The English Language and the Bible

[OzSpen]

Because they're foreign to us. That's why.

Weren't pizzas originally foreign to your diet? What about Chinese food?

It doesn't take long for foreign to become common.

Oz

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Learning a foreign is tough but rewarding work.

Music notation is a kind of language. It's the closest encounter with learning another language that I've had:

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Weren't pizzas originally foreign to your diet? What about Chinese food?

When you talk pizza you're talkin' my native language.
Chinese food, on the other hand, makes me ask, 'what planet is this stuff from?'. Still foreign to me, always will be.

 

[OzSpen]

Music notation is a kind of language. It's the closest encounter with learning another language that I've had:

Do you know the meaning of camouflage?

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Do you know the meaning of camouflage?

No. I just knows it when I sees it. Like on Sundays when we wheres our bestest clothes to church.

 

[Silmarien]

Greek is necessary for persons such as yourself. It's necessary to understand everything more deeply and clearly. But please don't tell me I must know Koine Greek to understand if I can sin or not (just read part of your sin article), if salvation is eternal or not, if God loves me or not.

I think it's worth mentioning also that reading in a foreign language is often a completely different experience than reading in your native one. I have a wild time switching between languages, and even when reading the same passage in a second language, it'll sometimes feel pretty alien even though it's not. So reading the Bible in Greek may not necessarily give you as much insight as reading it in your native language anyway, which means that if a translation isn't adequate for proper understanding, that proper understanding may well be unattainable.

I fully support learning Greek and Hebrew, though. But I'm allergic to translations.

 

[OzSpen]

No. I just knows it when I sees it. Like on Sundays when we wheres our bestest clothes to church.

You wouldn't like to be in church with me in my shorts and sandals.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

No. I just knows it when I sees it. Like on Sundays when we wheres our bestest clothes to church.

....and weddings.

 

[GodsGrace]

You wouldn't like to be in church with me in my shorts and sandals.

Ditto for Bermuda.
Guys with a sports jacket, shirt and tie, shorts and socks up to the knee.
It takes a little getting used to.
Haven't been there in 20 yrs, but it's probably still like this...
Went to a service there. The people are very friendly. Clean and beautiful island.
Pink sand. Beautiful!

 

[GodsGrace]

Music notation is a kind of language. It's the closest encounter with learning another language that I've had:

The universal language.
Besides English.

Which, BTW, is the reason Americans don't really care to learn another language.
The whole world speaks En glish!

When you go to an airport, anywhere, there is always a translation in English for everything, incl the direction signs.
Foreigners coming to NY do NOT find their language anywhere - so they tend to want to learn English ---- all the young kids here speak English, and pretty well too.

 

[WIP]

You're such an American!
Why do you American types hate learning foreign languages?

I am of German descent and many times I have thought it would be pretty cool to know how to speak Deutsch. My father didn't know how to speak English until he started in school but by the time I knew him he had forgotten most of his former language. I remember when my grandmother was in the nursing home during her last years she forgot her English and began to speak only Deutsch. My grandfather was the only one in the family that still knew enough to be able to communicate with her.

My neighbor's wife is from Denmark and she can speak Danish, English, some Norwegian, some Swedish, and some Deutsch as well. They sent all four of their boys to Denmark to spend a year with relatives and learn the language. One has now made Denmark his home, another is over there in college, and another is working his way to being a foreign diplomat. I think it's pretty cool.

 

[GodsGrace]

I think it's worth mentioning also that reading in a foreign language is often a completely different experience than reading in your native one. I have a wild time switching between languages, and even when reading the same passage in a second language, it'll sometimes feel pretty alien even though it's not. So reading the Bible in Greek may not necessarily give you as much insight as reading it in your native language anyway, which means that if a translation isn't adequate for proper understanding, that proper understanding may well be unattainable.

I fully support learning Greek and Hebrew, though. But I'm allergic to translations.

If I'm having difficulty understanding a verse, I check the YLT and also a couple of bibles I have in Italian since I'm fluent in that language. I know Spanish well too, but not enough to read the bible and really understand it in that language. It does help sometimes. Anyway, I'm forgetting Spanish --- I never speak it!

 

[GodsGrace]

I am of German descent and many times I have thought it would be pretty cool to know how to speak Deutsch. My father didn't know how to speak English until he started in school but by the time I knew him he had forgotten most of his former language. I remember when my grandmother was in the nursing home during her last years she forgot her English and began to speak only German. My grandfather was the only one in the family that still knew enough to be able to communicate with her.

It's a shame to lose our original language.
I also know how to speak my dialect, which is very unique and is spoken ONLY in my hometown.
The younger ones are beginning to want to speak only Italian and eventually my dialect will be abandoned. This is very sad for me. But things change...

 

[reba]

The way i butcher English another language aint gonna happen French would have been my choice
Grandpa was French he would not speak French as he so wanted to be American.. He could have done both.. He was about 12 when he got here...

 

[GodsGrace]

First: I believe in the eternal security of believers in Jesus. I believe this is taught in Scripture.

Seconed: I will now become a fan of Greek and an aorist-loving believer.

Third: I like Oz's style and posts.

Last: Wondering makes me think a lot about stuff and I love that about her posts.

hehehe :nod (I just wanted to post that)

First:

Second:

Third:

Fourth: :halo

 

[Classik]

Please tell me the meaning of 'Light be'.

That's the issue

 

[Silmarien]

If I'm having difficulty understanding a verse, I check the YLT and also a couple of bibles I have in Italian since I'm fluent in that language. I know Spanish well too, but not enough to read the bible and really understand it in that language. It does help sometimes. Anyway, I'm forgetting Spanish --- I never speak it!

La estoy leyendo en español ahora mismo, jaja. Es... muy interesante, ya que compré la versión Reina Valera y el lenguaje es bastante viejo. ¡Pero ya era hora de que comenzara a leer en castellano antiguo!

I may have to go back to the English version because good old San Pablo keeps on putting me to sleep. I've actually ended up liking him a lot more than I thought I would, so the problem might be the antiquated Spanish. But at least I'll soon no longer have an excuse not to read Don Quijote.

 

[jasonc]

La estoy leyendo en español ahora mismo, jaja. Es... muy interesante, ya que compré la versión Reina Valera y el lenguaje es bastante viejo. ¡Pero ya era hora de que comenzara a leer en castellano antiguo!

I may have to go back to the English version because good old San Pablo keeps on putting me to sleep. I've actually ended up liking him a lot more than I thought I would, so the problem might be the antiquated Spanish. But at least I'll soon no longer have an excuse not to read Don Quijote.

Old florida maps are In that Spanish

 

[OzSpen]

Ditto for Bermuda.
Guys with a sports jacket, shirt and tie, shorts and socks up to the knee.
It takes a little getting used to.
Haven't been there in 20 yrs, but it's probably still like this...
Went to a service there. The people are very friendly. Clean and beautiful island.
Pink sand. Beautiful!

No sports' jacket with shirt and tie for me. Only shorts, T-shirts, bare feet in sandals. In winter, I wear shorts, shirt and sports shoes with socks. Occasionally if it's really cold, I'll wear long trousers with an open-neck short sleeve shirt.

Oh the delights of living in the sub-tropics.

Oz

 

[OzSpen]

That's the issue

OT exegete H C Leupold did not consider it was an issue. He wrote of Gen 1:3,

The Hebrew is really more expressive than the English for the word spoken by God which we render "Let there be light." It is a vigorous imperative of the verb hayah, "to become": "Become light" and 'became light." The German comes closer to the original: Es werde Licht und es ward Licht (Leupold 1942:52).​

Oz

Work consulted
Leupold, H C 1942. Exposition of Genesis. London: Evangelical Press (originally published by The Wartburg Press).