johntheapostate

My NIV Bible has translated as lasting in many places my KJV has translated forever or everlasting. It is almost like the NIV is trying to smooth over the contradiction that exists between the Hebrew Scripture and the New Testament in regards to the Law of Moses

I think that by using the word lasting a Christian could rationalize that it meant the Law would be in effect for a long time but not forever, thereby legitimizing the claim by Paul that Jesus was the end of the Law.

I was wondering if the NIV folks had translated correctly or if the term everlasting or forever are correct in the context of the verses. Here are some verses for you Hebrew scholars to ponder. Thanks

Ex 12:14
12:17
12:24
27:21
28:43
29:9
30:21
31:16

Lev 3:17
10:9
16:29
16:31
16:34
17:7
23:14
23:21
23:31
23:41
24:3
24:8

Nu 10:8
15:15
18:23
19:10
19:21
23:13

Chris Weimer

Well, I'm not proficient enough in Hebrew yet to give you whole passages, but your first example is translated "through your generations" or something to that extant.

Anat

Ex 12:14 "'huqat 'olam" - "an ordinance for ever" (literally - as long as the world exists)
12:17 idem
12:24 "'ad 'olam" - for ever (as long as the world exists)
27:21 "huqat 'olam l'doroteikhem" - statute for ever throughout their generations
the other places in exodus are a variation of the above.
31:16 is "brit 'olam" - translated as perpetual covenant - uses the same word ('olam)
Leviticus and Numbers are all variations of the above, except for Numbers 23:13, which might have been a typo on your behalf.

Mageth

This is the third time in the last month or so I've gotten to post this:

The NIV might better be called the "Evangelical Christian Translation", because the translators deliberately and purposefully translated portions, particularly of the Old Testament, non-literally to better reflect Evangelical Christian theology.

From here:

http://www.bible-researcher.com/niv.html

The page goes on to give a couple of examples of questionable translations in the NIV. Another I found is Psalm 51:5, which the NIV renders:

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Compare that to the RSV (other translations are generally along this line):

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Note that the NIV translation follows from/supports the New Testament ("There is none righteous", as Paul puts it) / Evangelical Christian concept of the "original", inherited, inescapable sinfulness of all far better than the RSV and similar translations.

johntheapostate

Thanks to you all. It did seem as if the NIV had bent over backward to accommodate The New Testament. I had also noticed that they had been careful to capitalize God in those instances where the Psalms where used as prophecy by Jesus and others to indicate his divine nature. I could tell by those verses that they in no way where composed by David indicating one divine addressing another and I have been informed that the word translated as god can and should be translated as judges kings and rulers where the text indicates that this is the case.

I had also noted that sometimes the Law as in the Law of Moses was capitalized, but when Paul uses the word it is mostly in lower case reflecting Paul's attitude toward it.

Anat

Hebrew script doesn't use capitalization, so choosing whether to capitalize a word in a translation from Hebrew is a matter of interpretation.

Chris Weimer

which was his point, that it was capitalized when regarding high authority of it but not when regarding low authority of it. The NIV has changed the words of God then to reflect their own ideological interests.