Genesis 49:6
From Textus Receptus
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| - | * [["Digged down a wall" or "hamstrung an ox"?]] | + | * [[Part 11 - "Digged down a wall" or "hamstrung an ox"?|"Digged down a wall" or "hamstrung an ox"?]] by [[Will Kinney]] |
Revision as of 06:46, 1 December 2011
Genesis 49:6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.
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"in their selfwill they houghed an ox" (Tyndale's Old Testament)
"in their wantonness houghed oxen" (Darby's)
"in their self-will they houghed oxen" (1917 HOLY SCRIPTURES ACCORDING TO THE MASORETIC TEXT by Jews)
"in their self-will they hamstrung an ox" (NKJV)
"in their self-will they hamstrung a bull" (Green's Literal Translation)
"in their self-will they lamed the ox" (1853 Lesser's)
"in their self-will they lamed an ox (1899 Magil's Linear School Bible)
The 1600's THE DUTCH ANNOTATIONS UPON THE WHOLE BIBLE as translated into English has the following in the text at Genesis 49:6 with this note:
Gen. 49:6 and in their wilfulness they have removed the oxen [Heb. the ox]
Dr. James D. Price wrote: "The King James translators made several emendations of the MT under the influence of three ancient versions" (TEXTUAL EMENDATIONS IN THE A.V., p. 18). He noted the example of Genesis 49:6 where he noted that the Hebrew Masoretic text has "hamstrung an ox" while the KJV has "digged down a wall" from the influence of the Syriac, the Latin Vulgate, and the Aramaic Targum.
From the Hebrew, both readings are possible. The Hebrew word "aqar" can mean either "digged" or "houghed." Adam Clark notes that the Hebrew word "shor" can also be translated as either "wall" or "ox." However, the Hebrew word "shur" (which in Hebrew is extremely close in appearance to "shor") clearly means "wall" and is used in verse 22. Also, there is a difference in OT textual criticism. The Hebrew text does have a variant here, as presented and compared with the ABS's Biblia Hebraica and the Jewish Publication Society's Hebrew text. The point here is that the Hebrew really offers no clear reading one way or the other, allowing both as possible translations.
Likewise, we find that the Greek LXX reads "they houghed a bull" while the Latin Vulgate reads "they digged down a wall." Additionally, the reading found in the KJV is supported by the Syriac and Arabic translations as well as the Targum of Jonathan and others. It is also found in some other early Greek versions, such as the one produced by Aquilia. Therefore, the difference in reading is not a new phenomena, but is an age old debate.
Clark correctly notes: "as there is no evidence whatever that Simeon and Levi either dug down a wall or houghed the oxen, as some have translated the passage; (see the margin on the contrary, the text, Genesis 34:28, 29, proves that they had taken for their own use the sheep, oxen, asses, all their wealth, their wives, and their little ones." Since either translation is possible, the one that best fits the context is the one found in the KJV. After all, according to Genesis 34, Simeon and Levi took the oxen ALIVE (along with the sheep, asses, wives, and children), which would not have been the case if they had "houghed the oxen" as some have rendered the Hebrew phrase.
Rosenabum and Silbermann translated Rashi's Commentary as noting that "it [the Hebrew word at Gen. 49:6] has the same meaning as in (Joshua 11:6)"-hamstring (p. 244).
According to THE ONLINE BIBLE, the Hebrew word at Genesis 49:6 is translated in the KJV as "ox" 62 times, bullock 12 times, cow 2 times, bull 1 time, and wall 1 time.
