Nash-Ku BarThe Proper Translation
by Witness 1 3 Replies latest watchtower bible
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kid-A
Is this what you are talking about?? WTF???
Question: The respective Jewish and Christian translations of nash-ku bar (Psalms 2:12) differ from each other. What is the proper translation?
Answer: The Jewish rendering of Psalms 2:12 states: "Do homage in purity [nash-ku bar], lest He be angry, and you perish in the way. . . ." The Christian translation of the Hebrew phrase nash-ku bar is "kiss the son."
The Christian translation is based on a misinterpretation. The meaning of the Hebrew word bar is "pure" or "clear." Only in Aramaic does it have the meaning of "son." However, in Aramaic, bar is used only as a construct "son of" (Proverbs 31:2; Ezra 5:1-2, 6:14), whereas the absolute form of "son" in Aramaic (which would have to be used in verse 12) is ber'a. Thus, according to the Christian conception, the verse should have read nash-ku ber'a, "kiss the son," not nash-ku bar, "kiss the son of." Even though "son" could refer to David in verse 12, it is not the proper translation.
There is no compelling reason to employ an Aramaism in view of the use of the Hebrew noun bayn, "son," in verse 7. The phrase is best rendered as, "do homage in purity," because kissing is generally an expression of homage, as found, for example, in 1 Samuel 10:1: "Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him." Bar, meaning "purity," occurs in the phrase "pure in heart" (Psalms 24:4, 73:1).
The intention implied in verse 12 is: with sincerity of heart, acknowledge me, David, as God's anointed, and thereby avoid incurring God's anger. Thus the Hebrew phrase nash- ku bar simply means "do homage in purity," and superimposing any other interpretation will distort the meaning of this psalm.
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Leolaia
The translation of "son" for br is already improbable because Hebrew bn "son" already occurs a few verses earlier in Psalm 2:7 (rendered as huios "son" in the LXX, teknon "child" in Aquila, and filius in the Vulgate). However, it is still possible that br could have been used with bn in poetic parallelism as an equivalent of bn (cf. the use of both br and bn in the Kilamuwa inscription); as a loan into Hebrew it would not have been used according to Aramaic grammar. As for nshqw-br in v. 12, the LXX has draxasthe paideias "catch/accept correction", Aquila has kataphilésate eklektós "kiss the chosen", and Symmachus has proskunésate katharós "worship cleanly/the clean". It seems that Symmachus takes br as meaning "clean, neat" (cf. br in Psalm 24:4, Proverbs 4:14) and such a rendering supports the view of the article cited by Kid-A, while Aquila has likely amended br to bkr "firstborn" (< eklektos "select, favorite"). The LXX rendering appears to reflect the midrash that interprets the verse as pertaining to Torah observance (cf. Bamidbar Raba 10.4, Midrash Mishlei 11.24), tho the verb drassomai is a bit unusual. All three Greek versions do not render br as "son", but all appear to have difficulties with the text. Unfortunately, 11QPs c and 3QPs are fragmentary and lack this verse, to show whether the text was corrupt. Some translations emend the text, assuming that it is corrupt. The phrase is rendered "kiss his feet" in the JB and NRSV (by moving wgylw from v. 11 to follow br in v. 12, producing b-rglyw, as in Numbers 20:19), while Dahood renders it as "mortal men": "Serve YHWH with reverence, and live in trembling, O mortal men! Lest he grow angry and your assembly perish" (by dividing the word boundary as nsh qbr instead of nshq br).
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RevFrank
The scriptures where written in many languages and mostly in ancient dialects. Why Koine greek is an ancient dead greek dialect.
Hebrew, Arabic, and koine greek, the scriptures came out of. Can you imagine if Yiddish was used? Yiddish was a mixture of german and hebrew.
If the writers of the ancient scrolls knew the other writers or knew of them and understood each other why not? Is it not the reason why hermeneutics was used? Exegesis gave it's closest interpretation.
I mean we're dealing with manuscripts that were copied over and over and over again by hand. And these ancient manuscripts were written by people who feared God more then we may become.
The todays translation of scriptures may not be a proper inspired translation. But then again those translators or scholars translated word for word from those ancient words that were inspired by God alone. This is the main reason why we call the Bible the inspired word of God.
Faith....."For if those are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect."(Romans 4:14)
PEACE