There are a number of passages which many past translations have translated poorly. The HRV seeks to correct such mistranslations which have often led to misunderstandings. The following are some examples from the HRV Tanak: Zech. 13:5-6 Now there is a lot of difference between these three readings. Yet all three make a fundamental mistake in translation. In the Hebrew both verse 5 and verse 6 open with exactly the same word/phrase "V'AMAR" meaning "And [he] shall say...". In verse 5 the KJV has "but he shall say" and in verse 6 the same phrase is translated "and one shall say". In the CJB verse 5 has "and
instead, he will say" and then in verse 6 the identical Hebrew phrase is translated "If someone asks". In "The Scriptures" version verse 5 has "but shall say" and then in verse 6 the identical Hebrew phrase is translated "And one shall say". The result of all three mistranslations is to WRONGLY imply that the speaker has shifted at the beginning of verse 6. Thus if we were to use the format of a script we would read: In most versions the figure with the wounds in the midst of his hands is the false prophet while in the HRV it is the Messianic Judge. Thus in the HRV version the passage points back to Zech. 12:10 and the one who is "pierced" and forward to Zech 13:7 where a "shepherd" is smitten and his sheep scatter. In verse 5b the CJB has "since my youth I've only wanted to be an ordinary man" however the Hebrew reads simply KI-ADAM ("for a man") HIK'NANI ("purchased me") MIN'URAI ("from my youth"). In verse 6 the Hebrew phrase BAYN YADEYAK means literally "in the midst of your hands" but the CJB interprets this to refer to "between your shoulders" but thus loses the obvious reference to Messiah Yeshua. Ex. 6:3 Another important passage where many translations have poorly translated is Ex. 6:3. The KJV has: Now in Hebrew there is no interrogative clause as we know it in English. In Hebrew questions often appear as statements made in a questioning manner. In this case the phase "...by My Name YHWH was I not known to them..." is actually a question (as "The Scriptures" version also rightly translates) "And by My Name YHWH was I not known to them?". Also all three versions: the KJV; the CJB and "The Scriptures" render the Hebrew phrase B'EL SHADDAI as "by the name of God Almighty" (in the KJV) and with "as El Shaddai" in the CJB and "The Scriptures" however this phase should literally be translated as it appears in the HRV as "in El Shaddai". Thus in the HRV this passage is properly translated so as to remain consistent with the rest of the Torah in which Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did often refer to YHWH by the name of "YHWH" and properly relates that YHWH appeared to them "in El Shaddai". Deut. 22:9 Another I will give here is Deut. 22:9 where the KJV has:
Now the Hebrew word that both the KJV and "The Scriptures" have translated as "defiled" is KADASH which means exactly the opposite of "defiled", KADASH is never translated "defiled" in any other passage. The word KADASH means "holy" (i.e. property of the Temple Priesthood). The CJB interprets rather than translates KADASH to mean "must be forfeited" which conveys a more correct idea but fails to relate the fact that the fruit is holy and forfeited specifically to the Temple and becomes property of YHWH. This is especially important because it shed great light on the parable of the wheat and tares (Mt. 13) as it demonstrates that the enemy (HaSatan) has forfeited both crops to YHWH. PS. 145:13 Psalm 145 is an acrostic Psalm. This means that each section of the Psalm begins with each of the 22 Hebrew letters from ALEF through TAV. However in the Masoretic Text the section that should begin with a NUN is missing from the text entirely! However in the Septuagint, the Peshitta Tanak, one Hebrew ms. from the middle ages, and the Qumran copy of this Psalm (11QPs(a)) the missing section appears immediately after Ps. 145:13: "YHWH is faithful to all his promises, and loving toward all he has made." The missing NUN phrase is missing from both the "Complete Jewish Bible" and "The Scriptures (ISR)" version. In fact the Complete Jewish Bible labels each of the 22 sections of each of the other acrostic Psalms with each of the corresponding Hebrew letters, but does not label the sections of Ps. 145 (almost certainly due to the missing NUN section). The Hebraic-Roots Version will use each of the 22 Hebrew letters to label each of the 22 sections of the acrostic Psalms INCLUDING Psalm 145 in which the Hebraic Roots Version will restore the "lost" NUN section along with an explanatory footnote. Isaiah 53:11 In the Hebrew of the Masoretic Text this verse has a serious grammatical problem. The Hebrew of the Masoretic Text reads literally:
There is very clearly a missing word in the Hebrew resulting in two verbs in a row "shall see" and "shall be satisfied". What shall he see? Many translations have sought to force sense out of the Masoretic Text where there is no sense: This version mistranslates the verb "shall be satisfied" as a noun so as to make "satisfaction" that which is seen. (In the HRV the missing word "light" is restored with an explanatory footnote).
5 But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman;
for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.
6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds
in your hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which
I was wounded in the house of my friends.
(Zech. 13:5-6 KJV)
The Complete Jewish Bible has:
5 and instead, he will say,
"I'm no prophet, I just work the soil;
since my youth I've only wanted to be an ordinary man."
6 If someone asks him, "Then what are these gashes
between your shoulders?" he will answer,
"I got hurt at my friends' house."
(Zech. 13:5-6 CJB)
"The Scriptures" version from ISR has:
5 but shall say, "I am no prophet, I am a farmer,
for a man sold me as a slave in my youth.
6 And one shall say to him, "What are these wounds
in your hands?" And he shall say,
"Because I was wounded at home by those who love me."
False Prophet: I am no prophet, I am an husbandman;
for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.
Messianic Judge: What are these wounds in your hands?
False Prophet: Those with which I was wounded in the house of my
friends.
However the HRV translates both phrases the same as follows:
5 And he shall say:
"I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground;
for a man purchased me from my youth."
6 And he shall say to him: "What are these wounds
in the midst of your hands? Then he shall answer:
"Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends."
(Zech. 13:5-6 HRV)
Thus in the HRV the shift in speaker does not occur until verse 6b as follows:
False Prophet: I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground;
for a man purchased me from my youth.
What are these wounds in the midst of your hands?
Messianic Judge: Those with which I was wounded in the house of my
friends.
Two other points:
And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob,
by the name of God Almighty,
but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
(Ex. 6:3 KJV)
The CJB by David Stern has:
I appeared to Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov
as El Shadai,
although I did not make myself known to them
by the name, Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh [ADONAI].
(Ex. 6:3 CJB)
"The Scriptures" version by ISR has:
And I appeared to Abraham, to Yitshaq, and to Ya'aqob,
as El Shaddai.
And by My Name, YHWH, was I not known to them?
Thus the HRV reads in this passage:
3 and I appeared unto Avraham, unto Yitzchak,
and unto Ya'akov, in El Shaddai,
and by My name YHWH was I not known to them?
(Sh'mot 6:3 HRV)
Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seed:
lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown,
and the fruit of thy vinyard, be defiled.
Stern's CJB has:
(Deut. 22:9 KJV)
You are not to sow two kinds of seed between
your rows of vines;
if you do both the two harvested crops
and the yield from the vines must be forfeited.
(Deut. 22:9 CJB)
"The Scriptures" from ISR has:
Do not sow your vinyard with different kinds of seed,
lest the yield of the seed which you have sown
and the fruit of your vinyard be defiled.
(At this point I want to say that I have not chosen the CJB and "The Scriptures" for comparison because they are bad translations, to the contrary I have chosen to compare to them because they are good translations.)
Some more interesting readings from the Hebraic-Roots Version Complete Bible Tanak ("Old Testament") portion:
The HRV Tanak is translated primarily from the Hebrew Masoretic Text however there are SOME readings in which other versions and manuscripts such as the Septuagint, the Peshitta Tanak and/or the Dead Sea Scrolls preserve an obviously original reading which was lost from the Msaoretic Text and which the HRV version has restored (with an explanatory footnote). The following are two examples:
From the travail of his soul he shall see ________
shall be satisfied in his understanding.
My Righteous servant shall justify many
and their iniquities he bears.
He would see the result of the suffering of his life
and be satisfied. Through His knowledge
My righteous Servant makes many righteous,
and He bears their crookedness.
This version adds the phrase "the result of" to make "the result of the suffering of his life" that which is seen.
(The Scriptures; ISR)
The Complete Jewish Bible translated by David Stern has:
After this ordeal, he will see
satisfaction. "By his knowing [pain and sacrifice],
my righteous servant makes many righteous;
it is for their sins that he suffers.
(CJB)
I could go on and on showing the various ways in which translators have tried to make sense out of this Hebrew text without the missing word so as to apply the verb "see" to something.
(At this point I want to say that I have not chosen the CJB and "The Scriptures" for comparison because they are bad translations, to the contrary I have chosen to compare to them because they are good translations.)
Now the missing word "light" DOES appear in the Septuagint and has also now turned up in two Hebrew copies of Isaiah found at Qumran.
The passage SHOULD read (as it does in the HRV):
From the travail of his soul he shall see light
and shall be satisfied in his understanding.
My Righteous servant shall justify many
and their iniquities he bears.
(Is. 53:11 HRV translation)
Finally the HRV Tanak contains many footnotes giving important alternate readings from the Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts; the Samaritan Pentateuch; the Greek Septuagent; the Aramaic Peshitta Tanak and the Aramaic Targums.
The HRV Tanak it translated primarily from the Hebrew Masoretic Text contains many footnotes giving important alternate readings from the Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts; the Samaritan Pentateuch; the Greek Septuagint; the Aramaic Peshitta Tanak and the Aramaic Targums.
- James Trimm