03-31-2005, 11:35 PM
Shlama Akhai:
I'm not acquainted with the English translation of the Bible used (and abused) by the Jehovah Witnesses but I know their Spanish Version ???Nuevo Mundo??? (would be ???New World??? in E.). This is a version full of intentionally & peculiar mistranslations supporting their doctrinal points of view. Curiously, they sustain these own [mis]translations allegedly in the ???Original Greek text??? of the NT. Just one example: Lk 23:43 (Maran Yeshoa???s words to the ???Good Thief???). There???s only a ???simple??? matter of COLON??S or COMMA???S position in a phrase, yet the Theological consequences are immense:
ESV And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
This would be the arrangement of the J.W. text (using the same ESV as ref) :
ESV And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise."
Got the ???petite??? difference? ???You will be with me in the Paradise (some day in the future... at the End of the World... etc., not inmediately)???
As a matter of fact the Greek text allows that reading, considering that in old mss commas or colons, etc. are missing and letters are joined together in most cases. Where should be the comma? (In Spanish, the colon) Before or after sjmeron (today)?
kaieipenautwamjnsoilegwsjmeronmetemouesjentwparadeisw
Even in the Vulgata Latin the ambiguity remains:
et dixit illi Iesus amen dico tibi hodie mecum eris in paradiso
Once again, Peshitta to the rescue...
Even if the Aramaic text ???as in old mss perhaps???could be continuous, there???s a ???tiny??? difference: the humble relative particle [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)] d [/font], which clearly helps to place the correct position of the comma/colon in a modern language ???whatever- translation (I???m putting it intentionally continuous):
[font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]0sydrpb0whtYm90nmwydKl0n0rm0Nym0(w4yhlrm0 [/font]
And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, [that]today you will be with me in Paradise."
(Not, by any means: ... "Truly, I say to you today [that]you will be with me in Paradise" = ... [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)] 0whtYm9d [/font]...)
Fortunately (thanks to the Roukha dQoudesha, of course, despite Greek???s vagueness) the correct reading of this particular text prevailed in the (Universal) Church???s interpretation since early times, which is certainly, beyond any possible doubt, the one supported by the Peshitta.
[font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]Fwx0b[/font]
Ab. Valentin
I'm not acquainted with the English translation of the Bible used (and abused) by the Jehovah Witnesses but I know their Spanish Version ???Nuevo Mundo??? (would be ???New World??? in E.). This is a version full of intentionally & peculiar mistranslations supporting their doctrinal points of view. Curiously, they sustain these own [mis]translations allegedly in the ???Original Greek text??? of the NT. Just one example: Lk 23:43 (Maran Yeshoa???s words to the ???Good Thief???). There???s only a ???simple??? matter of COLON??S or COMMA???S position in a phrase, yet the Theological consequences are immense:
ESV And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
This would be the arrangement of the J.W. text (using the same ESV as ref) :
ESV And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise."
Got the ???petite??? difference? ???You will be with me in the Paradise (some day in the future... at the End of the World... etc., not inmediately)???
As a matter of fact the Greek text allows that reading, considering that in old mss commas or colons, etc. are missing and letters are joined together in most cases. Where should be the comma? (In Spanish, the colon) Before or after sjmeron (today)?
kaieipenautwamjnsoilegwsjmeronmetemouesjentwparadeisw
Even in the Vulgata Latin the ambiguity remains:
et dixit illi Iesus amen dico tibi hodie mecum eris in paradiso
Once again, Peshitta to the rescue...
Even if the Aramaic text ???as in old mss perhaps???could be continuous, there???s a ???tiny??? difference: the humble relative particle [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)] d [/font], which clearly helps to place the correct position of the comma/colon in a modern language ???whatever- translation (I???m putting it intentionally continuous):
[font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]0sydrpb0whtYm90nmwydKl0n0rm0Nym0(w4yhlrm0 [/font]
And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, [that]today you will be with me in Paradise."
(Not, by any means: ... "Truly, I say to you today [that]you will be with me in Paradise" = ... [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)] 0whtYm9d [/font]...)
Fortunately (thanks to the Roukha dQoudesha, of course, despite Greek???s vagueness) the correct reading of this particular text prevailed in the (Universal) Church???s interpretation since early times, which is certainly, beyond any possible doubt, the one supported by the Peshitta.
[font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]Fwx0b[/font]
Ab. Valentin