This section deals with the original languages of the Bible (and thus translations), including the words used and their meanings (both their literal meanings and the cultural values and theology associated with them since the greatest expression of a culture’s value system is found in its language).
The Bible wasn’t originally written in English. Or Latin. Or French. Or German. Or Spanish. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew (the book of Daniel has Aramaic as well). And the manuscripts we have of the New Testament are in Greek. All of these languages function very differently than English, especially Hebrew. Hebrew is a ‘word‐poor’ language. Biblical Hebrew includes only about 8,000 words,11 far fewer than the 400,000 or more we have in English. Paradoxically, the richness of Hebrew comes from its poverty. Because the ancient language has so few words, each one is like an overstuffed suitcase, bulging with extra meanings that it must carry in order for the language to fully describe reality.
This is why we have so many different translations. There are numerous options translating from Hebrew to English (same is true of Greek). Owing to this reality, we must keep in mind that every translation is an interpretation. What translators believe is going on in a passage will determine how they translate that passage, since multiple options are generally on the table.
It’s worth mentioning that Biblical Hebrew refers to the words from the Ancient Hebrew language used in the Old Testament. Therefore, Biblical Hebrew is a subset of
Ancient Hebrew. There were more than 8,000 words in the Ancient Hebrew language,
but the Old Testament writers utilized about 8,000 of them.
Be aware that different translators translate passages differently, and each translation is approaching the translation process from a different perspective with different objectives.
QUESTIONS:
-What words appear to be significant (pay attention if key words are
repeated)?
– How do other translations translate it?
– What does the word mean in its original language?
– Is the word communicating anything visual (Hebrew and Greek often have word pictures associated with key words) or a cultural value?
– Where else is it used in this particular book of the Bible?
– Where else is it used in the Bible