H3222

• {"n":"Genesis 36:24","s":"He found the yemim in the wilderness. A word used once, translated as mules by some, hot springs by others.","u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/bible-translation-differences\/#id=genesis-36-24","r":"Genesis 36:24","b":[{"l":"How modern translations read it","t":"The King James reads mules, following one line of ancient interpretation. Modern versions including the ESV and NIV read hot springs, following the Latin Vulgate's tradition and arguments that the Hebrew verb here means finding something already existing, not producing or breeding something new."},{"l":"First, in plain English","t":"A word attested only once leaves translators guessing from context and cognates alone. Here the guesses have ranged wildly, from a kind of animal to a kind of water source, a spread of opinion wide enough that Jerome, translating the Vulgate centuries ago, already threw up his hands at how many different readings existed."},{"l":"What you are seeing","t":"Yemim occurs exactly once across the whole of the Hebrew Bible, right here at Genesis 36:24. Arguments against mules note that mules are called peradim elsewhere in the Bible, never yemim, and that the verb used for finding does not naturally describe breeding or inventing a new kind of animal. Arguments for hot springs or water connect yemim to yam, sea, or mayim, water, sometimes proposed as a transposition of letters from the more common word for water."},{"l":"Why translators split","t":"English mules and English hot springs describe entirely different discoveries, a domesticated animal versus a natural water source, so a single confident English word forecloses a genuine uncertainty that has divided translators for two thousand years, as far back as Jerome's own Latin translation work."},{"l":"The rule to carry away","t":"A hapax legomenon translated with total confidence in a modern version is often hiding centuries of open disagreement. Check a word's translation history across several eras and traditions before assuming the current consensus reading was ever obvious."},{"l":"Choosing between them","t":"Mules keeps the King James's ancient guess, still linguistically defensible if less favored today. Hot springs follows the Vulgate's tradition and a stronger argument from the Hebrew verb's usual sense of finding something pre-existing, but neither can be confirmed against a second occurrence."},{"l":"The word","t":"\u05d9\u05b5\u05de\u05b4\u05dd yemim \u00b7 H3222"}],"src":["Jerome's own comment on the diversity of ancient opinion about this word","peradim as the ordinary Hebrew word for mules elsewhere, never yemim","Proposed connection to yam\/mayim, sea\/water"]}