492. Roman hierarchies were based on class, and did not have a racial component, the empire included plenty of diversity: Semitic, Southern European, and North African folks, all equal. The barbarians were the Northern Europeans, who resisted occupation, and perhaps some Asians, but I don't see any ancient racism (I might be wrong). This stuff should be called cultural ethnic stereotyping within the accepted races. Not justifying the sentiment, but the title is wrong.
Sep 5	comment	What does Jesus mean in Matthew 26:64 with “You have said so”? One should also point out that this is something funny, it's a humorous reply, as "Hey, dude, you said it, not me." It's a way of showing how Jesus rises above the serious occasion to make a joke, even though he is to be put to death.
Sep 5	comment	Should קהלת actually translate to “Preacher” This interpretation is not tenable, as the "preacher" in question is unquestionably female (the t ending would not be their, it would be "kohel" if it were masculine), and the first person voice in the work is unquestionably male.
Sep 5	answered	Silence of the idols and silence of the people before Yahweh in Habakkuk 2:18-20
Sep 5	answered	Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 Puzzlement
Sep 1	comment	What does Cain say to Abel in Genesis 4:8? @BobJones: The word say is in no way related to the word "lamb", lamb is "seh" and say is "amar".
Jul 15	comment	The Eye of the Needle @Jas3.1: The disagreement is only apparent--- the Babylonian Talmud (where the quote is from) post-dates the new testament by a century, and the authors would have been familiar with this saying of Jesus about camels and needles. The mangling of the Aramaic in Greek would give a plausible etymology for all these sayings.
Jul 10	comment	The Eye of the Needle @Jas3.1: But the rope interpretation is just a better metaphor--- the things being compared are of a similar nature. "Camel" and "thread" aren't similar enough to make a parallel construction naturally, which is why this verse is considered jarring, while "Camel-hair rope" and "thread" are naturally parallel. I think it reads better as "camel hair rope", and I think this is reasonable evidence to give for an Aramaic original for Jesus's sayings--- something I didn't believe existed until I found this quote and the explanation. I thought it was all composed in Greek.
Jul 10	comment	Is El-Shaddai “Sky God” where Sky==Breasts? @itpastorn: I prefer "my breast", because that's what "shaddai" means in Hebrew obviously, without any interpretation or qualification. The rest are stretchy searches for alternative meaning.
Jun 14	comment	Does Moses Speak Broken Hebrew? -1: It is horrifying that anyone can believe anything as insanely stupid as there being a historical Moses, or that he might be quoted directly. If you are sincere, I suggest that you see a psychologist. It is not validating anything of this sort, but it is validating that one of the authors (namely J, and only J) is self-consistent between description and dialogue, which is truly remarkable for such an ancient text. E doesn't do this as far as I remember, and it is possible that it's like Borat, a fake Egyptian style rendered in writing. It might also be immitating a leaden-mouth speaker.
Jun 5	comment	Did Noah take two doves, or fourteen? It says "seven/seven", meaning in pairs of seven, it also says "husband and wife", who cares. The other instructions say two by two. The contradiction is obvious, and it is repeated in all the E and J sections. Please stop trying to make it vanish--- it is there, and only a dishonest reading can make it invisible.