Jobar

"I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I the LORD do all these things. -KJV

In this GRD post, Stumpjumper makes the claim that "God "creating evil" is really a poor translation of Isaiah, though."

So I did a quick bit of research at the Bible Gateway site, and found that there are no less than nine different English words or phrases used by different versions of the Bible to translate the Hebrew which the KJV calls "evil":

bad times: NLT
calamity: NKJV, ESV, NASB
disaster: NIV, TNIV, UK-NIV, HCSB
discords: The Message
evil: KJV, Darby, ASV, KJ21, AMP
hard times: NIRV
sorrow: CEV
trouble: NLV
woe: NRSV

As an atheist, I'm darkly amused at how the supposed 'word of God' worms and squirms over such a simple concept. Of course, this is because of the obvious paradox of a supposedly benevolent god which creates evil.

I want to ask the experts and linguists here- what do you think the proper translation should be? Are there other uses of this Hebrew word in the OT, and how is it rendered in those places? And is this a case where there are differing versions in the oldest extant copies?

figuer

I checked the classic 16th century (revised 1909), Spanish translation (Biblia Reina-Valera), and it says "mal" = evil.

It was translated directly from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, by reformed ex-catholic Spanish priests.

Steven Carr

The word for 'evil' in Isaiah 45:7 is the same word used in Genesis about the tree of knowledge of good and hard times.

Or the tree of knowledge of good and discords, if you want that translation.

Chili

Lord God is the manifestation of God and he indeed creates evil as in:
bad times: NLT
calamity: NKJV, ESV, NASB
disaster: NIV, TNIV, UK-NIV, HCSB
discords: The Message
evil: KJV, Darby, ASV, KJ21, AMP
hard times: NIRV
sorrow: CEV
trouble: NLV
woe: NRSV

. . . for all I care which are all conjectured in contemplation of the good that IS or these opposites could not be. IOW evil is an illusion without substance that is summoned in our imagination because [the Ultimate] Good is.

Sheshbazzar

This also seems to correlate with the idea expressed in Isaiah 45:7
(Amos 3:6)
In both cases the word "evil" translates the Hebrew word "rah" which is the common term for "evil" throughout the OT.
This would be consistent with the causative sense of the name
"YHWH", as "causing to be", whatever does come to be.
"Shall the clay say to the potter; Why have you made me thus?".....
He will show mercy on whom He will, and whom He will, He hardens."

John Kesler

As the text reads, Yahweh creates peace and the opposite of peace, which is not moral evil. What's interesting, however, is that the Dead Sea Scrolls text of Isaiah 45:7 pairs "evil" with the Hebrew tov (rather than shalom/peace as the MT does), which means "good," not "peace" (See the English translation here). This same pairing is found in Genesis 2-3 referring to the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Since the DSS has the more "difficult" reading since it states that Yahweh makes an "evil" which is the opposite of "good," it probably contains the original reading, and scribes of the MT may have altered the text because of unease with Yahweh's creating evil.

spin

Good call on 1QIsa(a). This is one of those DSS indications that should have at least warranted a footnote in the NRSV, if not an emendation in the text proper.

Though the LXX or Vulgate both give peace, neither support the lightening of the Hebrew R(, "evil", LXX has kaka and Vulgate has malum, which are both "evil".


spin

Chili

That is the whole point, without or beyond the tree of knowledge good and evil do not exist. The TOK is our conscious mind whereupon we built our ego consiousness (self awareness) which is made known in the no shame-shame dichotomy found between Gen.2:25 where man was without shame because he was naked to wit and Gen.3:7 when their eyes were opened and were no longer naked to wit to realize that they were naked and felt shame. Now, of course, this shame thing is just a metaphor to present the ego but it is true that we all have one and that is good, of course, but it also means that as we become more rational the less non-rational (or intuit) we will be.

The negative connotation of our hu-man or earthly nature (hu- is from humus=earthly) is because religion attached a sin complex to it for the purpose of redemption (the cross of eternal salvation is for sinners only) and started pointing fingers instead of letting the inner man be the judge.

Loomis

I’m sure you know that Deutero-Isaiah was the poster-child for modern monotheism. John Day argues that he wrote polemics against the creation stories - and lists Isaiah 45:7 as one of them.

In this episode Deutero-Isaiah appears to be dissing belief in Satan.

Think about it.

Gundulf

I'd have no problem retaining the word "evil" myself in Isaiah. But do realize, as you hinted at, that the word that we translate as evil is a bit more broad than simply "morally corrupt". I won't take the time to dig into the Hebrew unless you really wish, but a quick internet search revealed that the same word translated in KJV of Isaiah 45:7 as "evil" is also found as follows (quotes are from NAS)

• Genesis 47:9 "So Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life..."
  
• Proverbs 15:10 "Grievous punishment is for him who forsakes the way; He who hates reproof will die."
  
• Leviticus 26:6 "I shall also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble. I shall also eliminate harmful beasts from the land"
  
• Jeremiah 24:3 "Then the LORD said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" And I said, "Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad figs, very bad, which cannot be eaten due to rottenness." "

I personally like translating Is 45 as "evil," but there is certainly a precedent for translating the word as something other than "evil." It would be rather comical talking about the evil figs that are very evil and you can't eat them due to evilness...