Dr Paul Allen

I have posted a few times on issues of translating the Bible, and how they affect its interpretation through the centuries. My subject today is on the bizarre side. Does it affect key issues of faith, scripture, and orthodoxy? Not in the slightest. But it does point to some important themes in understanding translation, even some of the most venerable and respected versions of the Bible. There is a Hebrew word that we transliterate as tan, with the feminine form tannah, which refers to jackals. It occurs, for instance, in Malachi 1.3 where God declares that, according to the NIV, “Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.” That is straightforward, and it makes excellent sense in the context. But here is the problem.  From the same root, there is another word tannin, which usually means a regular snake or serpent, but can also signify a monster, sea serpent, or sea monster. The word is used in this sense on...

Luke 9:55-56   But Jesus turned and rebuked them. 56 Then he and his disciples went to another village. (NIV) Luke 9:55-56 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. 56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. (KJV) Luke 9:55-56 But He turned and rebuked them, [a]and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 56 [b]For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village. (NKJV) Luke 9:55 NU omits the rest of v. 55. Luke 9:56 NU omits For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? The Codex Bezae (D). In the restricted manuscripts area, stored away in a metal cabinet, Codex Bezae is the prized possession of the Cambridge University Library. It derives its name from the Protestant reformer, Theodore Beza, who after having it for more than...