stillajwexelder
I can see that "sown with seed", or "conceive seed" would make poetic sense. And yes the phrase "pregnant with semen" is unnecessarily tedious. The NWT does try too hard doesn't it? Thanks for your feedback.
INQ
"Emission", "Issue" or "Genital organ"? - Ezekiel 23:20
by Inquisitor 17 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Narkissos
Lexicography doesn't really solve the question. The first word is a very common one, basar, usually translated "flesh," here clearly used as an euphemism. The second one, zirmah, appears only here in the OT, but its apparent cognate zerem means "violent shower" (Job 24:8; Isaiah 4:6; 25:4; 28:2; 30:30; 32:2; Habakkuk 3:10; cf. the use of the related verb zrm in Psalm 77:18; 90:5) -- whence the likeliness of a reference to sperm.
Yet all depends on how you interpret the parallelism, i.e. whether the parallel terms are more likely to be strictly synonymous or not (Hebrew stylistics allows for both). If the meaning is "penis" / "sperm ejaculation" they are not strictly synonymous; if you take the second term metonymically (saying "the shower" and meaning "the pipe," so to say) they can be. The NWT takes the latter option, it may be the least likely but it can hardly be ruled out.
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M.J.
Maybe some of the NWT translation committee members had a little axe to grind...
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Inquisitor
Hi Narkissos! Been wondering where you were. Leolaia still nowhere to be seen. SixofNine's suggestive remarks must have freaked her out! lol
So what you're saying is that the word in dispute (which NWT translates as "genital organ" and other translations either "issue" or "emission") is zirmah . And this is the ONLY occurrence of the word in the OT, thus it is hard to work out what it definitely means. (Zerem might be a clue if it is derived from zirmah , and zerem means "violent shower". !!Mental flash of scenes from Scary Movies 1 and 2!!)
Basically, to capture the parallelism in Ezekiel 23:20, either translate the donkey basar, horse zirmah, more synonymously as the NWT has done. Or translate basar/zirmah as penis/ejaculation, which is less synonymous but possibly closer to the original meaning of zirmah.
Contextual accuracy aside, is this case an example of how the NWT did not translate closer to the original meaning of the word, as JWs often claim?
INQ
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No Room For George
bttt
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Broken Promises
You REALLY need to get laid, Miz.
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still thinking
LOL...
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No Room For George
I wasn't really all that familiar with this verse. I don't recall ever noticing it before, but it's hilarious depending on the translation. One thing about it though that I like, is the entire context of it as its speaking on Jerusalem's slutty behavior with other nations and gods. It's confirmed something for me that, Jerusalem was the whore spoken of in Revelation, and the Wild Beast was Rome. All that "world empire of false religion", and Satan's worldwide political system of things is a load of crap. Revelation was meant for the reader back then, their audience, and anyone attempting to force that square peg into the circular world we live in today, either has selfish motives, or is delusional and in need of therapy.