Jeff A. Benner | A Response to "What is a Translation." @ancienthebreworg | Uploaded March 2009 | Updated October 2024, 4 hours ago.
I recently watched kjvonly01's video "What is a translation"
youtube.com/watch?v=ee2zE6WVsZ8
In this video he makes the claim "A translation will always "improve" the original." One of the verses he uses to support this belief is 2 Samuel 3:10 (from the KJV of course) - "To translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba."
I imagine that this "belief" is necessary to support the idea that the KJV English is "better" than the Hebrew and Greek texts available to us. However, anyone who does any translating, whether it is the Bible or a novel, knows that some things are always lost in a translation,
I made the following comment to his video:
The Hebrew word used in 2 Sam 3:10 for "translate" is the verb עבר (avar) meaning "to cross over," a translation from one place/state to another, and this does not have to be an "improvement," in fact this very same Hebrew word is used in many places, such as Deut 26:13, for "transgression" (a crossing over from right to wrong). By the way, the Hebrew word for a translation of a text is תרגום (targum), not עבר (avar).
kjvonly01 responded back with:
Don't care what the Hebrew says, I speak English, and every time it's used IN ENGLISH, there is ALWAYS and improvement.
And then he deleted my comment and his own from his video.
I guess kjvonly01 only wants views that agree with his own and praises to his videos, no constructive criticism. Apparently, my post proved that his belief that a translation improves the text was wrong and instead of correcting his error, he deletes the correction in order to preserve the belief.
UPDATE (3-31-09): I have now been banned from posting on his channel and videos or subscribing to his channel.
UPDATE (4-4-09): WaitingForChrist began an interesting debate on the use of the Word Easter in the KJV translation of Acts 12:4. LBBspock and myself debated this issue and here is my summary of this debate at this time:
1. Biblical Evidence suggests that the Greek Pascha is a transliteration of the Hebrew Pesach. The Septuagint uses the word pascha for the Hebrew pesach (Passover) - See Exodus 12:11. The NT uses the Greek pascha for pesach (Passover) - See Mat 26:2.
2. Does pascha in Acts 12:4 refer to the Passover (the author's perspective) or the feast of Ishtar (Herod's perspective).
3. Is there textual evidence (Biblical or Non-Biblical) where Pascha is used for Ishtar.
Update (4-5-09): I am sincerly interested in truth and if textual evidence could be presented showing that Pascha is used for the Pagan feast of Ishtar, I would support this interpretation. Since LBBspock was unable to find such evidence I went looking or it myself. However, I could not find it as well. In fact here is what I found.
Wikipedia on Easter - The Greek word Πάσχα and hence the Latin form Pascha is derived from Hebrew Pesach (פֶּסַח) meaning the festival of Passover.
Acts 12:4 - Passover and Easter
kjv-only.com/acts12_4.html
1 - Hislop repeatedly makes the assertion of the connection between Easter and Astarte, but never provides any sources for his claim
2 - Second, there is not a shred of evidence that Herod was waiting for any pagan festival - it is pure, unsupported speculation in an attempt to make "Passover" into a bad translation.
3 - Third, to the KJV translators, "Easter" was not a pagan holiday, but a Christian one. They observed Easter and many of the calendar charts in the front of a 1611 KJV are based on Easter. If "Easter" is a pagan holiday, the KJV translators were pagan.
4 - Forth, the 1828 Webster's dictionary, which many KJV-only supporters claim is the dictionary to use to define words in the KJV, gives the definition of "Easter" as "A festival of the christian church observed in commemoration of our Savior's resurrection.
Update (4-8-09): See my Challenge to KJVonlyers at
youtube.com/watch?v=sFaLQEsLq4M
I recently watched kjvonly01's video "What is a translation"
youtube.com/watch?v=ee2zE6WVsZ8
In this video he makes the claim "A translation will always "improve" the original." One of the verses he uses to support this belief is 2 Samuel 3:10 (from the KJV of course) - "To translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba."
I imagine that this "belief" is necessary to support the idea that the KJV English is "better" than the Hebrew and Greek texts available to us. However, anyone who does any translating, whether it is the Bible or a novel, knows that some things are always lost in a translation,
I made the following comment to his video:
The Hebrew word used in 2 Sam 3:10 for "translate" is the verb עבר (avar) meaning "to cross over," a translation from one place/state to another, and this does not have to be an "improvement," in fact this very same Hebrew word is used in many places, such as Deut 26:13, for "transgression" (a crossing over from right to wrong). By the way, the Hebrew word for a translation of a text is תרגום (targum), not עבר (avar).
kjvonly01 responded back with:
Don't care what the Hebrew says, I speak English, and every time it's used IN ENGLISH, there is ALWAYS and improvement.
And then he deleted my comment and his own from his video.
I guess kjvonly01 only wants views that agree with his own and praises to his videos, no constructive criticism. Apparently, my post proved that his belief that a translation improves the text was wrong and instead of correcting his error, he deletes the correction in order to preserve the belief.
UPDATE (3-31-09): I have now been banned from posting on his channel and videos or subscribing to his channel.
UPDATE (4-4-09): WaitingForChrist began an interesting debate on the use of the Word Easter in the KJV translation of Acts 12:4. LBBspock and myself debated this issue and here is my summary of this debate at this time:
1. Biblical Evidence suggests that the Greek Pascha is a transliteration of the Hebrew Pesach. The Septuagint uses the word pascha for the Hebrew pesach (Passover) - See Exodus 12:11. The NT uses the Greek pascha for pesach (Passover) - See Mat 26:2.
2. Does pascha in Acts 12:4 refer to the Passover (the author's perspective) or the feast of Ishtar (Herod's perspective).
3. Is there textual evidence (Biblical or Non-Biblical) where Pascha is used for Ishtar.
Update (4-5-09): I am sincerly interested in truth and if textual evidence could be presented showing that Pascha is used for the Pagan feast of Ishtar, I would support this interpretation. Since LBBspock was unable to find such evidence I went looking or it myself. However, I could not find it as well. In fact here is what I found.
Wikipedia on Easter - The Greek word Πάσχα and hence the Latin form Pascha is derived from Hebrew Pesach (פֶּסַח) meaning the festival of Passover.
Acts 12:4 - Passover and Easter
kjv-only.com/acts12_4.html
1 - Hislop repeatedly makes the assertion of the connection between Easter and Astarte, but never provides any sources for his claim
2 - Second, there is not a shred of evidence that Herod was waiting for any pagan festival - it is pure, unsupported speculation in an attempt to make "Passover" into a bad translation.
3 - Third, to the KJV translators, "Easter" was not a pagan holiday, but a Christian one. They observed Easter and many of the calendar charts in the front of a 1611 KJV are based on Easter. If "Easter" is a pagan holiday, the KJV translators were pagan.
4 - Forth, the 1828 Webster's dictionary, which many KJV-only supporters claim is the dictionary to use to define words in the KJV, gives the definition of "Easter" as "A festival of the christian church observed in commemoration of our Savior's resurrection.
Update (4-8-09): See my Challenge to KJVonlyers at
youtube.com/watch?v=sFaLQEsLq4M
