The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Making the Bible Look Holy

Often people such as Jesus, Paul and the other apostles are seen in a very holy and respected light, however I feel as though people (for lack of a better term) over-holify them and the bible. Don’t get me wrong though - I see Jesus and the apostles as very holy (as they should be). When I first read the KJV it was a bit odd to see phrases like “woe to you” and “son of a rebellious woman” as they seem to lack any emotion in what their context would offer. It sounds quite posh and high class if you ask me, and I can’t see people in Jesus’ day saying that when they are really angry.

To quote one of the articles below, I found that the emotion is seen when you go back to the Hebrew. " “Son of a perverse rebellious woman?” Sure, that’s the literal translation, but think. Saul’s really angry, and he’s shouting at his son, but the English translators of many Bible translations seem to be beating around the bush here. What Saul says here, ben ‘avah marduwth, is a colloquialism. In Hebrew it’s quite vulgar. Modern English has a very similar colloquialism with an equivalent meaning.
Saul’s basically calling Jonathan a “stupid son of a b****.” And it’s in the Bible. Just because “son of a perverse rebellious woman” is not a “swear word” outside of Hebrew doesn’t take away the meaning of what is being said here. (Some paraphrase translators do translate it “son of a b****” or “son of a s***”) "

I know this would be a controversial topic for some, but I don’t see why it has to be. I feel as though translators have purposely made the bible easier to swallow. Yet instead of cowering away from the harder, more controversial topics in the bible, we need to take charge and study these things in depth.