As you know the Bible has gone through a number of translations throughout time. A quick and dirty overview:
We have the Hebrew bible which was translated into Greek (known as the Septuagint because it took 70 scholars to make that translation).
The Vulgate is famous for being the first Bible in Latin (which they used the Septuagint to make that translation).
Martin Luther taught the Bible ought to be in the local vernacular thus had a German Bible created.
Perhaps the most famous Bible is the King James version (which I think this year marks the500 400 year birthday of that version).
Needless to say, I am willing to bet that much of the nuanced humor, cultural references, and subtle natures that are found and known in the Hebrew version of the Scriptures is lost on us who are reading the Hebrew - Greek - Latin - German - English version of Scriptures.
Many people have made the point before, but I came across this video and thought about what aspects of the Bible are we missing because we are multiple translations away from the source language?
For your viewing pleasure I present to you a joke told to the Dali Lama about the Dali Lama, of which the Dali Lama does not understand...
We have the Hebrew bible which was translated into Greek (known as the Septuagint because it took 70 scholars to make that translation).
The Vulgate is famous for being the first Bible in Latin (which they used the Septuagint to make that translation).
Martin Luther taught the Bible ought to be in the local vernacular thus had a German Bible created.
Perhaps the most famous Bible is the King James version (which I think this year marks the
Needless to say, I am willing to bet that much of the nuanced humor, cultural references, and subtle natures that are found and known in the Hebrew version of the Scriptures is lost on us who are reading the Hebrew - Greek - Latin - German - English version of Scriptures.
Many people have made the point before, but I came across this video and thought about what aspects of the Bible are we missing because we are multiple translations away from the source language?
For your viewing pleasure I present to you a joke told to the Dali Lama about the Dali Lama, of which the Dali Lama does not understand...