Agemegos

G'day

I have been comparing translations of Ezekiel 23:20, to see whether it means what it seems to mean. I have come across several highly divergent translations, which make me wonder about the honesty of the translators. How could honest people working from the same text produce such different translations as:

"There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses." (New International Version)

"She eagerly wanted to go to bed with Egyptian men, who were famous for their sexual powers." (Contemporary English Version)

Intermediate values include:

"That whetted her appetite for more virile, vulgar, and violent lovers--stallions obsessive in their lust." ("The Message")

"For she doted upon her paramours there, whose lust was sensuous and vulgar like that of asses or stallions." (The Amplified Bible)

"and lusted after her paramours there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses." (English Standrd Version)

"She lusted after lovers whose attentions were gross and bestial." (New Living Translation)

Are Egyptian men mentioned explicitly in the originals of that passage? Are horses and donkeys mentioned or not? Are penises mentioned or not? Is seminal fluid mentioned or not? Is any article of furniture actually mentioned in that passage or is that sheer fabrication?

Is this passage really so obscure? Or are the translators ashamed of the content of the Bible?

Evilicious

Agemegos,

Yep. They were too EMBARRASSED to translate what it actually said.

blueletterbible.org lets you look up several versions on the Versions/Translations tab and they read much the same.


The Hebrew text on the Concordance and Greek/Hebrew Lexicon gives "chamowr' as the Hebrew word for "asses." You could probably drop that into a translator to answer your question about it actually mentioning asses and "zirmah" to see if that is seminal fluid.

When God inspired THAT part of the Bible, She was a Size Queen.

Anat

From Online Etymology Dictionary, quoted under the etymology of 'fuck'
I suppose copulation with equines was high on the list of 'the worst things that could happen to anyone'.

Vorkosigan

Classic. In modern language that would be "...you and the horse you rode in on.

Vorkosigan