Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>]

On 22/01/2007 23:17, Tory Thorpe wrote:
> Hi Yigal,
>
> I'm very aware of the limitations of the Stone edition, but as far as "standard" 
> translations go, I offered it to offset a notion that Christian translations (NIV,
> KJV, RSV, etc.) are the standard. ...

The JPS Tanakh reads:

"It was then that men began to invoke the LORD by name."

It seems that the mainline Jewish translation as well as the mainline 
Christian ones render XLL here as "begin" rather than "profane". So we 
can't make this into a Christian v. Jewish thing. Rather it seems to be 
a disagreement between Jewish commentators, in which the Christians have 
(from the data presented) all gone for an option chosen by at least some 
Jewish interpreters since as far back as the LXX translation. That 
doesn't imply that this option is right, only that it cannot be 
characterised as Christian and not Jewish.

--
Peter Kirk
E-mail:  peter AT qaya.org
Blog:    http://speakertruth.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.qaya.org/