Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from October, 2013

What is a Good Eye?

In the previous blog I discussed the idiom “ evil eye .” Now I will focus on the idiom that is used in parallel to it – good eye . The eye is the lamp of the body. If you have a good eye ,   your whole body will be full of light. (Matthew 6:22) In the Greek text we find it is the phrase o ofqalmoV sou aplouV that creates a problem for translators. It proves to be a more difficult challenge than evil eye was for many translators. Below are the different ways they translated the Greek phrase above. ● eye be single (King James Version) ● eye be true (Basic Bible in English) ● eyesight is good (Weymouth New Testament) ● eye is sound (World English Bible) ● eye may be perfect (Young’s Literal Translation) ● eyes are healthy (New International Version) No wonder people get confused when they read English translations of Yeshua’s words. Let’s do a quick review of the linguistic basics I discussed in the previous blog because they apply to this study too. The

What is an evil eye?

But if you have an evil eye , your whole body shall be full of darkness. (Matthew 6:23) Some terms create real problems for translators and o ofqalmoV sou ponhroV h  ( evil eye in above translation) is one of those terms. Below are some of the other choices translators have made. ● your eyes are unhealthy (New International Version) ● your eye is bad (New Living Translation) ● your eye is diseased (Net Bible) ● thine eye be evil (English Revised Version) ● your eyesight is bad (Weymouth New Testament) The majority of translators chose to translate it -- your eye is evil .  “Evil eye” is a well-known term, as can be seen by simply searching on Google. The evil eye is a malevolent look that many cultures believe able to cause injury or misfortune for the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike. Talismans created to protect against the evil eye are also frequently called "evil eyes." The term also refers to the power attribu

Did Anyone Call Yeshua “Christ”?

As we learned in an earlier blog – How “Yeshua” became “Jesus” – during the life of Yeshua, and for over another thousand years afterwards, the name “Jesus” was unknown. It didn’t exist. This isn’t a recent discovery. It has been known in scholarly circles for centuries. However, when it comes to local pulpits, there are numerous examples of sermons and theological disputes over the importance of the English word “Jesus.” Some say there is no salvation without the “name of Jesus.” Others preach that healing only comes through the name “Jesus.” They use the word “Jesus” like it has some “magical properties” connected to it. But, as pointed out above, no member of the Yeshua Movement or anyone else for over the first thousand years of Christianity would have known who you were referring to if anyone had asked if they knew “Jesus.” The same thing would have been true in Galilee, Samaria and Judah if anyone had asked about “Christ.” BHC President, Dr. Ike Tennison, provides some very

What did “Heaven” Mean to Yeshua?

What did “Heaven” mean to Yeshua -- “store up treasures in Heaven ” or “kingdom of Heaven ”? Before we learn what it meant to him, let’s consider what it means to millions of Bible readers today. The place we will begin our study is the BHC Bible Study Tools Section on our website. Be sure to bookmark it and use it in all your Bible studies too. The first tool we will use is a dictionary to look up the word “heaven.” The first entry is: The abode of God, the angels, and the spirits of the righteous after death; the place or state of existence of the blessed after the mortal life . If this is what “heaven” means, then the picture it creates in the reader’s mind is: (1) “store up your treasures in t he abode of God, the angels, and the spirits of the righteous after death.” (2) “the kingdom of t he abode of God, the angels, and the spirits of the righteous after death.” You may be surprised to discover that Yeshua wasn’t talking about a place when he used