Hebrew Scholars Make the Translation

If you start to research the Scriptures you'll find discussion and debate concerning translations and words. Keep in mind, we are not talking about interpretations, but translating the original language, be it Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek, into another language. If you read a Bible in French or English, etc., someone had to discern which words most closely represent the original language. This process is critical to an accurate representation of the intended meaning.

So what's the big deal. In the most technical sense the meanings of the original words — first penned by the Jewish hands — those recorded the Hebrew Scriptures, is of critical importance especially if the content of the Scriptures is to be considered seriously.

There is something marvelous and fascinating here. Study in depth will reveal to you an interlocking network of themes and storylines that run throughout the Scriptures. That network would fail if the credibility in various areas were to topple. That scientific principle, geography, archaeological evidence, etc. ring true in the Scriptures is part of a critical validation that you might explore elsewhere... yet this is inherent to these writings. The Bible is credible and has proven so in many ways as humanity has gathered evidence going forward in time. Seeing the network of information working from within the scriptural texts — across all the texts presented there — is key to seeing beyond the superficial impressions commonly given press.

So again, what's the point here? You may hear about words and interpretations. For example, the word 'almah' appears in the book of Isaiah (7:14). When the Hebrew text was translated from Hebrew into Greek — the making of the Septuagint — this word 'almah' was translated into 'parthenos' (Gk). And parthenos is virgin (English). The Hebrew word is often cited as not meaning virgin, yet elsewhere in the Hebrew Scriptures almah in fact appears to take this meaning. In a more generic sense almah can also mean a woman promised to marry — one who has not yet known the intimate company of a man.

Isa 7:14 ''Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.'' (NKJV)

What is interesting is WHO did the translating of the Septuagint. Some 70 Hebrew scholars appear to have had their hand in the translation and it was Hebrew minds that decided almah should be parthenos and not 'betrothed' or 'promised' or other word. If there is resistance to the idea a woman would have a child, yet be a virgin, then consider how the passage was handled and by whom. And as we note elsewhere, the passage out of Isaiah would not be much of a 'sign' if the birth were not distinguished in any way out of the ordinary — this is beyond everyday science, it is simply extra ordinary and super natural (beyond the everyday experience in nature).

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