Old Testament Week 2: Origin and translation of the Old Testament

1) [SLIDE 2] What is the Old Testament? a) The Old Testament is the Christian name for the 39 books that were written before the birth of Christ and make up the first half of the Bible.1 i) The term old testament comes from the apostle Pauls description of the written law of Moses in 2 Corinthians 3:14: [2.1]
[From the day of Moses] until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.

ii) The word testament means covenant,2 and refers to the old covenant God made with Israel that was superseded by the new covenant under Christ.3 b) Jews refer to it as the Tanakh (), which is an acronym in Hebrew for its three component parts: Torah (Teaching), Neviim (Prophets) and Kethuvim (Writings); hence, TaNaKh. c) Because the term Old Testament has a Christian bias, many scholars today refer to it as the Hebrew Bible. 2) Books of the Old Testament. a) The list of Old Testament books accepted as scripture by Christians was established over time by early Jewish authorities, and Christian writers and councils. b) [SLIDE 3] Divisions. i) The following divisions are the Christian arrangement of the Old Testament.4 (1) The first five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. (a) These are known in Hebrew as the Torah (), which means teaching or instruction. Its sometimes translated as the Law. (b) They are known in Greek as the Pentateuch (, five cases, referring to the sheaths or boxes in which the separate scrolls for each book were kept). (c) Our English titles for these books are based on their Greek names.5

The phrase Old Testament was first used by Melito of Sardis (died c. A.D. 180) to designate the books of the Hebrew Bible. Melito was one of the earliest Christians to create a list of canonical Old Testament books. 2 The Greek word in the New Testament is (diatheke), which means both covenant and will (as in last will and testament). This was mistranslated into Latin with the latter definition ( testamentum), and from there made its way into English as testament. (See http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=testament) Modern English Bibles use covenant in 2 Corinthians 3:14 and other places. 3 See Jeremiah 31:3133; Hebrews 8:613. 4 The Jewish arrangement of the scriptures is different than the Christian Old Testament. As indicated above, Jews place the scriptural books in order by Torah/Teaching (GenesisDeuteronomy), Neviim/Prophets (Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi), and Kethuvim/Writings (Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs/Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 & 2 Chronicles). 5 The Hebrew names for them are based on the opening phrase of each book: , (bereshit , in the beginning), (shemot, names), ( vayikra, he called), ( bamidbar, in the wilderness), ( devarim, things or words).
1

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(d) Theyre also known traditionally as the five books of Moses. Well examine the authorship of the Torah in a moment. (2) [SLIDE 4] Historical writings. (a) The history of Israel after Moses (Joshua and Judges; Ruth also takes place during the time of the Judges6). (b) The reign of the Israelite kings (the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles). (c) Judahs exile in Babylon (Esther). (d) The return to and rebuilding of Jerusalem (Ezra and Nehemiah). (3) [SLIDE 5] Poetical and wisdom writings. (a) Job. (b) Psalms. (c) Proverbs. (d) Ecclesiastes. (e) The Song of Solomon. (4) [SLIDE 6] Prophetic writings. (a) Isaiah through Malachi. (b) These books are sometimes divided into the major prophets (Isaiah through Daniel) and the minor prophets (Hosea through Malachi).7 (i) These names do not reflect their importance, but merely their length. ii) [SLIDE 7] There are also additional texts from the Old Testament period that are considered as scripture by Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christians, but have generally been excluded from the Protestant canon. (1) These texts are known as apocryphal books (Greek: /apocrophos, obscure, hidden).8 (2) Fourteen booksspecifically called The Apocryphahave been included in some Protestant Bibles,9 including the one owned by Joseph Smith.10 3) Who wrote the Old Testament? a) [SLIDE 8] The Torah. i) The author (or authors) of the first five books of the Old Testament does not identify himself within any of the books.
See Ruth 1:1. In the Hebrew Bible, Hosea through Malachi are grouped into a single unit known as the Twelve (Aramaic Trei Asar). 8 Roman Catholics refer to these books in their scriptures as deuterocanonical (Greek: , second rule). 9 Reformer Martin Luther argued that the fourteen additional books of the Apocrypha should not held equal to the Sacred Scriptures, but nevertheless are useful and good. 10 Joseph Smiths Bible was a large edition of the KJV, printed in 1828 by H. and E. Phinney Company of Cooperstown, New York, that included the Old Testament Apocrypha. A notation on the flyleaf, in what appears to be Joseph Smiths handwriting, states that it had been purchased from the Egbert B. Grandin Bookstore in Palmyra, New York, on 8 October 1829 for $3.75. See Kent P. Jackson, Joseph Smiths Cooperstown Bible: The Historical Context of the Bible Used in the Joseph Smith Translation, BYU Studies 40/1 (2001), 4170 (https://byustudies.byu.edu/showtitle.aspx?title=6687). This was the Bible Joseph used in his new translation project; when he came to the Apocrypha, he asked the Lord if he should translate it, and received D&C 91 as the answer to his question.
6 7

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ii) Broadly speaking, there are two main views on their authorship: The traditional view and the more recent view.11 iii) [8.1] The traditional view is that Moses himself, with the exception of a few passages,12 wrote these books. (1) This is why they are often called the five books of Moses. (2) This would mean they were mostly completed before Moses died (c. 15001200 B.C.). (3) A few passages in the Torah describe Moses as writing down laws and commandments given to him by God,13 but its not stated that these revelations became the actual books of the Torah themselves. (4) The first unequivocal statement that Moses wrote the Torah is contained in the book of Jewish law called the Talmud, which was written after the New Testament period (c. A.D. 200500). (5) Latter-day Saint scripture describes God commanding Moses to write the story of the creation,14 and Nephis description of the contents of the brass plates includes a mention the five books of Moses.15 iv) [8.2] The prevailing view among modern scholars is that the books of the Torah were compiled from several parallel but independent narratives, written at different times by different authors who had different perspectives. It was completed over several hundred years, and edited into its final form after the Jews returned from their exile in Babylon (538 B.C.). (1) This view began to emerge in the late 18th century and now known as the Documentary Hypothesis.16 (2) [SLIDE 9] The development of the Documentary Hypothesis was triggered by problems within the text, including: (a) Duplicate passages with different narratives. (i) For example, there are two accounts of the creation that give different sequences of events. 17 (ii) The account of the great flood also appears to involve the meshing of two separate stories.18
11 Biblical scholar Peter Enns has written on models of understanding the Bible: What Biblical Scholars Do (since you were likely losing sleep about it), Patheos.com, 15 August 2013 (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/peterenns/2013/08/whatbiblical-scholars-do-since-you-were-likely-losing-sleep-about-it/). 12 Such as the verses that speak of Moses after his death (Deuteronomy 34:5 12). 13 See, for example, Exodus 17:14; 24:4; 34:27; Leviticus 26:46; Deuteronomy 31:9, 2426. Statements implying Mosaic authorship of the Torah are also contained in Joshua 1:78; 1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 23:21, 25; 2 Chronicles 8:13; 34:14; 35:12; Ezra 3:2; 6:18; Nehemiah 8:1; 13:1. 14 Moses 1:40. This chapter is the Joseph Smith Translations introduction to the book of Genesis. 15 1 Nephi 5:11. This passage only raises the question, are the five books on the brass plates the same as in our Bible? 16 The Documentary Hypothesis, in its current form, proposes four different authors of the Torahs source material: The Jahwist source (J), which refers to God by his personal name, Jehovah; the Elohist source (E), which refers to God only as Elohim (until the story of Moses at the burning bush); the Priestly source (P), which is preoccupied with lists, genealogies, dates, numbers, laws, and issues of the Aaronic priesthood; and the Deuteronomist source (D), which wrote the series of sermons and summaries of the Law that became the book of Deuteronomy. These four (known collectively as JEPD) were edited together by one or more Redactors (R). (The Book of Mormon is the result of a similar process, with the works of many earlier writers being redacted by the prophet Mormon.) 17 Genesis 1:12:3 and 2:425. Well cover this in detail in lesson 3.

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(iii) The commandments written by God onto tablets in Exodus 34 are different than the Ten Commandments listed in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.19 (b) In various passages God is called by different names and described in different ways. (i) In one narrative he is simply referred to as God (Hebrew: elohim, ;)in the other he is called by the personal name Jehovah (Hebrew: yhwh, ).20 (c) Names for people and places. (i) The mountain on which Moses communed with God is known either as Sinai or Horeb.21 (ii) Moses father-in-law is first called Reuel, then Jethro.22 (d) Anachronisms. (i) The Torah includes descriptions of the kingdoms of Edom and Philistia, and of domesticated camels, which some scholars argue didnt exist until after the time of Moses. (ii) There are also passages in the Torah that indicate an awareness of later Israelite history that would not have been known to Moses.23 (iii) And many of the place-names in the Torah are given in Hebrew or Aramaic, languages that didnt exist until long after the time of Moses. 24 (3) Although the details about the number of authors and timing of the source material are still debated, the Documentary Hypothesis is the primary theory used to explain the development of the Old Testament. Only the most traditional scholars question it today. v) As Latter-day Saints, I dont think we are required to accept either the traditional view of the scholarly view. Each has arguments for and against it.25

In one account, Noah brings only two of each animal aboard the ark, one male and one female (Genesis 6:1920; 7:9, 15). In the other, he is commanded to bring seven of each clean beast and fowl (Genesis 7:23), even though the law governing clean and unclean animals wasnt given until Moses time (Leviticus 11). 19 Proponents of the Documentary Hypothesis refer to the commandments in Exodus 34:1027 as the Ritual Decalogue, and the commandments in Exodus 20:117 and Deuteronomy 5:621 as the Ethical Decalogue. See
18

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual_Decalogue

20 The hypothesis that there are two different narratives explains how Gods personal name Jehovah can appear throughout the accounts of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (substituted by LORD, in all-capitals, in most Bibles), and yet God himself later tells Moses that by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them (Exodus 6:3). 21 The mountain is always called Sinai throughout Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers (with the exception of Exodus 3:1; 17:6; and 33:6), while it is consistently referred to by the Deuteronomist as Horeb (with the exception of Deuteronomy 33:2). 22 Reuel in Exodus 2:18; Jethro in Exodus 3:1; 4:18; 18:118; Numbers 2:14. 23 For example, Genesis 36:31 prefaces a list of kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel. The author of the passage was clearly writing in a time after the rise of Israelite kings (Saul, David, Solomon, and the kings of the divided nations of Israel and Judah that followed them). 24 For example, when Jacob and Laban built a pillar of stones as a token of their covenant, Laban called it Jegarsahadutha, an Aramaic word meaning witness-pile, while Jacob called it Galeed, the Hebrew word meaning the same thing (Genesis 31:47). But this story took place somewhere between 2000 and 1700 B.C., approximately 1,000 years before Aramaic and Hebrew existed as independent, distinct languages. At the time that story took place, both Laban and Jacob would have spoken the same proto-Semitic language. 25 For a Latter-day Saint perspective on the subject, see Kevin L. Barney, Reflections on the Documentary Hypothesis, Dialogue 33/1 (Spring 2000), 5799 (http://dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V33N01_79.pdf).

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(1) Most Latter-day Saints believe in the traditional view, but this is mostly because they havent been exposed to the alternative theory and the evidence for it. (2) Of the LDS scholars who are familiar with the Documentary Hypothesis, some accept it and others reject it.26 (3) I bring it up in this class because it is so widely accepted in Biblical scholarship that we should at the very least be aware of it. b) [SLIDE 10] The historical writings are anonymous, and were probably compiled by scribes from oral tradition and official records. i) The text itself indicates that they were written for readers who lived much later than the events they describe.27 c) The wisdom books are ascribed to David (Psalms) and Solomon (Proverbs and the Song of Solomon), with Job and Ecclesiastes written by anonymous authors. i) Its possible that Psalms and Proverbs were based on works by David and Solomon, and then expanded on and added to by later scribes. d) The prophets each have their own authorship issues. i) Traditionally each work is ascribed to the author whose name it bears. (1) However, some books are written about a prophet, not by him (like Jonah). ii) Most scholars believe that Isaiah was written by two, and possibly three, different authors, whose works were later compiled into a single text. (1) Well discuss this more when we get to the text of Isaiah later in the course. 4) How and when were the books of the Old Testament compiled? a) The Old Testament is mostly written in Hebrew. i) [SLIDE 11] The earliest form of Hebrew is known as Paleo-Hebrew, which dates back to at least to the 10th century B.C. (1) The Paleo-Hebrew alphabet has 22 consonants, and no vowels. (a) Because there are no vowels, were not certain today how Hebrew words were pronounced anciently. (i) Bt ts nt dffclt t rd wtht vwls whn y knw th wrds. Y cn rd ths, cnt y? (2) Except for a few fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls, there are no Old Testament manuscripts remaining today that are written in Paleo-Hebrew. ii) [SLIDE 12] When the Jewish people were captives in Babylon (586538 B.C.), they began to use Aramaic as their written and spoken language.28 (1) From Aramaic they developed a new Hebrew alphabet, one with 27 consonants.

LDS scholar John Sorenson argued that the material on the brass plates of the Book of Mormon supports the Documentary Hypothesis: The Brass Plates and Biblical Scholarship, Dialogue 10/4 (Autumn 1977), 3139 (https://dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V10N04_33.pdf). 26 See Barney, 5871. 27 For example, the books of Joshua and Judges mention certain geographical locations and inform the reader that they were previously known by different names when the account took place. See Joshua 14:15; 15:15; Judges 1:1011, 23. 28 Two lengthy portions of the Old Testament are written in Aramaic: Ezra 4:86:18; 7:1226; and Daniel 2:4b7:28. Jews continued to use Aramaic as their day-to-day language until after the time of Jesus. 2013, Mike Parker http://bit.ly/ldsarc For personal use only. Not a Church publication.

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(2) This was the alphabet in use when the Dead Sea Scrolls were written (200 B.C. A.D. 100) and when Jesus was ministering. iii) [SLIDE 13] At the end of the first century A.D., the nation of Judah and its temple were destroyed by the Romans and the Jews were scattered. After that the Hebrew scriptures were preserved by a professional class of scribes. (1) One of these groups, known as the Masoretes, created a system of pronunciation and grammar for the Hebrew text of the Bible. (a) They used marks above, below, and within the consonants to help indicate vowel sounds.29 (b) They also created the manuscripts that are the basis for all modern printed versions of the Old Testament. (i) The oldest manuscripts with the Masoretic Text date back to the 9th century A.D. The texts behind the scriptures we use today were created more than 1,500 years after the originals were written. 5) Translating the Bible. a) [SLIDE 14] Probably the first important event in the publication of the Hebrew scriptures was their translation into Greek. i) Between 333 and 331 B.C., the Macedonian king Alexander the Great conquered Judea and Egypt, and the Greek language became common among Jews.30 ii) Greek-speaking Jews living in Egypt completed a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures known as the Septuagint.31 iii) This is the version of the Old Testament that the writers of the New Testament read and from which they quoted.32 b) [SLIDE 15] As the Old and New Testaments began to be accepted by people who didnt speak or read Hebrew or Greek, they were translated into other languages. c) The earliest translation of the Bible in a non-Jewish language was a Latin version known at the Vulgate. It was completed in the 5th century A.D. i) Latin was the language of the Roman Empire that adopted Christianity in the 4th century. ii) The vast majority people at this time were illiterate, so Latin was only read by academics and professional clergy. d) [SLIDE 16] The Bible was translated into English beginning in the 14th century.

In typography, these are known as diacritical marks. Diacritics are rarely used in English, but appear frequently in other languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, and the Latin languages (e.g., Spanish, French). There are several categories of Hebrew diacritics; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_diacritics 30 Well discuss Alexander the Greats conquest of Judah in lesson 29. 31 The name Septuagint comes from the Latin septuaginta (seventy: septem, seven + -ginta, tens, ten times), and refers to the (untrue) legend that the work itself was completed by a team of 70 or 72 Jewish scholars who completed the work in 70 or 72 days. 32 For more background on the Septuagint, including a discussion of textual differences between it and the Hebrew scriptures, see Michael S. Heiser, The Role of the Septuagint in the Transmission of the Scriptures, Associates for Biblical Research, 17 February 2012 (http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2012/02/17/The-Role-of-the-Septuagint-in-theTransmission-of-the-Scriptures.aspx).
29

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i) The early translations by John Wycliffe and William Tyndale were done against the will of the Catholic Church and under penalty of death. (1) Tyndale himself was burned at the stake for heresy in 1536. ii) Eventually the Church of England severed its ties to Rome, and the British monarchy began to support an official English translation for common use. 6) [SLIDE 17] The Authorized King James Version.33 a) This is abbreviated KJV or AV. b) This Bible edition was prepared by order of King James I in A.D. 1604, and published in 1611.34 i) Its called the Authorized Version because it was the Bible authorized by the king of England to be read aloud in the church services of the Church of England. ii) It was not a new translation, but rather a revision of the Bishops Bible, which had been published in 1568 and revised in 1572.35 (1) King James ordered that the Bishops Bible was to be followed with as little alteration as possible. iii) The King James Bible was revised and corrected five times after it was published.36 The version that we use today is the 1769 Blayney edition.37 c) The impact of the KJV on English language and culture cannot be overstated.38 i) Along with the works of Shakespeare, the KJV is widely regarded as the greatest literary achievement of the English language. ii) The KJV reading of Psalm 23 (The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.) is one of the most majestic and famous pieces of prose in the English language. iii) The KJV has inspired countless works of art, literature, and speech, from Handels Messiah to Martin Luther King, Jr.s I Have a Dream speech. d) But setting aside its cultural impact for moment, how good of a translation is it? i) [SLIDE 18] There are some fundamentalist Christians who believe that the King James is not just the best Bible, but the only Bible that is totally perfect, totally infallible, and totally inspired.39
33 For an accessible and interesting book on the history of the KJV, I highly recommend Alister McGrath, In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture (Anchor Books, 2001). 34 The KJV was the third official translation of the Bible into English. The first was the Great Bible commissioned by the Church of England in A.D 1538 during the reign of King Henry VIII. The second was the Bishop's Bible of 1568, commissioned during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. 35 The Bishops Bible itself was heavily dependent on previous English translations. According to BYU scholars Jon Nielson and Royal Skousen, about 76% of the KJV Old Testament is essentially lifted from Tyndales edition (c. 1530), while 84% of the New Testament reflects his work. How much of the King James Bible is William Tyndale's?, Reformation 3 (1998), 4974 (abstract at http://www.tyndale.org/Reformation/3/nielson3.html). 36 New editions of the KJV were released in 1613, 1629, 1638, 1762, and 1769. 37 Named after Benjamin Blayney (17281801), a fellow and vice-principal of Hertford College who was employed by the Clarendon Press to prepare the edition. Minor updates have been made to the text since then; for a list of updates and corrections made to the 2013 LDS edition of the KJV, see

http://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/scriptures/approved-adjustments_eng.pdf
38 39

See McGrath, In the Beginning, 12. This is the so-called King James Only movement. The website http://www.kjv-only.com is a good introduction to the issues surrounding this belief. 2013, Mike Parker http://bit.ly/ldsarc For personal use only. Not a Church publication.

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(1) Because Latter-day Saints use the KJV as our official Bible, some of the false KJV only ideas have been adopted by some members.40 ii) Leaders of the Church have made it clear that the King James is not without error and its translators were not inspired. (1) [SLIDE 19] John Taylor:
I have often heard men in this Country splutter a great deal about the meaning of odd words in the Bible, but this only exhibits their folly: it is the spirit and intention of the language that are to be looked at, and if the translator does not know this it is impossible for him to translate correctly, and this is the reason why there are so many blunders in the Bible. I believe the English Bible is translated as well as any book could be by uninspired men.41

(2) [SLIDE 20] Brigham Young:

[If the Bible] be translated incorrectly, and there is a scholar on the earth who professes to be a Christian, and he can translate it any better than King Jamess translators did it, he is under obligation to do so. I think it is translated just as correctly as the scholars could get it, although it is not correct in a great many instances.42

e) Despite its literary brilliance, there are significant problems with the King James Bible. i) [SLIDE 21] Structural problems: (1) Chapters and verses.43 (a) Chapters sometimes end in the middle of a thought, breaking the continuity. (i) For example, Isaiah chapter 4, verse 1 is actually the concluding part of the narrative of chapter 3. 1. Because of the wars that will come upon Israel, there will be shortage of men, and women will be forced to enter into polygamous relationships in order to get married and have children. 2. But by putting this verse at the beginning of chapter 4, it misleads the reader into thinking that polygamy is a theological practice during the peaceful, millennial reign of the Lord. (b) And in the KJV, verses are listed as individual blocks of text, rather than being grouped into paragraphs. This reinforces reading isolated scriptures out of context.44 (i) Modern Bibles still use chapters and verses, but they group them into logical paragraphs that maintain context.
40 See Philip L. Barlow, Why the King James Version?: From the Common to the Official Bible of Mormonism, Dialogue 22/2 (Summer 1989), 1942 (https://dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V22N02_21.pdf). In his article Barlow examines how the King James Bible was understood by early Latter-day Saints, and recounts LDS resistance to modern Bible translations, beginning with President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.s opposition to the Revised Standard Version in the early 1950s. Barlow later reworked his Dialogue essay into chapter 5 of his book, Mormons and the Bible: The Place of the Latter-day Saints in American Religion (Oxford University Press, 1991), 14881. 41 John Taylor, 22 August 1852. Journal of Discourses 1:25 (http://en.fairmormon.org/Journal_of_Discourses/1/3#25 ). 42 Brigham Young . 27 August 1871. JD 14:22627 (http://en.fairmormon.org/Journal_of_Discourses/14/31#226 ). 43 For a summary of how the Bible was divided into chapters and verses, see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chapters_and_verses_of_the_Bible
44

This isnt the solely a problem with the King James Version, but most modern Bibles do compile verses into paragraphs that contain passages on the same subject. 2013, Mike Parker http://bit.ly/ldsarc For personal use only. Not a Church publication.

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(2) Poetry. (a) Much of the Old Testament is written in Hebrew poetic style. The KJV doesnt put these passages into a poetic form so we can see the structure. (i) Well discuss this more when we get to lesson 15. ii) [SLIDE 22] Archaic English. (1) The KJV was translated over 400 years ago, and the English language has changed considerably since then.45 (2) Some English words in the KJV no longer in use; for example:46 (a) Adjure (to appeal to earnestly).47 (b) Holpen (past tense of help).48 (c) Bewray (to reveal or to disclose).49 (d) Pourtray (to engrave).50 (e) Obeisance (homage or reverence).51 (f) Churl (a scoundrel or a deceiver).52 (3) And there are some English words that we still use whose meanings have changed; for example: (a) Conversation means behavior or public conduct.53 Its never used in the KJV in the sense of verbal communication. (b) Road means a raid or an incursion.54 Its never used in the KJV to mean a path. (c) Confectionaries are people who make perfumes and ointments.55 It has nothing to do with candy. (d) Carriage means valuables or wealth; it also sometimes is the word used for baggage or a load for a beast of burden.56 It does not refer to a wheeled vehicle pulled by a horse. (e) Corn refers to wheat or any other grain.57 What we call corn today is actually maize, a plant that was not known in the Middle East during Biblical times.

45 Many of the archaic words in this section can be properly understood using the footnotes in the current LDS edition of the Bible. However, not all archaic words are footnoted, and even those that are require the reader to notice the footnote, stop to read it, and then re-read the verse with the suggested replacement word. 46 The WebBible Encyclopedia website lists 329 archaic or obscure words used in the KJV:

http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/kjvwords.html
47 48

See KJV Joshua 6:26; 1 Samuel 14:24; 1 Kings 22:16; 2 Chronicles 18:15. See KJV Psalms 83:8; 86:17; Isaiah 31:3; Daniel 11:34. 49 See KJV Isaiah 16:3. 50 See KJV Ezekiel 4:1. 51 See KJV Genesis 37:7; 37:9; 43:28; Exodus 18:7; 2 Samuel 1:2; 14:4; 15:5; 1 Kings 1:16; 2 Chronicles 24:17. 52 See KJV Isaiah 32:5, 7. 53 See KJV Psalms 37:14; 50:23. 54 See KJV 1 Samuel 27:10. 55 See KJV 1 Samuel 8:13. 56 See KJV Judges 18:21; 1 Samuel 17:22; Isaiah 10:28; 46:1. 57 This word appears 86 times in the KJV Old Testament, most famously in Genesis 41:5. http://bit.ly/ldsarc For personal use only. Not a Church publication.

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(f) Prevent means to allow, to make a way for, exactly the opposite of what it means today!58 (4) [SLIDE 23] The KJV also contains references to mythological creatures, such as the unicorn,59 the satyr,60 the dragon,61 and the cockatrice.62 (a) The passages where these appear usually refer to actual animals in Hebrew, but were mistranslated by the KJV translators, who believed in unicorns and other fantastic creatures. (5) [SLIDE 24] The KJV is famous for its use of antiquated formal and informal pronouns (thee, thou, thy, and thine vs. you, your, and yours). (a) This practice was already falling into disuse when the King James translators completed their work. (b) Originally, thou was simply the singular version of the plural pronoun ye. However, as English developed, thou was later used to express intimacy and familiarity, while you was used for formal circumstances.63 (i) Its somewhat ironic that Latter-day Saints have retained the use of these pronouns as part of our formal language of prayer, exactly the opposite of how they were originally used.64 (6) [SLIDE 25] But perhaps whats most difficult about the KJV is its grammar. (a) For example, in the first chapter of 1 Samuel, the woman Hannah came to the tabernacle to pray that she might have a child. Eli the high priest saw her lips moving as she prayed silently, and accused her of being drunk. [25.1] Hannah defended herself and pleaded with Eli:
Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. (KJV 1 Samuel 1:16.)

(i) The Jacobean English phrasing and near-literal translation from the Hebrew in this passage is very difficult for the modern reader to understand. We just dont speak that way today. (ii) [25.2] A modern English translation renders the same passage this way:
Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time. (NRSV 1 Samuel 1:16.)
58 See KJV 2 Samuel 22:6, 19; Job 3:12; 30:27; 41:11; Psalms 18:5, 18; 21:3; 59:10; 79:8; 88:13; 119:14748; Isaiah 21:14; Amos 9:10. 59 KJV Numbers 23:22; 24:8; Deuteronomy 33:17; Job 39:9; 39:10; Psalms 22:21; 29:6; 92:10; Isaiah 34:7. The Hebrew word in these passages is ( reh-ame), which is probably a wild ox. 60 KJV Isaiah 13:21; 34:14. The satyr was a mythological creature that was a man with a goats features like a tail, ears, horns, and hooves. The Hebrew word ( saw-eer) probably means a wild or hairy goat. 61 There are 22 references in the KJV Old Testament to dragons, including Psalms 44:19; 91:13; Isaiah 13:22; 34:13; and Jeremiah 9:11. The Hebrew word in these passages is ( tanniyn), which refers to serpent or sea-monster from ancient Israelite mythology, so the use of dragon by the KJV translators isnt entirely inaccurate. 62 KJV Isaiah 11:8; 14:29; 59:5; Jeremiah 8:17. It also appeared as a marginal note at Proverbs 23:32 in the first edition of the KJV. A cockatrice was a mythological creature with the body of a dragon and the head of a rooster. The Hebrew word (tsepha) probably means a viper, adder, or some other poisonous snake. 63 The so-called T-V distinction between formal and informal parts of speech persists in many languages, including Spanish, French, and German. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-V_distinction 64 See Elder Dallin H. Oaks, The Language of Prayer, General Conference, April 1993 (http://www.lds.org/generalconference/1993/04/the-language-of-prayer). The English convention is at odds with some foreign languages, like French, where intimate/informal pronouns are always used when speaking to close family, little children, and God.

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(b) Although its possible to read the KJV and understand the basic idea or meaning of the text, it slows down even experienced readers, and often prevents us from understanding the nuances of the text. iii) [SLIDE 26] Finally, there are inaccurately-translated passages in the KJV that reflect the theological bias of the translators. (1) Its important point out here that all translators are biased.65 They approach the text with preconceived ideas about what the message of the Bible should be, and this is often reflected in how they choose to translate important passages and even in which manuscripts they choose to use. (a) The best translations strive to be as accurate as possible, and include footnotes with alternate translations of passages that could be rendered multiple ways. (2) While the KJV is probably no more biased than any other translation, be aware that it does suffer from theological predisposition in some places; for example: (a) Sometimes the translators erred in putting New Testament Christology into the Old Testament in inappropriate places. (i) This example comes from the well-known story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who thrown into the fiery furnace for refusing to worship Nebuchadnezzars golden image. Nebuchadnezzar was perplexed because he thought only three men were thrown into the fire, but he actually saw four standing in the flames: [26.1]
He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. (KJV Daniel 3:25.)

1. In this famous passage from Daniel, the KJVs translators would have us believe that a polytheistic Babylonian king who lived 6th century B.C. would explain what he saw in the fiery furnace from the perspective of a New Testament Christian. 2. [26.2] This Aramaic passage actually reads the fourth is like a son of the gods (NASB, ESV).66 In other words, Nebuchadnezzar saw a divine beingan angel or other god-like messengerand believed it to be one of the Babylonian gods. (b) This is one major example, but there are minor ones throughout the KJV text that color the way we read and understand the Bible. Well examine some of these as we proceed through the year. f) [SLIDE 27] The KJV is the Churchs official version of the Bible, and will be our primary text for this class. i) However, it is not superior in its translation, its language, or its source documents to other Bible translations (and is quite often inferior to more recent Bibles).
65 Its important to understand that all translations are interpretations. The translator has to make a decision about how to best capture the meaning and intent of the original. This is especially difficult with languages that use a lot of metaphor and idiom (including English!). Phrases like these can make translation a very difficult job: She woke up on the wrong side of t he bed. Give me the real scoop. Just hold your horses! 66 The NIV follows the NASB: the fourth looks like a son of the gods. Other modern Bible translations render this passage the fourth has the appearance of a god (NRSV), or the fourth is like that of a god (NET).

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Old Testament: Origin & translation of the OT

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ii) We continue to use it primarily because in doctrinal matters, latter-day revelation supports the King James Version in preference to other English translations.67 iii) It is also similar in language style to the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smiths revelations. (1) This family relationship is important for showing connections between passages in the Bible and similar passages in modern scripture. iv) The KJV is sufficient for devotional use. However, for serious Bible study, the KJV has many shortcomings which stand as obstacles to understanding.68 v) The Churchs preference for the KJV should not, and does not, prevent us from using other translations to help us understand the Bible better, clarify difficult KJV passages, and correct places where the KJV translators were in error.69 7) [SLIDE 28] For this course, I strongly recommend (although I dont require) that you use a good, quality study Bible in a modern English translation. a) A study Bible is one that has introductory essays for each book and footnotes on each page that help you understand the context of what youre reading. b) There are many different study Bibles available through local and online bookstores. Some are also available for free on the Internet. c) There are three that I recommend: i) The New Oxford Annotated Bible. (1) This volume, published by Oxford University Press, uses the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), which is a modern descendant of the King James Bible.70 (a) The NRSV is widely used by scholars and students in university-level courses, and I will be using it frequently in this class. (2) Its available through Amazon.com in hardback ($28) and paperback ($24). (3) Your syllabus and the class website also have a link to a free online version of the NRSV, without the Oxford footnotes. ii) The NET Bible (New English Translation). (1) The NET Bible is a new translation that was completed by a team of Evangelical Christian scholars at the Dallas Theological Seminary in 2005. (a) What makes it unique is that they made the drafts of their translations and footnotes available on the Internet for anyone to make suggestions and corrections. (2) The best thing about this Bible is its over 60,000 detailed footnotes.

67 Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 2: Administering the Church (2010), 21.1.7 (p. 180) (https://www.lds.org/handbook/handbook-2-administering-the-church/selected-church-policies?lang=eng#21.1.7). 68 Of all the printings of the King James Version, however, the one produced by the LDS Church is by far the best. 69 At BYU, upper division courses in the Old and New Testament require students to use a modern-English study Bible. 70 The KJV was updated in the 1880s with the Revised Version, and the RVs American variant, the American Standard Version in 1901. Both the RV and the ASV were updated in the Revised Standard Version in 1952. The New Revised Standard Version, an update of the RSV, was released in 1989.

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Old Testament: Origin & translation of the OT

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(3) The hardback study version is available for purchase online for $29.95. (Leatherbound versions are more.) (a) Be sure to get the Full Notes Edition, not the Readers or Compact editions. (4) Its also available for free online, with all of the footnotes. Your syllabus and the class website have the link. iii) The Jewish Study Bible. (1) This Bible is also published by Oxford University Press, and uses the NJPS TANAKH Translation.71 (2) This has the advantage of being translated by a team of Jewish scholars, which will give you a perspective on the Old Testament from the religion of the people who wrote it. (3) Its available through Amazon.com in hardback for $27 and paperback for $22. (4) Your syllabus also has a link to a free online version of the NJPS, without the Oxford footnotes. 8) [SLIDE 29] Id like to wrap up tonight with a brief look at the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible.72 a) Many Sunday school discussions over problematic passages in the Bible end with someone quoting the Joseph Smith Translation and stating that that was how the passage read when it was originally written. i) However, the reality is a little more complex than that. b) Josephs new translation73 was not done in the usual manner of a scholar, but was a revelatory experience using only a King James Bible. i) Like Josephs other revelations, the translation was not a simple, mechanical recording of divine dictation, but rather a study-and-thought process accompanied by and prompted by revelation from the Spirit. (1) So far as we have any evidence, Joseph Smith did not use Biblical languages and manuscripts in the translation. (2) There have been many discoveries of ancient Biblical manuscripts since Joseph Smiths time. There are a handful of interesting parallels to Josephs work, but in most instances recently-discovered Bible manuscripts and modern translations do not match the Joseph Smith Translation.74 c) So if the Joseph Smith Translation is Joseph Smiths correction of errors in other Bible translations, why do most of these corrections not match known Biblical manuscripts? i) Just because the new translation was a divinely inspired project does not necessarily assume (a) that it is a restoration of the original Bible text, or (b) that it is infallible.

The first edition of the JPS was completed in 1917. The updated NJPS was released in 1985. This is condensed version of a lesson I gave in the Doctrine and Covenants course of study. See D&C lesson 15, pages 1 8 (http://sites.google.com/site/hwsarc/home/dc/week15). 73 In Josephs revelations the Lord referred to it as the translation of my scriptures (94:10) or the new translation of my holy word (124:89). 74 See Kevin L. Barney, The Joseph Smith Translation and Ancient Texts of the Bible, Dialogue 19/3 (Fall 1986), 85102 (http://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V19N03_87.pdf).
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Old Testament: Origin & translation of the OT

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ii) [SLIDE 30] Josephs new translation could be many things. For example, different portions of the work may include: (1) Restorations of material once written by the biblical authors but since deleted from the Bible. (2) Historical events or doctrines that were not recorded anciently, or were recorded but never included in any biblical collection.75 (3) Corrections of Biblical passages that were in error even in their original form. (4) Inspired commentary by the Prophet Joseph which enlarged, elaborated, and even adapted Biblical passages to a latter-day situation.76 (5) Josephs changes to the wording of the Bible to make it more clear and understandable for modern readers. (6) Harmonization of historical details and attempts to clarify apparent contradictions in the KJV text. iii) Restoration of original, lost text almost certainly accounts for a minority of the changes Joseph made. He did not claim to be mechanically preserving some hypothetically perfect Biblical textrather, he used the existing King James text as a basis for commentary, expansion, and clarification, with particular attention to issues of doctrinal importance for Latter-day Saint readers. d) In summary, Joseph did not believe that there was a perfect original Biblical manuscript that he was trying to restore. Instead, he was expanding on the King James text and revealing new concepts that may or may not have been in some of the ancient manuscript traditions. i) So, in this class, well be using the JST in our study, but well also be looking at other possible translations and examining what they tell us. 9) [SLIDE 31] Doctrine and Covenants 88:118 commands us to seekout of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith. This is our class motto! 10)
[SLIDE 32] Next week:

a) The Creation (Genesis 12; Moses 23; Abraham 45).

The Enoch material in Moses 57 might fall into this category. This may be similar to what Nephi meant by likening the scriptures to himself and his people in their particular circumstance (1 Nephi 19:23; 2 Nephi 11:8).
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