Isaiah 45:18

A few years ago, I wrote a couple posts about grammar errors in the ESV (specifically word order problems with the "not... but..." correlative when combined with causal clauses).  Since then, I've found numerous similar errors (in the ESV, there are three word order errors with "not... but..." just in John 17), but I haven't written about them.  Last month, I ran across one that's a bit more interesting, so I'm noting it here.

In the NIV, part of Isaiah 45:18 is "He [the LORD] did not create it [the earth] to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited."  The ESV translation is similar:  "He did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!"  The "not" should negate "(to be) empty" not "create," and this is obvious in the Hebrew (לֹא־תֹהוּ בְרָאָהּ).  The King James Version correctly translates this as "he created it not in vain."

What I thought interesting about this particular instance is that the parallel structure makes it clear that this is an error.  "Create" parallels "formed" in the same way that "not empty" should parallel "inhabited" (in an inverted sort of way).

John 7:18

Last month, when I watched the Daily Dose of Latin video on John 7:18, I noticed something that I hadn't noticed when I went over the same verse with the corresponding Daily Dose of Greek video about two years ago.

ὁ ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ λαλῶν τὴν δόξαν τὴν ἰδίαν ζητεῖ· ὁ δὲ ζητῶν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ πέμψαντος αὐτόν, οὗτος ἀληθής ἐστιν, καὶ ἀδικία ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστιν.

qui a semet ipso loquitur gloriam propriam quaerit qui autem quaerit gloriam eius qui misit illum hic verax est et iniustitia in illo non est

In the ESV, this is translated as:

The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.

In both the Greek and the Latin, the direct object in the first clause (τὴν δόξαν τὴν ἰδίαν, gloriam propriam, "his own glory") comes before the verb (ζητεῖ, quaerit, "seeks").  The word order in Greek and Latin is more flexible than in English, so I wouldn't argue for this too strongly, but placing "his own glory" earlier in the clause could provide a sense of this person's vanity.  In terms of his priorities and even in the clause that describes him, his glory comes first.

The word order in the second clause is different (the direct object comes after the verb [or the participle, as it is in the Greek]), and this mirrors the contrast in these two men, signalled more explicitly with δὲ, autem, and "but."

Proverbs 15:29

Last month, I read Proverbs 15, and I found an-other instance where two nouns are placed at opposite ends of a clause, which results in a sense of the distance that's mentioned in the verse.  In both the NIV and the ESV, Proverbs 15:29 is translated as:  "The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous."  The structure highlights the distance between "the LORD" and "the wicked."

This feature isn't in the Hebrew or the Latin Vulgate, but it is in my German translation of Proverbs:  "Der HERR ist ferne von den Gottlosen; aber der Gerechten Gebet erhört er."

John 20:19, 21

John 20:19-31 was the Gospel reading on Worship Anew last month (16 April).  In his sermon, Pastor Jonker briefly comments on how Jesus says, "Peace be with you" twice in the reading:

Again Jesus says, "Peace be with you."  Wasn't once enough?  Why receive forgiveness when you've already been forgiven?  Why speak peace a second time when you've already said it?  That's not what faith says.  Faith simply delights in receiving whatever the Lord has to give, and if He's giving out double peace on Easter Sunday, that's where I want to be.

I hadn't given much thought to this "double peace" that Jesus gives, but that particular phrase that Pastor Jonker uses brought to mind Isaiah 40:2:  "Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins."  The study notes in my Bible comment that Jerusalem "received from the Lord's hand good things in double proportion to the punishment she deserved for her sins" and also cites Isaiah 61:7:  "Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy."  The double peace that Jesus speaks in John 20 is an instance of this.

I think the context here is significant, too.  This giving of double peace comes right after Jesus' resurrection and His victory over sin, death, and the devil, and this is also what Isaiah 40:2 describes:  "her warfare is ended... her iniquity is pardoned."