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Another KJV screwup?

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Decky:
Hi Forum,

I was reading Genesis 49:6 and was amused by the different translations of the last sentence.

NIV: "And (they)hamstrung oxen as they pleased."

Rotherhams: "In their wontonness they hamstrung oxen."

Young's: "In their self will eradicated a prince"

NASB: "And in their selfwill they lamed oxen."

NLT: "and they crippled oxen just for sport."

Hebrew/Greek Interlinear: "And in approval of them they felled bull."

KJV: "and in their selfwill they digged down a wall."

Now, I can see that the majority of the translations have oxen or bull, BUT WHAT'S UP WITH "DIGGED DOWN A WALL???"

D

eggi:
LOL! Now THAT'S funny!

Who knows what happened...

God bless you,
Eirik

Kat:

Hi Decky,

I looked in the concordances to see what they have to say about this and sometimes there is a bit we can learn from them.

From John Gill's Exposition of the Bible--

Genesis 49:6
...and in their self-will they digged down a wall; not the wall of the city of Shechem, which does not appear to be walled, by their easy access into it; and if it was, they do not seem to have had proper instruments for such an undertaking, nor a sufficient number for such work, and which would have required longer time than they used, unless it was a poor wall indeed: rather the wall of Shechem's house, or the court before it, which they dug down, or broke through to get in and slay Hamor and Shechem, and take away their sister; though the word, as here pointed, always signifies an ox; and so the Samaritan and Septuagint versions render it, they hamstringed a bull, or houghed an ox, just in like manner as horses are said to be houghed, Jos_11:6 and which some understand (l) figuratively of a prince or ruler; so great personages are called bulls of Bashan, Psa_22:12 and interpret it either of Hamor or of Shechem, who was a prince among his people, and furious in his lust towards Dinah, and so this clause is much the same with the former: and besides, him they enervated by circumcision, and took the advantage of this his condition at the worst, and slew him, which seems to be the true sense of the text, agreeably to Gen_34:25 but the Jerusalem Targum paraphrases it of Joseph, whom his brethren sold, who was like unto an ox; and so Jarchi interprets it of him, whom they designed to slay, see Deu_33:17 but it is better to take the words in a literal sense, either of the oxen that Simeon and Levi took from the Shechemites, which they plucked or drove away from their mangers, as some render the words (m); and some of them they might hough or hamstring, that they might not get away from them, see Gen_34:28 or rather of Shechem himself, who was שר, "a prince", a word which has some likeness and affinity to this in the text.
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mercy, peace aqnd love
Kat

Rene:
Hi Decky,

My English Standard Version translates this scripture as, "and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen."

Prior to coming to Bible-Truths, it never occurred to me to compare different bible translations to get an understanding of a scripture.  Now I do it all the time.  Another valuable lesson I have learned on this spiritual journey. :)

René

Carlos31:
lol thats funny.

I sometimes have trouble getting the right translations in spanish.

all of them are almost a copy of a bible from like 1559.

and sometimes I find verses in one bible that CONTRADICT the same verse from a different bible, then i have to check in English.

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