Prettyizations of the KJV

The Hebrew original of Judges 5 is difficult.  It is perhaps the most ancient Biblical text we have - I think I remember some scholars giving dates like 1200, 1300 BC for this gorgeous thing.  It contains many striking images and contains many striking topical movements.

But this post is about my favorite verse of the poem, one for which the KJV translation finds itself, in my opinion, better than original, more originary in its memorability and troping.

The Hebrew reads for verse 20 of chapter 5 of Judges: זבלון עם חרף נפשו למות ונפתלי על מרומי שדה׃. 

Nice.  Of course, the idea is pretty enough in itself, and this must ultimately lend much memorability to the verse.  And thankfully for us, the prettyness being ideated and not phonological, it finds itself perfectly translatable.  

Before we immediately unveil the KJV rendering, let's turn to the unfortunate NIV construal:

"The people of Zebulun risked their lives; so did Naphtali on the terraced fields."

Terraced fields?!  This will not do at all, no no no no. The terraced fields rendering of "maromey lladeh" probably reflects some etymological/archeological reading and so is useful enough for the linguists among us, but as poetry it will ultimately have to bow the knee.  

How bout the ultra-literal (and usually satisfactory on that Level, except for its unfortunate exclusion of YHWH from its OT bits) NASB? We have, according to the wise New American magistrates: 

"Zebulun was a people who despised their lives even to death,
And Naphtali also, on the high places of the field."

Much better than the NIV.  Yes.  Also interestingly reflects the longer first clause in the Hebrew in proper length, giving the parallelism a bit of its originary, uneven keel.  

Shall we try the Message on for size?  Oh, how, how will it fit??!

"But Zebulun risked life and limb, defied death, as did Naphtali on the battle heights."

This seems to me, and there will be those that disagree, a most unfortunate rendering.  The parallelism has been hampered - and with a cliche at that!  Life and limb!  Blechh!  No thank you.  Cliches go in the mental ear and out the mental ear.  There is no twist, there is only communication.  It might as well be an extra long preposition or a noun like "mom".  Too ordinary and too long for being so ordinary.  

Overall the Message here seems to have given a more martial feel to a verse that seemed straight nobility to me in the Hebrew.  Life and Limb, battle heights.  I think of bombs going off in Gaza, steep plateaus, and desert landscapes, instead of the sheer 'heights' and the great losses no doubt experienced on them in 12th century BC.  The message can do that, if it likes, but the effect here is unfortunate.  

One more, before the KJV bomb hits.  And what shall it be (the wheel turns) - and Fortune's outstretched digit marks  - THE WYCLIFEE BIBLE!  

A most ANCIENT bible, if my memory does render me right, one chock full of homey English phrases, and as I now examine, titillating sidebar explanations!  Do enjoy!

And Zebulun and Naphtali offered their lives to the death, in the country of Meromei, that is interpreted, high.

AhHHH, how charming, how lovely.  This rendering makes me want to go to the country of Meromei, have tea, and then write travel material on just why Meromei is high.  Not bad, but its whipcrack sidebar ultimately distracts from the primary thrust of the thing.  

So, now for the KJV.  

Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeaporded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.  

How glorious the rendering.  First, the innovation of "jeaporded" - a pretty skewing of 'scorned.'  Second, destroying the parallelism for one pithy thought, a risky move that pays off.  Third, "unto" instead of "to".  What a lovely touch!  And finally, we have the lustrously long "high places of the field."  Saying it to oneself makes we want to resort to nasty, sex-themed cliches, like OMG my brainjustOrgasmed HAHAHA.  No, what we have here is something more streched and Miltonic, like "adamantine chains and penal fire."  OOOOOOH!  Sounds like a recipe for chilbains, don't u think?  I got something to heat me up on a cold day, and it's not Campbells!

I probably have not convinced you of the KJV's glory here, especially with all that above, tedious buildup.  No doubt the constipation was tremulendous.  The board here at Lambwich.org apologizes.  

Also, it should be noted that the main thrust of this whole thing, that the KJV here is pretty darn awesome, is not anywhere near my own idea, but one borrowed in a hackneyed, ugly fashion from Harold Bloom's book on the KJV, which changed how I read Biblical poetry and, I suppose, also the Bible generally.  He, I suppose, is to be thanked for all this mess, so if you're REALLY UPSET with your three to five minutes of lost time, send your mail to him (throw a word in for me, too, as this took much longer than three to five minutes to write, ahirhirhir...). 

Translations Continue to Screw Us

Oh, how I hate translations...

The ambiguities of the originals are continuously sacrificed for the anxiously desired precision of the translations.  Reading a post by an individual with "Greek and Hebrew credentials," claiming that the "accepted translation" of aionion (Greek) and 'olam (Hebrew) is 'eternal' is beyond frustrating.

"Accepted translation"!

WTF does THAT mean?

All translations are screwings.  Screwings over of original texts whose intentions, mindsets, and proclivities in all their ambiguity and flavor are continuously jeaporded on the heights to the death by derived substitutions.

To say that 'olam means 'forever' or 'eternal' is, at base level, insidious and wrong.  'olam means 'olam.  You learn what 'olam is by seeing 'olam in its natural habit.  The same wonderful logic applies to the Greek aionion and the word related to it, aion.

Let's go see how aionion  and aion perform in their natural habitat shall we?

Rev 20:10 And the slanderer wandering them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where were also the beast and false-prophet and they will be tortured day and night into aions of the aions.

Aions of the aions seems to be referring to a period of time.  A very long one certainly.  More examples.

According to Luke 1:70 As he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from aion.
According to John 12:8 Peter says to him, "You will not wash my feet into the aion."
To the Hebrews 1:2 In the last of these days he spoke to us in his son, who he made heir of all things, through whom he also made the aions.

Oh screw it.  Why am I engaging in this pointless exercise when I can give indication that many scholars think as I do about these two words (and, in fact as Rob Bell does)?  Here goes.  Enjoy the commentary.

Once again, for reference, these are the words usually translated as 'forever' or 'everlasting' in the OT and NT.  Enjoy.

Ellicott's Commentary on the Whole Bible

Matt. 25:46: Everlasting punishment--life eternal. The two adjectives represent the same Greek word (aionion) aionios -- it must be admitted (1) that the Greek word which is rendered "eternal" does not, in itself, involve endlessness, but rather, duration, whether through an age or succession of ages, and that it is therefore applied in the N.T. to periods of time that have had both a beginning and an ending (Rom. 16:25), where the Greek is "from aeonian times;" our version giving "since the world began." (Comp. 2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 1:3)--strictly speaking, therefore, the word, as such, apart from its association with any qualifying substantive, implies a vast undefined duration, rather than one in the full sense of the word "infinite."

The Encyclopedia Dictionary of the Bible (Catholic Bible Dictionary), p. 693

ETERNITY: The Bible hardly speaks of eternity in the philosophical sense of infinite duration without beginning or end. The Hebrew word olam, which is used alone (Ps. 61:8; etc.) or with various prepositions (Gn. 3:22; etc.) in contexts where it is traditionally translated as "forever," means in itself no more than "for an indefinitely long period." Thus, me olam does not mean "from eternity" but "of old" (Gn. 6:4, etc.). In the N.T. aion is used as the equivalent of olam.

Dr. F.W. Farrar, The Eternal Hope, p. 198

That the adjective is applied to some things which are "endless" does not, of course, for one moment prove that the word itself meant "endless," and to introduce this rendering into many passages would be utterly impossible and absurd.

Dr. F.W. Farrar, Mercy and Judgment, p. 378

Since aion meant "age," aionios means, properly, "belonging to an age," or "age-long," and anyone who asserts that it must mean "endless" defends a position which even Augustine practically abandoned twelve centuries ago. Even if aion always meant "eternity," which is not the case in classic or Hellenistic Greek-- aionios could still mean only "belonging to eternity" and not "lasting through it."

Hasting's Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. 1, p. 542, art. Christ and the Gospels

There is no word either in the O.T. Hebrew or in the N.T. Greek to express the abstract idea of eternity.

(Vol. III, p. 369) Eternal, everlasting--nonetheless "eternal" is misleading, inasmuch as it has come into the English to connote the idea of "endlessly existing," and thus to be practically a synonym for "everlasting." But this is not an adequate rendering of aionios  which varies in meaning with the variations of the noun aion from which it comes.

The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. IV, p. 643

Time: The O.T. and the N.T. are not acquainted with the conception of eternity as timelessness. The O.T. has not developed a special term for "eternity." The word aionoriginally meant "vital force," "life;" then "age," "lifetime." It is, however, also used generally of a (limited or unlimited long space of time. The use of the word aion is determined very much by the O.T. and the LXX. Aion means "long distant uninterrupted time" in the past (Luke 1:10), as well as in the future (John 4:14).

Lange's Commentary American Edition, Vol. V, p. 48

On Ecclesiastes 1:4. The preacher, in contending with the universalist, or restorationist, would commit an error, and, it may be, suffer a failure in his argument, should he lay the whole stress of it on the etymological or historical significance of the words, aion, aionios, and attempt to prove that, of themselves, they necessarily carry the meaning of endless duration.

Dr. MacKnight

I must be so candid as to acknowledge that the use of these terms, "forever," "eternal," "everlasting," shows that they who understand these words in a limited sense when applied to punishment put no forced interpretation upon them.

The Parkhurst Lexicon

Olam (aeon) seems to be used much more for an indefinite than for an infinite time.

G. Campbell Morgan, God's Methods With Men, pp. 185-186

Let me say to Bible students that we must be very careful how we use the word "eternity." We have fallen into great error in our constant usage of that word. There is no word in the whole Book of God corresponding with our "eternal," which as commonly used among us, means absolutely without end.

The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. XII, p. 96

Under the instruction of those great teachers, many other theologians believed in universal salvation; and indeed the whole Eastern Church until after 500 A.D. was inclined to it. Doederlein says that "In proportion as any man was eminent in learning in Christian antiquity, the more did he cherish and defend the hope of the termination of future torments." Many more church historians could be quoted with similar observations.

Philippson, Israel Religionslehre (11:255)

The Rabbi teach no eternity of hell torments; even the greatest sinners were punished for generations.

Dr. Alford Plumer, An Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, pp. 351-352

It is often pointed out that "eternal" (aionios) in "eternal punishment" must have the same meaning as in "eternal life." No doubt, but that does not give us the right to say that "eternal" in both cases means "endless."

Dr. Edward Plumptre (Eschatologist)

I fail to find, as is used by the Greek Fathers, any instance in which the idea of time duration is unlimited.

The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 15, p. 485

It is possible that "aeonian" may denote merely indefinite duration without the connotation of never ending.

G. T. Stevenson, Time and Eternity

(Page 63) Since, as we have seen, the noun aion refers to a period of time, it appears very improbable that the derived adjective aionios would indicate infinite duration, nor have we found any evidence in Greek writing to show that such a concept was expressed by this term.

(Page 72) In 1 Cor. 15:22-29 the inspired apostle to the Gentiles transports his readers' thoughts far into the future, beyond the furthest point envisaged elsewhere in holy writ. After outlining the triumph of the Son of God in bringing all creation under His benign control, Paul sets forth the consummation of the divine plan of the ages in four simple, yet infinitely profound words, "God all in all." This is our God, purposeful, wise, loving, and almighty, His Son our Lord a triumphant Savior, Who destroys His enemies by making them friends.

Jeremy Taylor, author of Systematic Hellology, which advocates the common belief in eternal torment, later writes a modified view in Jeremy Taylor's Works, Vol. III, p. 43.

Though the fire is everlasting, not all that enters it is everlasting . . . . "The word everlasting signifies only to the end of its period.

Dr. Nigel Turner, Christian Words, p. 457

All the way through, it is never feasible to understand aionios as everlasting. 

Dr. (Prof.) Marvin Vincent, Word Studies of the New Testament, Vol. IV

(Page 59) The adjective aionios in like manner carries the idea of time. Neither the noun nor the adjective in themselves carries the sense of "endless" or "everlasting." aioniosmeans enduring through or pertaining to a period of time. Out of the 150 instances in the LXX (Septuagint), four-fifths imply limited duration.

(Page 291, about 2 Tim. 1:9) "Before the world began" (pro chronon aionion) Lit. Before eternal times. If it is insisted that aionion means everlasting, this statement is absurd. It is impossible that anything should take place before everlasting times.

Charles H. Welch, editor of The Berean Expositor, wrote in An Alphabetical Analysis, Vol. I

(Page 52) What we have to learn is that the Bible does not speak of eternity. It is not written to tell us of eternity. Such a consideration is entirely outside the scope of revelation.

(Page 279) Eternity is not a Biblical theme.

Dr. R.F. Weymouth, The New Testament in Modern Speech, p. 657

Eternal: Greek: "aeonion," i.e., "of the ages." Etymologically this adjective, like others similarly formed, does not signify "during," but "belonging to" the aeons or ages.

Fantictic Update - trust me - there are a lot of tics

Finally, on the eve of Maundy Thursday, at 10:54 pm, the dawn and beginning of a new post, a new composition, one that will herald great things, functioning as a good tidings-bearer to the most delinquent among us to the most diligent, an ode for the common people, a blessing capable of bearing much fruit, worthy of much reverence, awe, and worried note-taking and hand-raising...etc., etc.....

So....to speak diaretically....much has changed since my last post.  I am no longer a greek and philosophy major at Calvin College.  I was a pizza delivery driver for a longish period of time but have since transcended the petty confines and limits of that position to the liberality and grace that unemployment has so generously afforded me.  Ah me!  Sad hours seem long.  Luckily, they generally contain much Spanish.

Spanish is the language I intend to learn well of enough to interpret in it.  Perhaps this is a fool's goal, but, for now, I'll play the fool.  To learn I try to imitate the learning model proposed by AGL (Automatic Language Growth), a site whose language learning philosophy contains, so to speak, a wealth of pearls surrounded by so much swine (and, I'll add, general swill).  It is too tedious for me to relay in much detail these pearls, but to reduce its pearls to my own copted, boiled down, not as shiny pearl, for all you lovers of pearls out there (no matter the quality), it can be reduced to watching much Spanish television.  As I like Argentinian spanish the most, and go ahead and make a you-turn if you think it's silly, I watch much Rebelde Way, sprinkled with a little Lalola here and there for seasoning.  But chiefly Rebelde Way.

I watch with little discretion and much amusement, though admittedly this begins to fade out into tedium at around the fifth or sixth consecutive episode.  I try to imitate the stupidity of a child as much as possible, though I also try to enjoy myself.

Now, this has all taken too long to type, so I'm going to stop here, and watch an episode of the aforementioned television show, so I can get my Rebelde groove going for at least an hour today.

Sayonara, Baudilaires!