Miland:One problem for Christians with the bible in Esperanto is that the New Testament is not available as a complete volume in the most recent translation (by Gerrit Berveling). It has to be bought in at least three volumes, which would be very expensive. Older versions however contain what seems to me to be a mistranslation of John 1:17. The Greek verb usually translated "came" is translated estiĝis, "came into being", which IMO doesn't make sense in the context. Has anyone looked into this, who knows ancient Greek?

the greek word used, γινομαι, means "become, come into being" so it's the KJV translation that is wrong.

if it doesn't make sense to thee, thee will have to take that up with the Beloved Apostle when you meet in the afterlife.

orthohawk1:

Miland:One problem for Christians with the bible in Esperanto is that the New Testament is not available as a complete volume in the most recent translation (by Gerrit Berveling). It has to be bought in at least three volumes, which would be very expensive. Older versions however contain what seems to me to be a mistranslation of John 1:17. The Greek verb usually translated "came" is translated estiĝis, "came into being", which IMO doesn't make sense in the context. Has anyone looked into this, who knows ancient Greek?

the greek word used, γινομαι, means "become, come into being" so it's the KJV translation that is wrong.

if it doesn't make sense to thee, thee will have to take that up with the Beloved Apostle when you meet in the afterlife.

If you look at the range of meanings in the link posted above, it includes 'come'. For example Mat 8:16 in the NIV uses this as well as the AV. I am not a great AV fan but but would feel on a sticky wicket condemning it for this. Words do not always translate easily or directly from one language to another, hence the value in using various translations.

I think it is a cool idea to use the Word of God to learn Esperanto. I would really love to read and study it in Esperanto someday. One thing I found from one translation is that in Exodus 20:10 when talking about the Sabbath, it says sed la sepa tago estas sabato de la Eternulo, which means "but the seventh day is (a) sabbath of the Lord", but it should say "la sepa tago estas la sabato de la Eternulo, because the Bible clear should say that it is "the" sabbath and not a Sabbath, which makes it sound like nothing special. Is it that way in other versions? Remember my friends, don't just read the Word, but study it too!

bdlingle:I think it is a cool idea to use the Word of God to learn Esperanto. I would really love to read and study it in Esperanto someday. One thing I found from one translation is that in Exodus 20:10 when talking about the Sabbath, it says sed la sepa tago estas sabato de la Eternulo, which means "but the seventh day is (a) sabbath of the Lord", but it should say "la sepa tago estas la sabato de la Eternulo, because the Bible clear should say that it is "the" sabbath and not a Sabbath, which makes it sound like nothing special. Is it that way in other versions? Remember my friends, don't just read the Word, but study it too!

Well, Zamenhof was Jewish and he did speak Hebrew, so I'd guess he would know how to translate that verse.

orthohawk1: Well, Zamenhof was Jewish and he did speak Hebrew, so I'd guess he would know how to translate that verse.

I know he was Jewish. I just thought it was weird how it said a Sabbath in this verse and in another it says the Sabbath.

bdlingle:I think it is a cool idea to use the Word of God to learn Esperanto. I would really love to read and study it in Esperanto someday. One thing I found from one translation is that in Exodus 20:10 when talking about the Sabbath, it says sed la sepa tago estas sabato de la Eternulo, which means "but the seventh day is (a) sabbath of the Lord", but it should say "la sepa tago estas la sabato de la Eternulo, because the Bible clear should say that it is "the" sabbath and not a Sabbath, which makes it sound like nothing special. Is it that way in other versions? Remember my friends, don't just read the Word, but study it too!

The Hebrew does not have the article. Remember, you must read the text as it is, not try and read your theology back into it. There are great tools to help you on line (like the biblehub I link to above).

Hebrew has a definite article but no indefinite article. In this particular verse being discussed, there is no article, so it says "a sabbath".

A sabbath in Hebrew is a day or period of rest, not only referring to the 7th day. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are both referred to as sabbaths in the original text, and Yom Kippur is often referred to as a "sabbath of sabbaths". Each seventh year is also a sabbath year for the land in the Hebrew bible, in which the land is not cultivated. We think of it as being the seventh day because of course this is the most frequent sabbath, the one that we talk about the most, but it doesn't mean it's the only sabbath.

In modern Hebrew, the same root is used to describe a strike. Putting down tools and resting, right?

Thanks for the explanation! I was just talking the Sabbath that matters to Adventists, but thanks for that info some of it I did not know

Re the Esperanto translation of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), it is easy to get so wrapped up in the fact it is a much valued religious text and lose sight of its other value; it is a large body of work translated by the founder of Esperanto himself.

I'm coming into this thread rather late, but I'd like to say that I have been quite impressed with erinja's very diplomatic and thoroughly non-dogmatic restraint in this forum. My wife is a convert to Judaism and would be very interested in the esperantigita Passover Haggadah that erinja has referred to herein. I have done a lot of proofreading of texts for Distributed Proofreaders, and I believe that I could also help with the proofreading of that Haggadah translation, if some of that task still remains to be done after all these years. שָׁלוֹם