Is Satan Bruised or Crushed?
While reading Genesis I discovered an interesting translation on the part of the NIV Bible:
The words crush and strike are familiar wording to me since the Nearly Irrelevant Version has been the main bible of my past. So I found it very interesting when I read the same passage from the NASB:
I wonder if the NIV translators spiced up this passage because they believed it was a prophesy about Jesus? (We can't have Jesus merely striking or bruising Satan's head, we must have him C-R-U-S-H-I-N-G it!)
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel (Genesis 3:15, emphasis mine).
The words crush and strike are familiar wording to me since the Nearly Irrelevant Version has been the main bible of my past. So I found it very interesting when I read the same passage from the NASB:
15And I will put enmityI looked it up in the Zondervan Hebrew Dictionary and the words crush and strike are actually the same Hebrew word (Shuph: to bruise).
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel (Genesis 3:15, emphasis mine).
I wonder if the NIV translators spiced up this passage because they believed it was a prophesy about Jesus? (We can't have Jesus merely striking or bruising Satan's head, we must have him C-R-U-S-H-I-N-G it!)
posted by R.K. at 6:17 PM
3 Comments:
Check out the meaning of bruise
http://www.m-w.com
crush and strike are merely synonyms for bruise.
I think the only reason for using two different words is that in english class we were always taught to not repeat the same word to make the reading more interesting.
It looks like you may be correct in your assumption.
M.K.
That's a good point but a problem I see are the significantly different meanings these words could convey.
Bruise can mean:
1 a : an injury involving rupture of small blood vessels and discoloration without a break in the overlying skin
Strike can mean:
2 a : to aim and usually deliver a blow, stroke, or thrust (as with the hand, a weapon, or a tool
And finally, Crush can mean:
3 : to reduce to particles by pounding or grinding (crush rock)
and 4 c : to subdue completely (the rebellion was crushed)
Your right though, it probably wouldn't be good writing style to use the same word in both instances, but being translators I would think their first priority should be to convey the closest possible meaning first, and then work on writing style second.
It seems most translators would agree. I looked it up at www.biblegateway.com and found that out of the 19 English bible translations that include the OT, only the 3 NIV translations and the New Century Version use two different words (crush and strike). All the rest use 1 word in both instances (either bruise or strike or crush).
It simply shows how things can change when we take liberties with the words of others.
It's so important that we accurately interpret God's word.
M.K.
Post a Comment
<< Home