The Passion Translation (TPT) has sold millions of copies and is recommended by some big names in the evangelical world. I think it needs to be addressed because there are some slippery, sneaky things going on behind it that many people may not know how to deal with. This is an episode on how Bible translation can go horribly wrong and make someone a boatload of money at the same time. It’s the story of how spiritual language, the supernatural, and sophomoric talk about the biblical languages can impress a lot of people. To some of you this may be a terrifying episode, but I hope it proves helpful to those who have been wondering about this translation.

Article on Polysemy and Homonomy in Biblical Hebrew

Fact sheet about TPT

Problems with Peshitta Primacy

Mike Winger's critiques on YouTube

The Peshitta Study Tool

The Gospel Coalition critique from Dr. Shead

Sid Roth's interview with Brian Simmons

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If you go to the entry page on Wikipedia for the word 'almah you’ll find this: “despite its importance to the account of the virgin birth of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, scholars agree that it has nothing to do with virginity.” They sound very sure of themselves, and this tide needs to be turned. Dr. Rico is helping us see how this sort of definition is completely wrong based on the evidence, unhelpful, and obscures the contextual meaning of Isaiah 7:14. This episode is full of everything from musicology to exposition. It's going to be a good one.

Make sure to get your own copy of Dr. Rico's book here. For those who might want the French version, it's available here.

This is his book that teaches Greek as a living language.

Wikipedia pages on 'almah and Isaiah 7:14.

Sing, O Barren One

Other music and YouTube links 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

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We’re continuing a series on the translation of Isaiah 7:14, which says: Behold, the virgin shall become pregnant and bear a son, and his name shall be called Immanuel. If you’re like me, it’s always good to review what we heard last time, so Dr. Rico’s going to recap and add some detail along the way, and then he'll get into the positive arguments for why we should translate 'alma as young virgin.

Make sure to get your own copy of Dr. Rico's book here. For those who might want the French version, it's available here.

This is his book that teaches Greek as a living language.

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Isaiah 7:14 in the KJV reads: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” But then the RSV came out in 1952 and translated virgin as young woman. Without a doubt more has been written on the interpretation of this term than on any other verse in the Old Testament. The majority of modern scholars for the last century have asserted that the Hebrew word ‘alma refers merely to a young woman. Are they right, or are the KJV translators and church fathers correct that it means virgin, as the apostle Matthew implied in the first chapter of his gospel?

Make sure to get your own copy of Dr. Rico's book here. For those who might want the French version, it's available here.

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Since last time we talked about the book of Job, I wanted to touch on another translation issue in the book that many people haven’t heard of or thought about. This is found in 42:6, where Job is speaking to God after hearing his voice out of the whirlwind. If you’re reading the ESV it’ll sound like this: “therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” And then you’ll notice this little footnote on the word repent that says “or and am comforted.” These are wildly different translations, and the average Bible reader doesn’t have the tools to make any sense of it. So let’s talk about it. 

עַל־כֵּ֭ן אֶמְאַ֣ס וְנִחַ֑מְתִּי עַל־עָפָ֥ר וָאֵֽפֶר׃

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When talking about Bible translation what often gets avoided or buried is all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes that isn’t ideal. Many people like to imagine that their Bible translation came to them through perfect, peaceful processes, via perfect, holy men of God without struggles or weaknesses. But that’s just not the case, and we need to be transparent and honest about these things. Christianity is not about putting on enough makeup to hide our blemishes, nor is it about rewriting history to make ourselves look better. We are all broken people through whom God is glorifying himself by saving us and slowly making us more like Jesus. It’s messy, and it’s not helpful to be in denial about that. Today we’re going to look at some of the difficult, strange, or even sad things that go on in the background of some of the translations we love.

Definitely check out all of Jordan's article here.

And you can get Peter Thuesen's book here.

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When someone asks you to help check a translation, where do you start? What kinds of questions should you ask? This happened to me recently, so let’s talk about it. Also, it’s been a while since we dug deep into some actual checking issues that arise in real world situations, so let’s talk about some of the things I’ve been running into in Deuteronomy and 1 Samuel.

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Since the time of the Reformation the word holiness among orthodox protestants has been understood mainly as purity and transcendence. Throughout this series we’ve seen that, on the contrary, holiness carries the core connotation of absolute devotion or consecration to God. And for God to be holy means that he is completely devoted to his people and his name. But today we want to address a couple objections and talk about how we can go forward from here with Bible translation.

You can read my journal article on this topic here.

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Why is God called holy three times in Isaiah 6? Why does the Holy Spirit have “holy” in his name instead of “loving” or “powerful”? We’re going to try to answer these questions and continue searching out a more biblical way of understanding the Hebrew root qadash, which is where our word “holy” in English comes from. Once again, we’re going to see that the core meaning of holiness has nothing to do with separation, but rather of meeting, belonging, and total devotion.

Listen to the full lecture by Dr. Peter Gentry here.

You can read my journal article on this topic here.

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Last time we began an in-depth look at what it means for someone to be holy, and we saw how there has been a lot of confusion around the concept of holiness for centuries. Since a word’s meaning is the sum of its contexts, we’re going to continue looking at the broader contexts in Scripture that reveal that for God to be holy means that he is totally devoted to his people and his name. 

Peter Gentry has written more along these lines in this recent publication.

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