old testament

dayaa · 06-11-2005, 12:53 AM

hello everyone
i'd like to ask please why do christians have their own translations of the old testament rather than using the jewish translations?
thankyou

InLove · 06-11-2005, 01:04 AM

Hi, dayaa--Peace to All Here--

I have been following your good questions. I can post here with everything I know.

The problem is I do not know the answer, and--like you--I want to know.

The answer you are looking for is quite elusive--at least I find it to be that way. I know you do.

I am so interested....I have always wondered...no one anywhere, with the exception of my limited mind and the evidence of the Spirit, has ever satisfied this question--I am not sure anyone can

.

But that is what makes it such a quest, no?

InPeace,
InLove

Faithfulservant · 06-11-2005, 01:12 AM

Someone has to know more about the history of the early church than I do.. I will say that I do use the complete Jewish bible when Im trying to get a more accurate translation.. I do not understand exactly what you mean in regards to translations.. someone somewhere translated greek and hebrew to english.. what other kind of translation can there be?

Awaiting_the_fifth · 06-11-2005, 01:23 AM

historically all christian writings were in Latin which was the language of Rome, I would suggest that this is because the Romas Empire was the dominant force when Christianity was developing and used christianity as a kind of social control mechanism (as governments always seem to do with religions)

Later the bible was translated into the native languages of all the people who wanted to read it, which seems quite logical to me although the nobility at the time did everything they could to stop it. (probably because this would mean the people could read the word of God for themselves which took a great deal of power away from the educcated nobility).

I would think that if the Jewish scriptures remain in just a single language it is probably because most members of the Jewish religion are also members of the jewish race. One people, only one langage needed.

InLove · 06-11-2005, 02:09 AM

Peace to All, and since no one will tell me what is appropriate--I will pick my favorite and say, "Namaste".

My intent is for this great thread to go on, but I am bubbling over a bit, because---Hey! Is dat U, ATF? Where U been?

.

Nice to see you back, if you have indeed been missing...and if you haven't--nice to have you back!

Please--on with the conversation--I admit, I tend to steal your pen and derail your thread.

Am I forgiven? (No need to answer--the question is rhetorical and loaded

.)

InPeace,
InLove

brucegdc · 06-11-2005, 02:49 AM

I think the basic reason is that the "Jewish translations" (into English, anyways) are fairly recent, historically. (I'm sure BananaBrain will correct when I go astray..)

To understand the Torah, it's taught in Hebrew - no need to translate - to study it, you learnt Biblical Hebrew. (As you would for the rest of the 'Old Testament' - the histories, prophets & psalms) To study the commentaries, you'd use Hebrew or Aramaic (I think - I have enough trouble transliterating Hebrew & haven't gotten into it in depth) - because that's what they were written in. You want to study it, learn the language.

That's been less the case in Christianity, which has used Latin as a sacred language for most of its existence. Therefore, translations of the Hebrew scripture were needed - primarily into Latin. When the Protestant idea of studying the Bible *yourself* rather than the Catholic/Orthodox version of relying on a learned intermediary caught on, the translations started into all the other languages.

More recently, Judaism has started to move (in some groups) away from the emphasis on needing to know Hebrew to read the Torah, and more translations have arisen. I may be wrong, but I think it is a very modern (relatively - late 1800s CE on?) phenomenon. Since the more recent translations (e.g. JPS) have been direct (versus some of the Christian versions which came via the Latin Vulgate), they're possibly more accurate.

And to add to the mix, which books are *in* the set differ as well - Torah is Torah, but some of the other books differ between Christian groups. AFAIK there's not a batch of worries in Judaism about what's Apocryphia or not.

InLove · 06-11-2005, 03:21 AM

Thanks, Ben--yes-- why would Judaism worry at all about what Christianity considers a canon--a reed for measure?

InPeace,
InLove

Quahom1 · 06-11-2005, 05:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dayaa

hello everyone
i'd like to ask please why do christians have their own translations of the old testament rather than using the jewish translations?
thankyou

The first translations of the Bible were of the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint was a Greek translation written about three centuries before the birth of Christ. Two other early translations, composed after the birth of Christ, were the Pe****ta in Syriac and the Vulgate in Latin. These three translations, the Septuagint, Pe****ta, and Vulgate became the official translations of the Old Testament for the Greek-, Syriac-, and Latin-speaking churches respectively. Each also became the basis for other translations of the Bible.

The Septuagint was a Greek version of the Bible created during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-246 BC) in Alexandria, Egypt for Diapora Jews. Most Jews living outside of Palestine were Greek-speaking as a result of Alexander the Great's (357-323 BC) campaign to Hellenize his empire.

So you see, not only did Christians use Bibles and scripture translated into languages other than Hebrew, but Jews did as well.

Far more efficient to have the Word of God translated into the languages of men, rather than compel men to try and learn and become proficient at a second language before even beginning to read the Word of God.

v/r

Q

dayaa · 06-11-2005, 09:42 PM

hello again
thank you all for replies....especially bruce and quahom.....that's answered my question. coincidentally another of my questions has also been answered here. i was trying to find out the age of still existing jewish scriptures and as you have mentioned here, there must have been copies around 300 years bc for them to have been translated. thanks

. that's also very interesting that the greek bc version was used by jews as well. double thanks