Isaiah 53:9

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And they made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. (ASV)

Pro

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Mistranslation of "motav" as "death" instead of "deaths"

JW:

"And they made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth." (ASV)

JW:

The underlying Hebrew word for "death" above, "motav", literally is the plural form for "tomb". It's generally accepted that it can be figuratively used for "deaths". Every Christian translation I've ever seen mistranslates to the singular "death". Obviously the Christian reason for doing so is to try and give a translation it thinks describes an individual.

Apologists will sometimes point out as support of "death" that some Jewish translations use a translation of "death" as well. The reason these Jewish translations use "death" though is because it is understood that the subject is Israel, a plural subject but grammatically a singular noun, and it sounds awkward in English to use a plural verb for a singular noun. If however your understanding is a singular subject such as an individual, than there is no justification for translating a singular verb. In the big picture, the plural verb here, "motav", is clear evidence that a plural subject, specifically Israel, was intended here as only a plural subject, such as a Nation could have references switching between singular and plural. The singular references are for the Nation as a whole while the plural references are for the individuals who comprise the Nation.

--JoeWallack 13:42, 4 Feb 2007 (CST)

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