Christians!! check your bibles! Why is this?

Question

Hi, I have found something fishy with the bible in terms of translation. Here is the verse in question: Isaiah 18:2,7
Look at the KJV translation of these verses.
Then, look at the translations of every other bible.

I found that at least with my own bibles, they are different. One describes the people in this passage as a nation "meted out and trodden down" , the others describe the people as being a "powerful and oppressive nation"
Why the contradiction?
Which bible has the better translation?

Answer 1

first off the KJV is a version not a translation;

thus a translation would be closer

Answer 2

ok, i'm gonna lay it out a different way than has already been done, from hebrew to english. from both verses:
and trodden down, and trodden underfoot
H4001
מבוּסה
mebûsâh
meb-oo-saw'
From H947; a trampling: - treading (trodden) down (under foot).

meted out :
H6957
קו קו
qav qâv
kav, kawv
From H6960 (compare H6961); a cord (as connecting), especially for measuring; figuratively a rule; also a rim, a musical string or accord: - line. Compare H6978.

these numbers come from a concordance which allows you to really study the hebrew of the o.t. and the greek of the n.t.

after careful study there is no contradiction, it is just that the kjv wording is older than what we are used to, my first glance thoughts were thus:
meted out: mete means to measure, usually you measure a big city, not worrying about a small one, if the city was measured out it was huge, big measn strong. so this is obviously talking about a big strong city

when taken in a complete context scattered and peeled gives another hint to the description of the city cause it means separate and independant

blah blah blah, there is no contradiction is the bottom line, they say the same thing..

this is why the bible says: 2Ti 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

this is where study comes in handy, not just reading and making an assumption,, no worries, i used to do the same thing, then i learned the kjv is a perfect english translation of the bible... and i stopped using any other translation for authority

Answer 3

Hey, good catch, sister! Let's pray that God will use your sharp eye to bring a blessing to all of His people. The drift I get from looking at other versions (God bless the Internet!) is that the tall, smooth people were conquerors of some type, and the KJV's "meted out and trodden down" seems to refer to the people they conquered, not the conquerors themselves.

The New American Standard Bible suits me just fine, and it makes much better sense in this case than the KJV does. I stick to more literal, word-for-word translations than the phrase-for-phrase or thought-for-thought ones, precisely because of the danger of divergences like the one you found. I'll be very interested to see what answers you get.
God bless you!

Answer 4

I didn't look it up, but the new translations tend towards the Alexandrian manuscrits the older the Textus Receptus. There are some variation in the translations because of that. Nothing major that context doesn't clear up. You also have the issue of whether it is a literal translation or a paraphrase. When you work with the Bible all the time you find those differences work out quite well.

Answer 5

Old Testament:
In fact, the New World Translation is a scholarly work. In 1989, Professor Benjamin Kedar of Israel said:
"In my linguistic research in connection with the Hebrew Bible and translation, I often refer to the English edition as what is known as the New World Translation. In doing so, I find my feeling repeatedly confirmed that this kind of work reflects an honest endeavor to achieve an understanding of the text that is as accurate as possible. Giving evidence of a broad command of the original language, it renders the original words into a second language understandably without deviating unnecessarily from the specific structure of the Hebrew....Every statement of language allows for a certain latitude in interpreting or translating. So the linguistic solution in any given case may be open to debate. But I have never discovered in the New World Translation any biased intent to read something into the text that it does not contain."

New Testament:

While critical of some of its translation choices, BeDuhn called the New World Translation a “remarkably good” translation, “better by far” and “consistently better” than some of the others considered. Overall, concluded BeDuhn, the New World Translation “is one of the most accurate English translations of the New Testament currently available” and “the most accurate of the translations compared.”—Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament.

“Here at last is a comprehensive comparison of nine major translations of the Bible:

King James Version, New American Standard Bible, New International Version, New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, Amplified Bible, Today's English Version (Good News Bible), Living Bible, and the New World Translation.

The book provides a general introduction to the history and methods of Bible translation, and gives background on each of these versions. Then it compares them on key passages of the New Testament to determine their accuracy and identify their bias. Passages looked at include:

John 1:1; John 8:58; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:15-20; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:8; 2 Peter 1:1

Jason BeDuhn
Associate Professor of Religious Studies, and Chair
Department of Humanities, Arts, and Religion
Northern Arizona University

(Please note that according to Dr. Jason BeDuhn, only the NWT translated John 1:1 correctly)

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*** w79 7/15 p. 27 Insight on the News ***
Why did the recently published “New International Version” (NIV) of the Bible fail to use the name of God where it appears about 7,000 times in ancient Bible manuscripts? In response to a person who inquired about this, Edwin H. Palmer, Th.D., Executive Secretary for the NIV’s committee wrote:

“Here is why we did not: You are right that Jehovah is a distinctive name for God and ideally we should have used it. But we put 2 1/4 million dollars into this translation and a sure way of throwing that down the drain is to translate, for example, Psalm 23 as, ‘Yahweh is my shepherd.’ Immediately, we would have translated for nothing. Nobody would have used it. Oh, maybe you and a handful [of] others. But a Christian has to be also wise and practical. We are the victims of 350 years of the King James tradition. It is far better to get two million to read it—that is how many have bought it to date—and to follow the King James, than to have two thousand buy it and have the correct translation of Yahweh. . . . It was a hard decision, and many of our translators agree with you.”

Concerning the NIV:

Bruce Metzger: (NIV) "It is surprising that translators who profess to have 'a high view of scripture" should take liberties with text by omitting words or, more often, by adding words that are not in the manuscripts."

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Answer 6

Different Bible have their own interprtations and you have to come to the conclusion yourself as to what it means. In this case "meted out and trodden down" and powerful and oppressive nation" mean the same thing only different use of words because they are different versions of the Bible. I always use the KJV translation but whatever suits your fancy and whatever you can understand better.

Answer 7

When a powerful and oppressive nation, whoever that nation is, seeks to snuff out a nation scattered and peeled, namely Israel and Judah, then they'll face the fact that they may find themselves through concurrence of accidents to be the prey of neighboring nations. The powerful predator now becomes the prey where their sins are measured and meted out and their nation is now the trodden of others.

Answer 8

The KJV was first published in the 1600s. The English language has undergone many changes in the past 400+ years. (I have trouble following Shakespeare plays.)

There are many good Bible translations on the market. I use the NASB now, but the NIV is good (and slightly better readable).

Answer 9

Believe the King James. It is the infallible Word of God.

The other translations add and take away from the truth of God's Word.

I have had many try and debunk the King James, but they failed.

The Word of God is like a doubledged sword that cuts all others assunder.

IF you study the differences, you will discover just how much the many other translations has taken or added to the Word of God when in comparison with the KJ.

Answer 10

Modern version typically are created out of desire for marketing dollars, and or out of the specious idea of "better manuscripts." and typically water down the authoritative language of the KJV, and soften the more harsher descriptions, in seeking to accommodate cultural sensitivitie$. If it were medicine it will be recalled by the FDA.
I stick with the time tested KJV.

As for your specific question, this is one of the rare, very obscure verses in Scripture, and here is part of what noted commentator Albert Barnes states:

Two or three characterstics of the nation are mentioned, from which we may better learn what people are referred to.

Scattered - (ממשׁך memushāk). This word is derived from משׁך mâshak, “to seize, take, hold fast;” to draw out, extend, or prolong; to make double or strong; to spread out. The Septuagint renders it, Ἔθνος μετέωρον Ethnos meteōron - ‘A lofty nation.’ Chaldee, ‘A people suffering violence.’ Syraic, ‘A nation distorted.’ Vulgate, ‘A people convulsed, and lacerated.’

And part of Adam Clarke offers,

Scattered “Stretched out in length” - Egypt, that is, the fruitful part, exclusive of the deserts on each side, is one long vale, through the middle of which runs the Nile, bounded on each side to the east and west by a chain of mountains seven hundred and fifty miles in length; in breadth from one to two or three days’ journey: even at the widest part of the Delta, from Pelusium to Alexandria, not above two hundred and fifty miles broad. Egmont and Hayman, and Pococke.

Peeled “Smoothed” - Either relating to the practice of the Egyptian priests, who made their bodies smooth by shaving off their hair, (see Herod. 2:37); or rather to their country’s being made smooth, perfectly plain and level, by the overflowing of the Nile.

Meted out “Meted out by line” - It is generally referred to the frequent necessity of having recourse to mensuration in Egypt, in order to determine the boundaries after the inundations of the Nile; to which even the origin of the science of geometry is by some ascribed. Strabo, lib. 17 sub init.

Trodden down - Supposed to allude to a peculiar method of tillage in use among the Egyptians. Both Herodotus, (lib. ii.), and Diodorus, (lib. i.), say that when the Nile had retired within its banks, and the ground became somewhat dry, they sowed their land, and then sent in their cattle, (their hogs, says the former), to tread in the seed; and without any farther care expected the harvest.