A paraphrase gone confused

Waldmark, 19 June 2008

Four mistakes in the paraphrase of one verse.

A paraphrase in the Living Bible of Psalm 111:3 caught my attention: ‘For his miracles demonstrate his honour, majesty and goodness.’ This paraphrase demonstrates that people who render the Bible from one language to another do not always understand the meaning of the words they translate.

To begin with, the paraphrase confuses us because it states that ‘his (God’s) miracles demonstrate his goodness.’ But none of the original editions or translations of the Bible mention goodness. All of them render righteousness as they should, from the Hebrew tsdaqah. Righteousness and goodness are vastly different concepts, as I have explained in another Ipistle.

Moreover, goodness means ‘as God intended’ and ‘serving its purpose well.’ If this paraphrase would accurately render the Psalmist’s meaning we would need to conclude that God uses miracles to demonstrate the things that are as God intended or that are serving their purpose well. But why change, through the means of miracles, the things that already are as they should? Surely God’s goodness doesn’t need miracles to correct it?

The next error shows that the scholar who wrote the paraphrase has not grasped the fact that God surpasses everything, including miracles. The paraphrase says that His miracles demonstrate His majesty. Which implies that God’s miracles are superior to God’s majesty. Otherwise, how can they demonstrate? A lesser thing cannot demonstrate – as in show or express or exhibit – a greater thing. A mouse cannot demonstrate the strenght of an elephant, only an elephant can do that.

Indeed, miracles cannot demonstrate God’s majesty. Miracles can testify about God’s majesty but miracles can never demonstrate God’s majesty. Nothing can demonstrate God’s majesty other than God Himself. If it were the case that anything, whether miracles or man or the moon, could demonstrate God’s majesty, then God’s majesty would not be greater. It is precisely because God is greater than anyone and anything (including miracles) that nothing in heaven or on earth is in itself great enough to demonstrate God’s majesty. It is no accident that the word demonstrate does not occur in the original manuscript of this verse, only in the paraphrase of it.

If the sentence had said that miracles demonstrate God’s power, that would have been a slightly different matter, although still wrong on account of erroneously using the word demonstrate. Saying that miracles demonstrate God’s majesty seriously downgrades that majesty because it equals the majesty of the Most High God with miracles that can be experienced by human beings. Moreoever, although miracles can testify, we also need to remember that a testimony can never be the same as the person or the act it testifies about. The greater or more unique the person, the less adequate a testimony.

The confusion further increases as a result of the way the sentence is stated grammatically. Originally, the verse tells us that God’s doing (including both what He does and how He acts) are majestic and glorious. In a separate, distinct statement, it says that His righteousness (wrongly altered into goodness) endures forever. The paraphrase ignores this distinction and bundles righteousness together with majesty and glory. But righteousness is a separate subject, plua qualified by the statement that it lasts forever. The Psalmist attributes Majesty and Glory to God’s doing, whereas he attributes Righteousness, not to God’s doing, but to God Himself.

Finally, the fourth mistake is that the paraphrase talks about miracles. But miracles are not mentioned in this verse! The Psalmist talks about God’s works, not his miracles! Only the writer of the paraphrase introduces miracles. The scholars have not understood that God doesn’t need miracles; His ‘normal’ works and doings are already glorious and majestic.

So many serious mistakes in one sentence! So many words needed to correct them. No wonder people are becoming confused reading the Bible. On the other hand, the string of mistakes triggers deeper study. And deeper study of the Word of God greatly enhances understanding. So it’s truly a case of, in the words of Romans 8:28, ‘…that all things work together for good to them that love God…’.

Tags: goodness, righteousness, Bible Study, Psalm 111