H8451

• {"n":"Psalm 119","s":"Thy law. The Hebrew word is instruction, and the psalm has eight words for it.","u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/bible-translation-differences\/#id=psalm-119","r":"Psalm 119:1-8","b":[{"l":"How modern translations read it","t":"Every version reads law for torah. Some footnote instruction or teaching. None changes the main rendering, because law is entrenched."},{"l":"First, in plain English","t":"**Rules** and **guidance** describe the same advice from a parent, and produce two completely different feelings about the parent. One word, and you decide in advance what kind of relationship you are reading about."},{"l":"What you are seeing","t":"Torah is from a root meaning to throw or point, and means instruction or direction. The psalm cycles eight terms through 176 verses: torah, edut, piqqudim, choq, mitzvah, mishpat, davar and imrah, roughly instruction, testimony, precepts, statute, commandment, judgment, word and saying. The variety is the point, and so is the affection."},{"l":"Why translators split","t":"English law means legislation and courts. Hebrew torah includes narrative, poetry and genealogy, none of which is legislation. The Septuagint chose nomos and English inherited the narrowing."},{"l":"The rule to carry away","t":"When a psalm expresses delight in something that sounds like paperwork, suspect the English noun before you suspect the psalmist."},{"l":"Choosing between them","t":"Instruction is accurate and loses two thousand years of usage. Law is entrenched and misdirects. No major version has been willing to move, and the footnote is the compromise everyone has settled on."},{"l":"The word","t":"\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 torah \u00b7 H8451"}],"src":["The root yarah, to throw or shoot, hence to point or direct: Genesis 46:28; Exodus 15:25","The eight terms cycling through Psalm 119; see any structural analysis of the acrostic","Septuagint nomos, and the same narrowing carried into Paul's vocabulary"]}
• {"n":"torah","s":"Instruction, teaching. Law is a narrow rendering of a wide word.","u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/bible-translation-differences\/#id=torah","r":"Psalm 119:1","b":[{"l":"How modern translations read it","t":"Every version reads law. Some footnote instruction or teaching."},{"l":"First, in plain English","t":"**Rules** and **guidance** can describe the same advice from a parent and produce opposite feelings about the parent."},{"l":"What you are seeing","t":"Torah is from a root meaning to throw or point, hence to direct. It covers narrative, poetry and genealogy as well as commandment, none of which is legislation."},{"l":"Why translators split","t":"English law means statutes and courts. The Septuagint chose nomos and English inherited the narrowing through Latin."},{"l":"The rule to carry away","t":"When a psalm expresses delight in something that sounds like paperwork, suspect the English noun before the psalmist."},{"l":"Choosing between them","t":"Law is the entrenched majority rendering and no major version has moved."},{"l":"The word","t":"\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d4 torah \u00b7 H8451"}],"src":["yarah, to throw or point: Genesis 46:28; Exodus 15:25","Psalm 119 throughout","Septuagint nomos, and Paul's vocabulary downstream of it"]}