Bible Translators Beware

Get ready for a theory about Bible Translation from a person who has NO knowledge of Greek, Aramaic, or Hebrew.

Ready?

Here 'tis.  It is my theory that Bible translators will CHANGE a word that they don't "think" fits the text.  That's it.

So what?

Consider this.  In Matthew 6:27, "27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?[g] "  YOu may be asking, what about that footnote, "g"?  The footnote says this, "Matthew 6:27 Or a single cubit to his stature; a cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters".

Now, from a totally ignorant me, BOTH of these translation are wrong.  The original text most clearly says, "Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit (unit of material length) to his life span?"

You may be saying, that original text is using a material length unit to describe a unit of time (life length).  Clearly either it was talking about height or about life span, but the units surely matched the noun.

NOT!

How about the book of Jude, v 5?  "5 Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that [e]the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, [f]subsequently destroyed those who did not believe."   Early manuscripts said Jesus.  But surely the best translation is "Lord" not "Jesus" in reference to the Exodus of the Jews!

Not!

Take a look at vs. 25, "25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and [t]forever."

What?

Jesus IS the Savior, not God, and Jesus acted through the Lord God, not God acting through Jesus, right?  Nope!

Jude, the half-brother of Jesus, was deliberately making a point, as was Jesus in Matt 5.  Jude's point was the Trinitarian nature of Jehovah- Father, Son, Holy Spirit which are 3 persons rolled into one G^d!  Jude was making that point in saying that JESUS was there leading the Exodus as part of the Trinity.  

Jesus was, in my view, deliberately using "inappropriate" units to get the listener's attention. As I have blogged before, it was a verbal gag that likely elicited some good smiles.

Here's the point.  When reading Scripture, when you come across something odd, pay close attention- G^d might be simply making a point.

But that's just ONE uniformed view.  Think about it.