Leviticus 13:56 and Hinduism

Compare these two passages:

• "If, when the priest examines it, the mold has faded after the article has been washed, he is to tear the spoiled part out of the fabric, the leather, or the woven or knitted material." (Leviticus 13:56 NIV)
• "'Of a garment which has been defiled in the highest degree, let him cut off that part which, having been washed, is changed in color' (Visnusmṛti 23:6; Jolley 1880: 98)" (as cited in Milgrom, AYBC, Leviticus 1-16, 3:814)

In Leviticus 13:55, God has the article with fungi/mold burned with fire, but in v56 he grants keeping the garment in a different situation, after tearing out the affected part. This is a gracious provision. Milgrom makes the above connection and speculates that Hinduism's motivation behind this law is due to "the same economic concerns" (i.e., not destroying clothing that may be the sole protection for the body).

Verbs in Mark 15:19

Recently with a translation team, I asked about the verb tenses used in Mark 15:19. The translation at first read,

And they beat him over his head with reed stick, spat on him and knelt down and bowed down to him. (English Back Translation)

We made two changes in this verse, one regarding the final action of this verse (which is not under discussion here) and the other pertaining to TAM (tense, aspect, mood) (the focus of this post).

The Greek verbs here are all in the imperfect form which lead many scholars to conclude that these actions were not just one blow, spit, and kneel but provided a short "video" of some of the persecution our Lord underwent--whether several different people did these actions in turn or one monolithic group did them over and over again. For example, ESV translates "And they were striking...spitting...kneeling"; NIV and NET add "again and again they struck him..."; and HCSB translates as "They kept hitting..."

Once this was explained to the team, they re-read their verse and discovered that they had translated these actions as happening only once rather than repeatedly. By adding "many times," the team adjusted the TAM to more accurately reflect the repetitive nature of these verbs.

This was a dark hour for our Lord, especially since he bore the wrath of his Father who forsook him. But Jesus endured it "for the joy set before him" (Hebrews 12:2 ESV). And Peter wrote, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed" (1 Peter 2:24 ESV). O praise Jesus for his suffering and his efficacious death, "so that he might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18 ESV)!    

Judson and Bible Translation and Zephaniah

John Hans de Jong analyzed Adoniram Judson's translation of Zephaniah into Burmese, finding it had a high register but missed the target occasionally. The Bible Translator provides the following abstract of de Jong's article:

Adoniram Judson’s 1840 translation of the Bible into Burmese (Myanmar) remains the most used version amongst Protestants in Myanmar. This article examines in detail Judson’s translation of the book of Zephaniah, comparing it with the Hebrew text, in order to assess translation tendencies and identify specific areas that revision would need to address. The analysis reveals that Judson’s translation is of a high standard due to his thorough scholarship. Nevertheless, several areas emerge where improvement could be made. One is in passages where biblical scholarship has made advances in the understanding of texts since Judson’s time. The Judson Bible also has a restricted vocabulary in places where it could be expanded, and in other passages Judson gives a free translation which at times could be improved to translate the Hebrew text more clearly. Another area for improvement is consistency in translating some words and phrases.

A Parallel Problem of Semantic Shift: Asia

This is cited from Unseth's Semantic Shift on a Geographical Term and parallels the previous post.

A Parallel Problem: Asia and Asia

A parallel problem of semantic shift on geographic terms arises with the use of the Greek word Asia, ‘Asia.’ Very few English translations ever render this word by something other than simply “Asia,” Living Bible being noteworthy for translating it as “Turkey” in Acts 2:9 and Rev. 1:4, but reverting to the traditional “Asia” in other passages. The problem and its cause are obvious and non-controversial: the word “Asia,” transliterated from Greek into English, now is much, more broader than the area designated by the New Testament use of Asia, which referred to a much more limited area, much of what is not modern Turkey. A solution to this translation problem can be found in a similar way to what has been proposed above for Aithiops, seeking a modern equivalent to the ancient Greek geographical term. Different contexts would require slightly different solutions, such as “the province of Asia Minor,” “the Anatolian peninsula,” etc.