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[This belongs to the series LOST IN TRANSLATION, started in 2012 but did not get farther than the 5th installment. We are leaving it open for Sinaite DVE to pick up where she left off, for there are many more mistranslated verses in the Christian Old Testament. Related posts:
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A TEXT OUT OF CONTEXT… IS JUST A PRETEXT
Why Jews Cannot Accept the New Testament
By Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz
While we are discussing the importance of reading passages correctly, I present another glaring example of a passage that is regularly mistranslated and read out of context.
Many Christians like to quote the following verse from the book of Psalms to claim a prophetic reference to the crucifixion of Jesus.
“For dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encompassed me; they pierced my hands and feet.” [Psalms 22:16]
Although this passage appears this way in almost every Christian translation[4] of the book of Psalms, nevertheless we have a blatant case of mistranslation and lack of context designed to create an inaccurate impression.
The first mistake is the translation of the original Hebrew word (k’ari – כארי) as “pierced.” The word actually means “like a lion” and the verse should read, “…they encompassed my hands and feet like a lion.”
This original Hebrew translation is totally consistent with many other verses, such as Isaiah 38:13 which states, “I wait for morning; like a lion (כארי), even so he breaks all my bones…”
In context, King David, author of Psalms, is referring to the fear he experiences when pursued by his enemies, the army of King Saul. Earlier in Psalms, David uses terminology that unmistakably parallels Psalm 22.
“Hide me under the shadow of thy wings, from the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about… They dog our footsteps; they encompass us: they set their eyes to tread us down to the earth; he is like a lion greedy for its prey.” [Psalms 17:8‑12]
In Psalms 22 and 17, David compares his enemies to dogs and lions that surround and encompass him. The Hebrew word for “like a lion” appears in both of them.
Therefore, we can conclude that this Christian mistranslation was a disingenuous attempt to paint the crucifixion into the Old Testament.
Although some Christians admit that the original Hebrew does state “like a lion”, nevertheless others attempt to discredit this translation by fabricating the claim that the Hebrew text contains a scribal error. Furthermore, they claim that the ancient Greek Septuagint supports their “pierced” translation. Both of their arguments do not stand up to scrutiny, especially the Septuagint claim. [5]
Let us examine even more contradictions and inconsistencies.
In the New Testament, we are told that Jesus performed miracles, such as healing the sick. When the rabbis question his holiness and his claims that he is from God, they are asked how is it possible for someone to perform miracles if they are not from God. The New Testament account ends with the rabbis offering no response.
“But others were saying, ‘How can a man who is sinner perform such miracles?’ And there was a division among them.” [John 9:16]
Even for people with just a basic familiarity with the Jewish bible, this story is unbelievable and instantly raises a red flag. Any child, no less the rabbis of that time period, knows that an answer to this question appears in Deuteronomy 13.
The Jewish bible clearly teaches that a false prophet may perform miracles – not as an act of holiness but rather, as a demonstration that serves to test our loyalty to God.
“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying ‘Let us go after other gods whom you have not known and let us serve them’, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul… But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death.” [Deut. 13:1‑5]
The rabbis could have responded with yet another Old Testament example of unholy people performing miracles.
“…the magicians of Egypt did (miracles) in a like manner with their secret arts.” [Exodus 7:11]
There are also numerous contradictions in the New Testament book of Acts. In chapter 7:51, we are told that the disciple Stephen is “full of the Holy Spirit.” [6] However, when recounting basic Jewish history, this spirit is non-existent because he contradicts well-known, undisputed facts clearly stated in the Old Testament.
Every child who reads a Passover Haggadah knows that the Jews went down to Egypt as a group comprised of 70 people and subsequently became a great nation. This statement appears in the Old Testament in three places.
“Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all.” [Deuteronomy 10:22, Exodus 1:5, Genesis 46:27]
It is inconceivable that Stephen, a person described as “full of the Holy Spirit”, would mistakenly state,
“…and Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy‑five persons in all.” [Acts 7:14]
Moreover, Stephen continues to recount incorrect biblical facts when he states that —
“Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died. From there they were removed to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.” [Acts 7:16]
Jacob was not buried in Shechem in a cave purchased by Abraham from Hamor. In truth, Jacob was buried in Hebron in a cave bought by Abraham from Ephron.
“For his sons carried him (Jacob) into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, [7] the field that Abraham bought as a burial plot from Ephron…” [Genesis 50:13]
Once again, we see that Stephen was obviously not filled with divine inspiration when he got his basic facts confused. In fact, it was Joseph who was buried in Shechem [Joshua 24:32] in a field purchased by Jacob from Emmor. [Genesis 33:19]
We find another contradiction in the book of Matthew 2:23 where we are told that —
“Jesus came and resided in a city called Nazareth that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He shall be called a Nazarene.’”
This statement does not appear anywhere in the Old Testament. In fact, at the time of the writing of the Old Testament, the city of Nazareth did not even exist!
In addition, many Christian bibles incorrectly attribute this quote of the disciple Matthew to the Old Testament book of Judges 16:17, a passage that refers to Samson who was Nazarite. A Nazarite is someone who takes an oath to abstain from wine and hair cutting. A Nazarene, on the other hand, is a person from the city Nazareth. These words may sound alike but in Hebrew, they are spelled differently and are totally dissimilar – one contains the Hebrew letter zayen (נזר), while the other has the Hebrew letter tzadik (נצר).
[5] Both the Jewish and Greek traditions (see Babylonian Talmud Megila 9a and Aristeas’ letter to King Ptolemy) state that the Septuagint translation, attributed to 70 inspired Rabbis, was exclusively the Five Books of Moses and did not include the Prophets and the Holy writings. Later Greek translations of the entire Jewish Scriptures were most probably the work of Hellenized assimilated Jews.
[6] In Luke 12:11-12 the disciples are promised that when they are questioned by the Synagogue authorities (as Stephen is here), the Holy Spirit will tell them what to say. Acts 6 also repeats numerous times that Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit.
DVE@S6K
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