Re: A question for Farrell
yoel haalmoni (core@rof.net)
Sat, 5 Apr 1997 20:09:04 -0700 (MST)
>YOEL
>By the way, Farrell- all of those translations have big translation flaws.
>(for example- the prefix bet is never "to" nor "under" - the lamed prefix
>means "to". Do you have ANY translations which have my interpretation?
>
>After considering it- it looks pretty obvious to me now, once you put the
>pieces together. My translation presumes much less, virtually nothing.
>
>Although the NIV made some mistakes, especially in the part about "making"
>bricks instead of making them pass bricks, they seem to have the best
>translation from the ones you showed.
>
>TILL
>Here are some translations of 2 Samuel 12:31 that I have in my personal
>library:
>
>RSV: "And he brought forth the people who were in it, and set them to labor
>with saws and iron picks and iron axes, and made them toil at the
>brickkilns; and thus he did to all the cities of the Ammonites."
>
>NRSV: "He brought out the people who were in it, and set them to work with
>saws and iron picks and iron axes, or sent them to the brickworks. Thus he
>did to all the cities of the Ammonites."
>
>NRSV, "He also brought out the people who were in it, and set them under
>saws, sharp iron instruments, and iron axes, and made them pass through the
>brickkiln. And thus he did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon."
>
>REB, "He brought out its inhabitants and set them to work with saws and
>other iron tools, sharp and toothed, and made them labour at the
>brick-kilns. David did this to all the Ammonite towns."
>
>NAB, "[He brought out immense booty from the city] and also led away the
>inhabitants, whom he assigned to work with saws, iron picks, and iron axes,
>or put to work at the brickmold. This is what he did to all the Ammonite
>cities."
>
>NWT, "And the people that were in it, he brought out that he might put them
>at sawing stones and at sharp instruments of iron and at axes of iron, and
>he made them serve at brickmaking. And that was the way he proceeded to do
>to all the cities of the sons of Ammon."
>
>Amplified Bible, "And he brought forth the people who were there, and put
>them to [work with] saws and iron threshing sledges and axes, and made them
>labor at the brickkiln. And he did this to all the Ammonite cities."
>
>Good News Bible, "[He also took a large amount of loot from the city] and
>put its people to work with saws, iron hoes, and iron axes, and forced them
>to work at making bricks. He did the same to the people of all the other
>towns of Ammon."
>
>Revised Berkeley Version, "And the people that were in it he brought out and
>put to labour with saws and iron picks and axes, forcing them to keep
>working at the brickmolds. This he did to all the cities of the Ammonites."
>
>Brenton's English translation of the Septuagint renders it, "And he brought
>forth the people that were in it, and put them under the saw, and under iron
>harrows, and axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln, and
>thus he did to all the cities of the children of Ammon."
>
>The translators obviously disagree over this verse, but I find it hard to
>believe that it describes constructive forced labor that David extracted
>from the Ammonite captives. Chapter 8 details some of David's victories, in
>which he was ruthless in his treatment of captives. After a battle with
>Moabites, he laid the captives down in three lines, killed two lines, and
>intimated the people in the other line to become servants that paid tribute
>to him. After David defeated the king of Zobah, he hocked all of the
>chariot horses. The man certainly seemed barbaric enough to treat captives
>in the way implied by the ASV and KJV.
yoel-
Well my first impression was that he was making them destroy their towns.
Or I guess it could mean that he enslaved them for whatever purpose.
Something like that- but not torture. Not in this passage, at least.
yoel