INSPIRED CONTRADICTIONS.

XIII.

MISRENDERINGS OF THE ORIGINAL TEXT.

THE misrenderings of the original texts are so numerous that we can only notice a few of the more important ones. The word (BTzLM), rendered image, is really shadow; in Genesis i. 7, "in his own image" ought to read “after their shadow"; and "in the image of God created he him, male and female," ought to read "on the shadow of the gods they formed him, male and female."

We have already seen how the real meaning of the word elohim (aleim) in the first chapter of Genesis has been suppressed; we shall, therefore, not be surprised to find that references to other gods besides Yahuh have been altered so as to obscure their real meaning, for there is evidence that it has been the chief object of the translators to make it appear to the reader that the Hebrews were worshippers of one god only (monotheists). That Moses was interested in pushing the worship of the chief, tribal, or patron god, Yahuh, is pretty clear, for he had probably acquired a devotion to this god in Egypt. All who entered the temple of Serapis at Heliopolis, in which temple Moses was educated and instructed in science by Egyptian priests, wore the name I-ha-ho, or I-ha-hou. Serapis, Osiris, and Yahuh were one and the same, each a representative of the sungod, as Astarte, Isis, and Venus were the same; the former three representing the male powers of generation, and the latter representing the mother earth and the female powers of generation. And without the Pentateuch and the rest of the Hebrew sacred writings, with the former's "creation," "fall," and "original sin," the theory of the Saviour Jesus and his redemption by death would be useless; and, without the so-called "prophecies " of the latter to bolster up the story of Jesus, his death by the gibbet as a malefactor would have been fatal to his success as a messiah.

MISRENDERINGS OF THE ORIGINAL TEXT.

165

In Gen. iv. 8, a portion of the original was evidently obliterated or missing: "And Cain said to his brother Abel "; here is a blank, and we do not hear what Cain said to his brother; then follows: "And it came to pass while they were in the fields," etc. Instead of rendering this correctly, and honestly stating the facts of the case in a note, the translators have rendered it : "And Cain talked with Abel, his brother." Though this may appear unimportant and trivial, it shows want of correctness and desire to manipulate, and confidence is lost. Then in verse 18 "the Chief or Ram-god" is rendered, to disguise the fact, "the most high god." Psalm lxviii. opens with "Let God arise," which ought to read: Let the mighty one [the sun-god] arise." The word "Lord," so frequently met with in the O. T., is universally wrong as a rendering. In Psalm x. 1, lxxxix. 46 and 52, the word "Lord" ought to read "Yahuh." The word "Adonai," when found alone, is in nearly all cases rendered "the Lord"; but, when met with in conjunction with Yahuh or elohim, is erroneously rendered "Lord God," as, for example, Psalm cx. 1: The Lord said unto my Lord," which is meaningless, and ought to read: "Yahuh saith unto Adonai [or our Adonis]"; Isaiah vii. 7, 66 Thus saith the Lord God," ought to read: "Thus saith Yahuh our Adonis "; verse 14, 66 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign," ought to read: "Therefore our Adonis himself shall give you a sign."

66

The god Amen, Ammon, or Amoun, is generally rendered "the god of truth"; this occurs twice in Isaiah lxv. 16. This name, in its shortened form, found its way later into the Greek language from Egypt, and was used in the sense of truly; but this is no excuse for the deliberate misrendering of the ancient Egyptian and Hebrew deities' name. In the Apocalypse or revelation this name is written with the Greek prefix Ho, and is rendered "The Amen," which is meaningless. In Rev. iii. 14 we ought to read: "These things saith Ammon, the true and faithful witness"; but, instead, we read : "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness."

The name "El Shadai" is given in the A.V., where it first occurs, but is everywhere else rendered Almighty, which is the true rendering, it being the plural of SHD= mighty or powerful. "It was really a title of the Babylonian

god Bel, who is constantly invoked in inscriptions as 'Saddai Raba,' the great exalted one."*

The word Ashera, or Asherah, is admitted in the preface to the R. V. to be "uniformly and wrongly rendered grove in the A. V. (see 1 Kings xiv. 15, 23; 2 Kings xxiii. 4–7) Why this deception? There can be only one answer-to conceal the gross character of the object. The Ashera was an upright or erect stone, the phallic or sexual emblem. In Ex. xxxiv. 13 we find: "But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves.' The reading in the R. V. is: "Ye shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars, and ye shall cut down their Asherim." The "pillars were the phallic emblems or Ashera. Josiah destroyed the worship of the sun, moon, planets, and the Ashera, and turns out of the Temple the "Kadeshim" (see p. 73).

The libidinous effusion called "Solomon's Song," from which verses are picked out by the Catholic Church, and palmed off upon her credulous followers as poetic allusions to the Virgin Mary, is simply a love song delivered by some devoted debauchee. In chapter v. 4 a dishonest interpolation is made, not only in the A. V., but in the R. V.; the words "of the door are inserted after the word meaning opening, or vulva. And, to further disguise the real libidinous meaning of the text, the words meaning within me are rendered "for him." The words of the two following verses have also been rendered so that the real meaning may be obscured. The "handle of the bolt' wss the phallus, the premature withdrawal of which was the subject of lament.

We have noticed before that the word rendered "angels" in the visit to Lot in the city of Sodom ought to be gods In Isaiah xxxiv. 14 Adam's demon wife Lilith has been suppressed, and the meaningless expression, "the screech owl," substituted; but the rendering in the R.V. is "the night monster." The hideous long nose which the Hebrew god Yahuh was represented with, and the horns of Moses (of Aries, the ram), have both been suppressed. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and

* C. Edwards, The Witness of Assyria.