Editors Note: The translation of the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek languages is a logical means of communication. The Quran has also been translated from the original Arabic language.

Many Christians note that the King James Version is the best translation of the Bible. All Christians cannot read Hebrew and Greek, nor can all Muslims read Arabic.

Non- Europeans wrote the Quran and the Bible. Also Judaism, Christianity and Islam were established by non-White people.

Peace,

Carl A. Patton, FreedomJournal Updated November 18, 2000.

Black History Page Truth and Confrontation

THE WORLD AND SATAN IN THE BLACK CHURCH

(Ungodly Blasphemy)

Part 4: The Translations of the Bible: Mis-Information and Confusion

In the name of God, Master of the universe, Ruler of the earth.

The False Prophets, the ignorant and those that seek to cause dissension and Disunity in the Black community often have confused thoughts about the origins of the Bible. For the record the Hebrew people are often confused with the religion Judaism. It is also recorded that Hebrews wrote most of the Bible. The record also shows that the Hebrew people did not originate in Europe. Therefore, we would be remiss if we did not expound on the mis-information about the translations of the Bible and the Hebrew people.

An additional note on the Hebrew people is recorded by Albert B. Cleage Jr., in his celebrated research, "The Black Messiah."

"The Nation Israel was a mixture of Chaldeans, Egyptians, Midianites, Ethiopians, Kushites, Babylonians and other dark people, all of who were already mixed with the Black people of Central Africa."

Cleage gives us further statements about who are the so-called Jews in the following quotation. Israel mixed with people everywhere they went. There is also a record of the Prophets writing rules about how God's chosen people should not mix with other people. Cleage further reveals the confusion of who are the Hebrew people:

"Israel was a mixed-blood, non-white nation. What usually confuses you is the fact that the Jews you see today in America are white. Most of them are the descendants of white Europeans and Asiatics who were converted to Judaism about one thousand years ago."

The FreedomJournal has often been confronted with those that oppose Christianity and the Bible. Many of these people note the foolishness of Blacks who have embraced Christianity and the Bible. Thus we hear statements like "King James was a homosexual and he re-wrote the Bible." We also hear that: "The White man has tampered with the Bible and Blacks are worse than fools to follow words written by Devilish White men."

As a student during the 1960s and 70s I first heard the attack on the so-called White Bible and King James However, there is on-going growth in knowledge for the sincere Truth-seeker. As I matured I came to realize that the Black Nationalists told as many lies as the White Christians. For the record no side of the Struggle has been immune from mistakes, lies and falsehoods.

I eventually saw a climax of intellectual maturity in the submission and knowledge of God. Therefore I have ceased making ignorant, shallow and incorrect statements about the White man tampering with the Bible. I do not seek to belittle or insult anyone, but let it be written that those that accept the notion of King James distorting the Bible need to do some research. It is for sure that many statements about the so-called King James Version of the Bible are more lies than truth. Meanwhile hate-mongers, atheists and those who are prejudiced project these statements. Also many of these people are biased and denounce anything allegedly associated with White people.

Originally nearly all of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew; the small remaining portion was written in Aramaic, sometime called Syriac. Aramaic was the language spoken by the people and was the language spoken by Jesus during His public ministry. However, the New Testament was written in Greek, the language used in letters and other writings. Since few people can easily read the ancient languages of the Scriptures, many versions and translations of the Bible have been made.

Hebrew is the language of the Old Testament. The manuscripts that have been found are written in square, black letters which resemble the Hebrew of today. There are several factors that cause problems for the translators. (1) Hebrew was written in ancient times without any spaces separating the words. (2) The Hebrew alphabet consisted of twenty-two letters, all of them consonants. Furthermore, in Hebrew there are no capital letters to distinguish proper nouns from common nouns and to mark the beginning of each new sentence. Finally Hebrew is read from right to left, rather than left to right as in English.

Greek was the language of the New Testament. However, the Greek of the New Testament was different from the classical Greek of a few centuries earlier. Greek is like English in that it is read from left to right. Therefore, as Hebrew and Greek were the original languages of the Bible there was a certain and expressed need to translate the Bible into the various languages of the world.

Therefore, we also see different versions of the Bible. Through the centuries the Bible has found its way into languages of the people as Christianity has swept throughout the world. The Septuagint was one of the first translations of the Old Testament. This Greek translation was made before there was a New Testament. The centuries preceding the Christian era saw a wide scattering of the Hebrew people. A large colony of Hebrew people resided in Alexandria, Egypt. Greek was the universal language and Hebrew was little used. Cleage notes that the Hebrews (Jews) that remained in Africa remained Black.

Therefore around the third century B.C. a group of seventy-two scholars, commissioned by the High Priest in Jerusalem translated the Bible into Greek. Septuagint comes from the Latin word seventy, and is commonly abbreviated by using the Roman Numeral LXX.

The Latin translation followed. With the aid of Pope Damascus the scholar Jerome (340?-420) undertook the translation into Latin. The Gospel was carried to Great Britain in the second century; however it was not until the seventh century that Christianity became established. However the first English versions of the entire Bible were the two associated with John Wycliffe (1320?-1384), which were translated from the Latin Vulgate.

William Tyndale (1490?-1536) also English became a martyr for his interest in translating the Bible. A renewed interest in Hebrew and Greek made it possible to translate the Bible from its original texts. Also, Gutenberg's invention of the printing press allowed many Bibles to be printed. The Old Testament was printed in 1525 and the New Testament was published in 1535. Meanwhile Miles Coverdale (1488-1568) gets the distinction for being the first to prepare and publish a complete printed Bible in English in 1535.

When Queen Mary came to the throne in 1553 translations were again forbidden and Coverdale was imprisoned. King James I came to the throne of England in 1603. As the secular head of the Anglican Church, James was opposed to the various rivals of Anglicanism in England at the time. In January 1604, the King called a meeting at Hampton Court to discuss religious toleration.

During this conference they noted the need for a new translation of the Bible. Shortly after the Hampton Court Conference the King took steps to begin a new version of the Bible. The work would be done by a large number of English scholars. When completed their work was to be reviewed by the Bishops, The Privy Council, and finally by the King. The translators began their work in 1607 and by 1611 the first edition of the King James Version of the Bible was printed and distributed.

This group effort resulted in a sacred and literary masterpiece, a work that has become the Bible to English-speaking Protestants everywhere and against which all subsequent translations were measured. Contrary to popular beliefs the King James Version was never officially authorized by the King, but won its place in Christendom on its own merits.

The translation is a scholarly work. The translations also were not dependent upon the Latin Vulgate alone for the text; both Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament manuscripts were used.

Cont. Part 5: Old Con Games, New Con Games

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carl@freedomjournalpress.comcastbiz.net