Matthew 10:4 has the Aramaic word "kanan" in it. This word is easily mistaken for Canaanite, when it should actually be translated Zealote. How many translations do you think make that mistake? It was pointed out a long, long time ago, too. They go as follows:
MSG
AMP
KJV (of course)
NLV
ESV
NKJV
KJ21
ASV
YLT
DARBY
WYC
That's eleven.
OK, how 'bout another one? Let's look at I Kings 20:30. 27,000 people were killed by a wall in Aphek? Professor Moshe Kochavi from Tel Aviv University's Institute of Archeology has uncovered this town and its walls. It was a thirty acre city at its largest, and never had a wall large enough to kill anywhere close to 27,000 people. It should be twenty-seven people. This error is attributed to the mistranslation of the Hebrew word for "professional soldier" -alluph-, often mistaken for the word "thousand" -eleph-. The discrepancies are justifiable, as there were no vowels in ancient Hebrew, so the two words were identical -'lp- and -'lp-. The transcribers of these texts had to literally guess, and they liked the idea of multiplying Israel's victories, numbers, and enemies. I've gone over this before, but this reconciles what we know about Israeli history with the huge numbers in the Bible. David's census is clear, the losses in Gibeah make sense, and a hundred other instances of numerical errors are fixed. The problem is, no one wants to change the Bible. They're afraid of what the world will say. They afraid someone will burn their bodies and staple Revelations 22:18 to their smoking corpses. Every single translation in existence makes these numerical errors. Few will change "fear" to "reverence" out of pure and simple fear of the vicious bloodlust of scorned religionists. It seems from the reaction of this forum that the bloodlust of the atheists might be kindled even hotter.
Want another one? Genesis 29:31 says Leah was "hated." The word is "sawnay," a Hebrew word that does not denote hatred, but is more accurately translated "love less." Leah wasn't hated, she was just loved less than Rachel. What do the translations say? Of the eighteen versions I checked, only two had this denotation correct. The Contemporary English Version and the New International Readers Version (go figure). The other sixteen translatations used "hated," "despised" or "unloved" despite the fact that the correction was available to them.
The scholars rely less on the Gospel and more on their own intelligence when they translate the Bible. Proverbs says it is good to have intelligence if it is used correctly; but the smarter you are the harder it is to use your intelligence with Godly love.
