Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Is. 58:1 - "Call out full-throated; do not hold back"

A book which examines most twentieth century English versions of the Bible: So Many Versions? (SMV), by trinitarian Bible scholars Dr. S. Kubo and Dr. W. Albrecht provides a page and a half of what it calls "peculiar translations" (pp. 108-109) by the NWT. Many of these "peculiar translations" are comparable to translations found in more popular Bibles of Christendom. But these comparable renderings are not criticized at all in SMV's critique of them.

One of these "peculiar translations" is of Is. 58:1:


Is. 58:1 - "Call out full-throated; do not hold back" vs. "Cry aloud, spare not."

The Hebrew here is qara "to call" and garon "(with) the throat" -Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible, pp. 28, 213, Eerdmans Publishing.

And Gesenius tells us:

"[garon]...the throat,.... Isa. 58:1 [qara garon] `cry with the throat,' i.e. with the full voice. For those who speak in a low voice use only the lips...while those who cry with a loud voice propel their words from the throat and breast." - p. 179.

The NJV (New Jewish Version or Tanakh published by the Jewish Publication Society) is highly praised for its accuracy by SMV:

"The NJV is a monument to careful scholarship .... It ranks as one of the best translations of the Hebrew Bible [the Old Testament] available." - p. 143, SMV.

And how, then, does NJV translate Is. 58:1? - "Cry with FULL THROAT." Also compare NAB (1970), NAB (1991), NLV (1993), Young's, and ASV [footnote].

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