# Here's Something Ridiculous



## J.L. Allen (Oct 29, 2019)

My wife brought this to my attention. Someone on her Facebook posted about it.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1945582321/timshel-an-idiomatic-bible-translation


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## Chad Hutson (Oct 29, 2019)

Ummmmm…..no thanks! This lady "preacher" admits to having trouble connecting with the Scriptures, but yet feels qualified to translate them. I read the excerpt included and just groaned. She ought to go home. (Am I allowed to say that?)

Reactions: Funny 1


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## meanderingwanderer (Oct 29, 2019)

Just as a tease, here is her “translation” of Gen. 22:1:
“_Years after Abraham had moved to Canaan and had the promise of his son fulfilled in Isaac, an ethereal voice called out to him in a dream. Abraham believed the summons came from Elohim, one of the pagan gods he worshiped, a god whose voice he heard when he left Ur. Yet, unbeknownst to Abraham, the pagan gods had remained silent, and it was Yahweh who spoke. Yahweh yearned to uncover Abraham’s ancestral convictions—to figure out what he still clung to and what he was willing to leave behind. He was measuring Abraham’s faith while Abraham was intent on discerning Elohim’s place in the divine hierarchy_.”

Here is Gen. 22:1 (KJV):
“And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, _here_ I _am_.”

I’m going to say this is a hard pass for me!

Reactions: Funny 1 | Sad 1


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## Phil D. (Oct 29, 2019)

meanderingwanderer said:


> “_Years after Abraham had moved to Canaan and had the promise of his son fulfilled in Isaac, an ethereal voice called out to him in a dream. Abraham believed the summons came from Elohim, one of the pagan gods he worshiped, a god whose voice he heard when he left Ur. Yet, unbeknownst to Abraham, the pagan gods had remained silent, and it was Yahweh who spoke. Yahweh yearned to uncover Abraham’s ancestral convictions—to figure out what he still clung to and what he was willing to leave behind. He was measuring Abraham’s faith while Abraham was intent on discerning Elohim’s place in the divine hierarchy_.”



That's not an idiomatic translation. It's an idiotic translation.

Reactions: Like 7 | Amen 1


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## py3ak (Oct 29, 2019)

A great deal of the "background" that is putatively brought in for understanding and beauty is fictitious and factitious projection:

"Genesis 22:4"
_The trip’s weight burdened Abraham, and despite—or perhaps because of—his free will in the matter, he moved slowly with his eyes down. His journey was equally both inward and onward. Neither Isaac nor Abraham spoke along the path; for three days they traveled in silence, each playing the impending events in their minds. While Abraham believed in child sacrifice and its ability to grant favor, the weight of its now-personal consequences clung to him while he hauled this internal conflict up the mountain. _

_At the same time, Isaac dutifully took a path he had traveled many times before: the gods called, and he went. Both of them understood sacrifice as an offering of the devout, a plea for respite in times of distress—a universal acknowledgment of the gods’ rite over the first fruits of a human’s labor. All reasons justified and deserving, yet with no clarity for the rationale of the impending ceremony. On the third day, Abraham arrived at the place Yahweh had directed him._

_Capitulation to the gods had plagued him his entire life up until this point. Abraham always operated within an inherited belief system, yet the voice of Yahweh was different—Yahweh asked for connection instead of submission. Never born strictly out of obedience, true righteousness is begotten from mutual and worthy expectations. Abraham followed the voice of Yahweh out of Ur and into Canan; he left his tribe and family to do what this god said. But today, with his son on the altar the unique, intimate, voice of Yahweh left Abraham wrestling._

_Since Abraham left Ur, Yahweh’s interaction with him functioned in the realm of kinship—a new set of beliefs marked by partnership between God and a human being. Abraham burned with great faith, but his faith was better defined as an active movement—a journey. Since encountering Yahweh, each sacred stage of life stretched and pulled his faith. Far from the old ways, this new faith was constantly redefined as he learned what fit and what didn’t, who Yahweh was and who he wasn’t. The old system sufficed until he himself held crying parents in his arms and carried dead children to their graves. Then the ways of his ancestors faltered in his heart, but they even still had a grip on him. Abraham desperately wanted to leave these ways behind but he needed divine permission to do so. _

_The place where the sacrifice would occur came into view, and Abraham feared his old convictions would outrun his new pace. All rituals eventually become predictable and unvarying, and the steps ahead were clear: he would walk, worship, and build the altar, as was expected for a sacrifice. However this time, he would be giving his own test, as well. It was a trial to both himself and Yahweh, a type of quest for identity and character. Abraham was a man too focused on righteousness and faithfulness to disobey, but he desperately needed absolution on this particular sacrifice. His faith preservation required Yahweh to speak once again and confirm the relationship, as well as the justice, love, and mercy he had suspected. _

_He needed Yahweh to show up—to meet him on the mountain and stop the prevailing inequity he’d known for so long. Without Yahweh’s divine interception, he feared he would go through with the sacrifice—a choice that would unearth his darkest corners, never to be buried again. _

Reactions: Like 2


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## meanderingwanderer (Oct 29, 2019)

Phil D. said:


> That's not an idiomatic translation. It's an idiotic translation.


I actually had the same thought!


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## arapahoepark (Oct 29, 2019)

Modern midrash. Akin to most pseudepigraphal intertestamental literature.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Von (Oct 30, 2019)

_Father and son had much to discuss—to forgive. Pain, betrayal, hurt, and confusion plagued Issac, and the journey home gave appropriate space, etc, etc...._

Made me think of the nonsense that Soren Kierkegaard had to say about this passage.


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## bookslover (Oct 30, 2019)

I think we've reached peak dumbness early, today, folks!


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## C. M. Sheffield (Oct 31, 2019)

She couldn't connect with the Bible because she says she couldn't find _herself_ in it! Really? So she sets out to write herself in. That isn't exegesis, it's _narcigesis_.

Reactions: Like 3


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