Friday, February 24, 2012

Translating the Bible into different languages

 
Translating the Bible into different languages


This is about the accuracy of Bible translations and not about Bible interpretations.  It seems that some Bibles are translations are done word for word, while some translations are done based on the private interpretations of its translators.   Most translations however, are far from the original meaning of the Torah that was written in the Hebrew language.

When a translation is done properly, then interpretations can flow easily and in certain passages, one verse alone can have one or more interpretations but NOT the entire Bible.  Many verses in the Bible actually have just ONE direct meaning or interpretation.

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has basically appointed the Children of Israel as guardians of the Torah (Torah is the Word of God or instructions from God, dictated to Moses that formed the first 5 books in the Bible).


To take a small example, let’s examine the verse in Genesis 3:20

In English alone, difference between the New International Version and New King James Version can be compared as reading the verse from Hell or from Heaven. 

NIV portrays Eve as a girl who has never given birth before but in the future she would give birth to the whole human race. 

KJV simply portrays that Eve had died but when she was alive, she was the mother of all living children. 
From the beginning the Lord encouraged them to be fruitful and multiply.  Multiply they did indeed as the woman gave birth to sons of God with ease and joy.  

After the fall, in Genesis 3:16 - "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception................................"
the LORD multiplied the woman's pain and sorrow in childbirth.  If the woman had never given birth before, the LORD will not have bothered to mention about childbirth as she will not have any idea about it and will not be able to compare the "before" and "after".   You can only multiply something that you have done before.  Basic mathematics is no matter how big the number you multiply with zero, you will only get zero.  



Genesis 3:20


New International Version
Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.


Wycliffe Bible
And Adam called the name of his wife Eve, for she was the mother of all men living (for she was the mother of all living people).


New King James Version
And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.


American Standard version
And the man called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.


New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.


Good News Translation
Adam named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all human beings.
“eve: This name sounds similar to the Hebrew word for living, which is rendered in this context as human beings.”


new living translation
Then the man—Adam—named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live.


Young's Literal Translation
And the man calleth his wife's name Eve: for she hath been mother of all living.


GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)
Adam named his wife Eve [Life] because she became the mother of every living person.


Amplified Bible (AMP)
The man called his wife's name Eve [life spring], because she was the mother of all the living.


In the Oxford dictionary :-

would - …..indicating the consequence of an imagined event.

was - …. singular past of be.

be - … exist; be present.  ….singular present am; is; are;

consequence – a result or effect…




ARE YOU DEAD OR LIVING ?

Basically from the beginning until their expulsion, Adam called himself “man” and his wife “woman” for she was made from him.

Adam named his wife Eve after receiving their punishment from God.

Some Bible translators reasoned among themselves and said that Adam was prophesying that his wife Eve “in the future” would be the mother of all living people.  This is not true because Eve became the mother of the dead and not the living.  

Let us think about Adam’s character.  He was used to naming animals on sight by observing their nature and sound as the LORD Most High brought him around to see each animal.
When Adam saw that his wife was spiritually dead, he immediately named her Eve (she was living) as a memorial to her, in the way we would carve out a tomb stone for our spouse.  What do you see on tomb stones? 
[Herein lies Eve, who was the mother of children 1,2,3,4, ……. all living…]


Ephesians 2:1
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

1 Timothy 5:6
But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.


After the fall, Eve gave birth to all who were spiritually dead unless they were quickened (or born-again) by the Holy Spirit of the LORD Most High.   
Dead in trespasses and sins as the serpent introduced to the Woman and Adam who was with her the whole time:-
  •       disobedience to their Father - the LORD Most High;
  •      telling lies or thinking that they can keep secrets (about eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) from the LORD – the Lord searches the reins of the heart, there is nothing you can keep secret from Him;
  •     self promotion to make one wise as God;
  •    Superficiality and false promotion of what is pleasing to the eyes.  All trees were equally pleasant, but the serpent used critical thinking and false public relations advertising and such like to promote one tree making it more appealing than the others; and like us gullible consumers, both man and woman bought the fruit the serpent peddled.     


Genesis 2:9  -  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 3:6
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Colossians 1:10
That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Colossians 3:20
Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.


Adam and Eve already had everything to their hearts content.  They eat and play all day, the whole earth is theirs for the taking; but the serpent also sowed seeds of discontentment and vanity in them by suggesting, “You already have everything, why not one more?”  All the trees had food that was pleasing to the eyes and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is no different from the other trees. It only had an extra verbal signboard that probably says, “Do not touch or you will die”. 

You are able to fill up a cup of a person who is contented in life.  Even so, his is able to feel contentment and his cup is filled to the brim and his joys runs over.  He is full, satisfied and he is rich by the contents of his cup.  He is not empty. 

How does a person fill up a cup that is discontented? 
There are holes around his cup and at the bottom the cup. 
There must be continuous strife and struggle to fill such a cup, otherwise he will feel continuously empty and hollow. 
How much drugs do you need to take in order to feel high?  
How many parties that you need to go to in order to feel that you belong?  
How many people do you have to go through or hurt in order to be satisfied? 
There is no end to a bottomless pit. 
However, the END is you. 
By taking after the nature of the devil will only serve to destroy you.  
There is NO cork that can plug up the bottomless pit.  
You have to depend and put your trust in the LORD Most High to get you out of the pit of discontentment and strife.   
Let the LORD Most High lead you as a shepherd and you must follow the ways of the LORD in order to become a contented sheep that will lack of nothing.

Psalm 23

New King James Version (NKJV)

A Psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell[a] in the house of the Lord
Forever.


Example in Proverbs 9:17, stolen water is no sweeter than water you have to buy or running streams of fresh water in the forest that is FREE for all to drink. Bread is still bread no matter where you eat it.  Can a piece of bread be tastier or so much more pleasant if you eat it hiding in the closet? 
So this is what a foolish adulterous woman would tell a foolish man - that she can be much more pleasant than his beautiful wife.  The foolish man thought that adultery can remain in secret and the wife will never find out; not knowing that his actions or the lack of it (as he did not put up a fight against the foolish woman) will not only break her heart but also his own. 
Proverbs 9:18 - But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of hell.

Proverbs 9:17 -   “Stolen water is sweet, And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

By listening to the serpent, the man not only killed his wife but also killed himself in the process.  The LORD held Man responsible for killing the woman because he did not fight off the serpent nor did he advise her to take precautions against the serpent.  Man was much older and therefore had much more experience conversing with the LORD than the woman.  That is why Adam was cursed alongside Eve.

Even, animals (that do not have spirit) do not need to interrogate you verbally in order to find out what they need to know.  Sometimes, certain animals have a good sense of perception and will use their sense of smell and perception in order to find out or read what your basic intentions are. 
What more of mankind that were created to take charge of all the animals and everything in this whole earth and created in the likeness and image of God.  There is no doubt that the average man does have a good sense of perception and is able to read another person’s intentions and man can do things that cannot be compared to an animal because a person’s soul/spirit is much stronger than the flesh.   

 

Proverbs

Chapter 9

New King James Version (NKJV)

The Way of Wisdom

1 Wisdom has built her house,
She has hewn out her seven pillars;
2 She has slaughtered her meat,
She has mixed her wine,
She has also furnished her table.
3 She has sent out her maidens,
She cries out from the highest places of the city,
4 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
5 “Come, eat of my bread
And drink of the wine I have mixed.
6 Forsake foolishness and live,
And go in the way of understanding.
7 “He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself,
And he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself.
8 Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you;
Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
11 For by me your days will be multiplied,
And years of life will be added to you.
12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself,
And if you scoff, you will bear it alone.”

The Way of Folly

13 A foolish woman is clamorous;
She is simple, and knows nothing.
14 For she sits at the door of her house,
On a seat by the highest places of the city,
15 To call to those who pass by,
Who go straight on their way:
16 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here”;
And as for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
17 “Stolen water is sweet,
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
18 But he does not know that the dead are there,
That her guests are in the depths of hell.



In the Bible there are different interpretations to the words “dead” and “living”.

There are those that are dead in the spirit and dead in the flesh (corpse).

Same goes for those that are living in the full righteousness and glory of the LORD and those living in the flesh.   
Then are those that are living with the LIVING GOD.  

Galatians 4:28
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

Galatians 4:28
But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.


Isaac was born of after the Spirit and even so the Children of Israel are sons of the Living GOD.  Even so, our Creator came to us in the form of Jesus to represent all of Israel as Son of God (Matthew 16:16) and to redeem all of mankind chosen from the foundation of the world that are quickened or restored by the Spirit of the LORD Most High.  


Hosea 1:10

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

Matthew 16:16
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.


Adam and Eve became dead in the spirit which resulted in the slow death of their bodies as well as their flesh slowly deteriorate and eventually return to the ground.

When the body expires or die and return to the ground, the Soul or Spirit of Man born of God returns to the Living GOD or transported to the realms of the Living God.  That is why Jesus said Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are not dead but of the LIVING !!!

Matthew 22:32
I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Luke 20:38
For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.



For tares that are not born of God, are tares taking after the likeness of the devil, as tares are born of the devil because tares take after the nature of the devil with all his lusts and lies.  The ways of the devil is death and the man that follows the devil is considered dead regardless of whether he is still breathing or not. 

The prodigal son’s riotous living and selfish separation was considered as good as dead to his father; but true repentance restores the soul and spirit.

John 8:44
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.


Romans 14:9
For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.


Matthew 8:22
But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.


Luke 15:32
It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.


2 Timothy 4:1
I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;


James 2:26
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.


Psalms 69:28
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.


Revelation 20:12
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.



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