Favourite Bible Translations

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Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
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I don't think translators are off to translate strong trees as Oaks.
The English Oak, the big one (Quercus Robur) is not the one found in The Middle East but 5 species of oak do grow in Israel. The Kermes Oak, The Mt. Tabor Oak, The Cyprus Oak, The Lebanon Oak and European Turkey Oak. The Mediterranean land of milk & honey is really very fertile.
neither but some people are just nitpickers.
Though theres nothing really wrong with going through the Bible with a fine tooth comb.

Its just most people have got other things to do than argue all the time over word differences when most people just pick up the meaning from the context and sentence structure.

The tranlsators didnt have all the hebrew and greek words at their disposal to translate directly into english and had to transliterate a lot of them.

Im supposing that they meant a horned creature when they translated unicorn, and a strong tree when they translated oak. Its not likely they got the exact species, as scientific classification wasnt as comprehensive as it is now. People are still discovering new species thousands of years later.
 

Lanolin

Well-known member
Dec 15, 2018
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Imagine a scientific bible with Homo Sapiens instead of Mankind, and all the creatures and plants had their latin names instead of their common names. They say its to avoid confusion, but maybe some people want a more specific olea europaea instead of olive.

You know, in case of any mix up. Or they could just read the Vulgate.
 

Nehemiah6

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2017
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Are your truth implying that God indeed created "unicorns"?
The rhinoceros has one primary horn. Then again, unicorns may have existed and become extinct (according to some lexicons).

1610330294108.png
 

SoulWeaver

Senior Member
Oct 25, 2014
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I wonder if veterinarian plastic surgery is a thing? If they could implant a single horn on a horse? I would sell these under a patent. Would that be wrong?
There's no need to do it. Unicorns exist.
Sheep and goats at times have one horn in the center of their forehead, it's a natural genetic mutation, some people breed them it's pretty cool.
They exist, people have just always imagined a horsie ;) I guess because they think it would be cool to use them as a mount :LOL:
And yes I'm aware of the rhinoceros history of the Bible term but reality is even cooler than that.
I posted videos of real life unicorns before here.
 
Nov 15, 2020
1,897
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Newcastle, NSW, Australia
That's not entirely true.

Rights in The Authorized Version of the Bible (King James Bible) in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown and administered by the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press. The reproduction by any means of the text of the King James Version is permitted to a maximum of five hundred (500) verses for liturgical and non-commercial educational use, provided that the verses quoted neither amount to a complete book of the Bible nor represent 25 per cent or more of the total text of the work in which they are quoted, subject to the following acknowledgement being included:

Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press

When quotations from the KJV text are used in materials not being made available for sale, such as church bulletins, orders of service, posters, presentation materials, or similar media, a complete copyright notice is not required but the initials KJV must appear at the end of the quotation.

Rights or permission requests (including but not limited to reproduction in commercial publications) that exceed the above guidelines must be directed to the Permissions Department, Cambridge University Press, University Printing House, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8BS, UK (https://www.cambridge.org/about-us/rights-permissions) and approved in writing.
not entirely true ?
 
Nov 15, 2020
1,897
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Newcastle, NSW, Australia
I'm British. I live in England. I have never had problems with reading, writing or learning other languages but I don't like the KJV for regular use or study. I have always preferred a modern English version. I am currently using the NASB.

It looks like most of the KJVO adherents are American. It's a religious indoctrination rather than an objective preference. Bearing in mind that people who simply prefer the KJV are not Onlyists. Onlyists are those who actively badger readers of other translations.
are you a pom ?
Oh no 😲
 

Lucy-Pevensie

Senior Member
Dec 20, 2017
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Who needs a lexicon? Or any sense at all? This old Irish song has the answer........

A long time ago, when the Earth was green
There was more kinds of animals than you've ever seen
They'd run around free while the Earth was being born
And the loveliest of all was the unicorn

There was green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
The loveliest of all was the unicorn

The Lord seen some sinning and it gave Him pain
And He says, "Stand back, I'm going to make it rain"
He says, "Hey Noah, I'll tell you what to do
Build me a floating zoo,
and take some of those

Green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
Don't you forget My unicorns

Old Noah was there to answer the call
He finished up making the ark just as the rain started to fall
He marched the animals two by two
And he called out as they came through
Hey Lord,
I've got green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but Lord, I'm so forlorn
I just can't find no unicorns"

And Noah looked out through the driving rain
Them unicorns were hiding, playing silly games
Kicking and splashing while the rain was falling
Oh, them silly unicorns

There was green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Noah cried, "Close the door because the rain is falling
And we just can't wait for no unicorns"

The ark started moving, it drifted with the tide
The unicorns looked up from the rocks and they cried
And the waters came down and sort of floated them away
That's why you never see unicorns to this very day

You'll see green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
You're never gonna see no unicorns
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
36,647
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The rhinoceros has one primary horn. Then again, unicorns may have existed and become extinct (according to some lexicons).

View attachment 224351
the Vulgate has 'rinocerotis'

why would English translators put unicorn instead of rhinoceros ? ((Geneva, Wycliffe also have unicorn))
is it supposed to be an English word for rhino?


Young's Literal puts Reem -- which is, he doesn't try to translate it, just puts the Jewish word there. i think this is best.
 

Nehemiah6

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2017
24,418
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why would English translators put unicorn instead of rhinoceros ?
Why not? No one really knew which animal was being specifically mentioned. For all we know that creature became extinct. And in any event, this matter is of little or no consequence.
 

Lucy-Pevensie

Senior Member
Dec 20, 2017
9,263
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^ The
the Vulgate has 'rinocerotis'

why would English translators put unicorn instead of rhinoceros ? ((Geneva, Wycliffe also have unicorn))
is it supposed to be an English word for rhino?


Young's Literal puts Reem -- which is, he doesn't try to translate it, just puts the Jewish word there. i think this is best.
I like the YLT. I find it especially useful for clarity in parallel with another version.
 

Lucy-Pevensie

Senior Member
Dec 20, 2017
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Why not? No one really knew which animal was being specifically mentioned. For all we know that creature became extinct. And in any event, this matter is of little or no consequence.
Same rules apply to other versions then or you are a hypocrite.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
36,647
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Why not? No one really knew which animal was being specifically mentioned. For all we know that creature became extinct. And in any event, this matter is of little or no consequence.
i agree. and i think that's how we got satyr, basilisk, cockatrice too. it wasn't clear what animal the Hebrew words were referring to, so they put something the general European audience would be familiar with & that seemed to fit by context.

in the case of 'reem' it's mentioned 8 times, described as strong, horned, practically untamable, and dangerous. young ones skip ((Psalm 29:6)) when they're happy, like young goats or cows do. Isaiah 34:7 also associates them with cattle --

And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
(Isaiah 34:7 kjv)
the word unicorns is 'reem'
the word bullocks is 'uparim' -- refers to young bulls; calves
the word bulls is 'abbirim' -- doesn't mean bulls, it is simply the word 'mighty'


so it's saying the reem will come down, the young with the mighty. so the ancients referred to a baby reem with the same word they'd use for a baby cow, and the adult ones are described as mighty, and they were found in the wild.

aurochs fits. they were cross-bred with other cattle, producing very large kinds of domesticated cows in ancient India & Middle East, but the wild, not cross-bred, pure aurochs were hunted and considered very dangerous, strong, and ((as described in Job)) not tamable. as far as i know there's no mythos or mention of unicorns in any Assyrian, Chaldean, Egyptian, Canaanite or Hebrew lore, but unicorns are found strictly in European & Chinese lore. on the other hand there is all kinds of history of these giant wild bulls, the size of small elephants or hippos, in the region. paintings, statues, idols of giant bulls are common -- but ((again as far as i know)) zero paintings, statues, idols, stories or worship of unicorns anywhere in the ancient Levant.