Proverbs/Mishley talks of the sloth who, "buries his hand
in a dish (tsallachat=
)"
(Prov/Mish 19:24), but the KJV mistranslates this as "bosom". In
Hebrew, there is an important word-play going on between the word dish
(tsallachat=)
and the word prosperity (tsalach=
)
because the whole purpose of talking about how the sloth behaves this way
is to demonstrate that he will not prosper (tsalak=).
Dish (tsallachat=)
is very close to the word prosperity (tsalach=),
but its not prosperity (tsalach=).
That of course is part of the point being made by this verse; that if you
are lazy - illustrated with a picture of someone too lazy to even feed
himself - you won't prosper. But that's something you don't see when
you read the Scriptures in English. Some things just don't come through.
Where did the KJV translation come from? Basically,
this came from the Greek LXX. Dish (tsallachat=),
was translated into Greek as kolpon (depth, hollow, or bosom, etc.), and
it made sense to the Greeks. Kolpon can describe a hollowed out area,
and a dish definitely has a hollowed out area. And while the Greek
word "kolpon" can mean bosom, it was not what Shlomo (Solomon) meant when
he wrote the text. This is trying to convey a picture of someone
who reaches into a bowl filled with food, but is too lazy to feed himself.
So basically, this error occured because the KJV not only translated this
verse from the wrong language, but also failed to interpret the Greek version
correctly on top of that! So we went from an eating utensil in Hebrew to
Greek to a part of the body in the KJV! What a metamorphesis!!!
Prov 19:24 is a great example of why we need to study in the original language. Not only did the KJV get this wrong, but even a valid translation would cause us to miss an important point that this verse is trying to convey.
Shalom,
Joe
Home Page : http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jovial/learn/mc/mcindex.htm