"Neither can salt water produce fresh water."

88JM

I noticed this verse the other night and thought it looked so obviously ridiculously provably untrue that there must be something more to it. Surely even a bible writer must understand that desalination isn't witchcraft?

It seems that the NWT and RNWT butcher the translation though (the New American Standard Bible also looks bad):

NEW WORLD TRANSLATION OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES (2013 REVISION):
"Neither can salt water produce fresh water."

NEW WORLD TRANSLATION OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES (1984 EDITION):
"Neither can salt water produce sweet water."

New International Version:
"Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water."

New Living Translation:
"No, and you can't draw fresh water from a salty spring."

English Standard Version:
"Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water."

New American Standard Bible:
"Nor can salt water produce fresh."

King James Bible:
"so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh."

Simon

The ones that translate it as a spring make sense. Yeah,the others not so much.

Depends on whether it's a translation issue or the source (not knowing about desalination).

bemused

I think in the Koran they go further and say that salt water and fresh water will not mix, i.e. they will remain distinct. Complete nonsense of course and very easily disproved.

OneEyedJoe

It's funny how people will claim the bible is completely and utterly scientific, and if you point out something like this you always get "It's just a metaphor!" "It's meant figuratively!" or similar. Special pleading at it's finest.

Wonderment

88JM said: "It seems that the NWT and RNWT butcher the translation though (the New American Standard Bible also looks bad)." (Underline added)

‘Butcher’? Isn't that a hasty assumption?

The WH/Nestle-Aland/UBS Greek texts literally say: "Neither salt sweet to make water."

The Greek Byzantine text has this reading: "So no spring yields both salt water and fresh."

NWT (2013 REVISION): "Neither can salt water produce fresh water."

NWT (1984 EDITION): "Neither can salt water produce sweet water."

Darby Translation: "Neither [can] salt [water] make sweet water." (Brackets his.)

ASV: "Neither can salt water yield sweet."

Orthodox Jewish Bible: "Neither can salt water yield sweet water.."

Robert H. Gundry: "Nor [can] salty [water] make water sweet, [can it]?" (Brackets his.)

Williams NT: "And a salt spring cannot furnish fresh water."

Christian Community Bible: "Neither is the sea able to give fresh water."

Kenneth Wuest Translation: "Neither is salt water able to produce sweet water."

fukitol

Obscure and irrelevant, trivial post number 136,589

rebel8

fukitol, The Bible's blatant inaccuracy is not "obscure and irrelevant" to a discussion forum about a religion based upon it.

That evidence is, in fact, not irrelevant to human society in general. That book has caused much death, stunting of technology, human rights violations, etc.

Its inaccuracy is extremely important.

WTWizard

This is a blatant lie. Salt water can create fresh water--it happens all the time. Where do you think most of the rain comes from? Salt water evaporates in the tropics--and in temperate regions. This creates clouds, which mean precipitation. Some of this moisture crosses whole continents before being precipitated out by a storm system, and these storms access more salt water (that has produced fresh water through evaporation).

Is this why Christi-SCAM-ity is so against science?

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

Obviously a Bronze Age religion with no real concept of science, only the supernatural. Lightning was from god and sickness was caused by demons.

What kind of intelligence can you expect of a god that's defenseless against chariots with iron scythes? (Judges 1:19; Joshua 17:16)

Brokeback Watchtower

One would hardly expect an ancient book to make correct observation about the world. This was written before they discovered molecules, atoms, and electrons, therefor they didn't understand the chemical make up of things.

"Neither can salt water produce fresh water." - James 3:12, RNWT