[Steven Avery]

Hi Folks,

Isaiah 13:15 (KJB)
Every one that is found shall be thrust through;
and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword.

Going over how this translation changed from "joined unto them" to "captured" is rather an interesting study, one which we hope to cover step-by-step, learning in the process. Always listening to those who may also want to contribute soundly .. looking at the textual details and the summary concepts.

(All this is putting aside the silly Price/Combs stuff. The question of sound translation of Isaiah 13:15, and especially as a tool for us to understand how weak new concepts took hold in the 1800s, is fascinating in its own right. We normally emphasize deficient critical and textual understandings from the 1800s, here we have auxiliary translation deficiencies.)

One thing I want to point out today was that not only Isaiah 13:15 was changed, also other verses with nispeh as well.

You can see this clearly looking at a straightforward two verses in the King James Bible, verses that have our nispeh, from when Abraham was talking to the LORD.

Genesis 18:23-24
And Abraham drew near, and said,
Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city:
wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

Remember above this is one of the two common meanings for nispeh.
See the post right above, there is :

(a) desroy, perish, consume
(b) add, augment, join

Yet then we look at the NIV. Not only do we not get (a) or (b) we get something totally oddball, -- even quite different than the very oddball orphan-attempt "captured", their Isaiah 13:15 translation in the modern versions.

NIV
Then Abraham approached him and said:
"Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
What if there are fifty righteous people in the city?
Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?

Note this strange and uneven translation -- no longer is the concern that the righteous are to be destroyed (simple and clear) -- in many modern versions the concern is that they would be "swept away". Even the city -- which we know was later destroyed .. was to be, supposedly, "swept away" instead, like by a broom, rather than the destruction by brimstone and fire from the heavens. (When you are in Jerusalem or the Dead Sea area you can burn the sulphurous remains from sulphur balls, if your friends know the actual site .. suggest you do it outside, or on the porch, or leave the windows very open.)

Here the NKJV actually stays with the proper "destroy" (despite the fact that this proper translation does not mesh with the improper "capture" in Isaiah 13:15) also Young is similar with "consume". However the BDB-fixated versions (NIV, Holman, ESV, NASV) generally follow the strange "swept".

My conjecture is that there is not even any trace of this "swept away" translation until the 1800s. Same as we saw with "captured".

e.g. We have Rashi online, "destroyed".

http://www.chabad.org/library/articl...Chapter-18.htm
Judiaca Press translation and Rashi Commentary

And Abraham approached and said, "Will You even destroy the righteous with the wicked?

Will You even destroy Heb. הַאַף. Will You also destroy? And according to the translation of Onkelos, who rendered אַף as an expression of wrath, this is its interpretation: Will wrath entice You that You should destroy the righteous with the wicked?

And we will examine this in tandem with Isaiah 13:15. We will see, upon further examination, the flying leaps of modernist mistranslation. Error begets error. And we will try to understand who came up with this stuff, and why. Why were they "correcting" the pure Bible that was 100% sensible and clear and instead coming up with a new meaning that is awkward and cumbersome.

Very strange, indeed.

Shalom,
Steven Avery