I was reading this morning in II Chronicles. I noticed some parentheses in the verses. Now here is my dumb question.
How do they determine what should be in parentheses? I know the italicized words are added for clarification by the translators. And since I know no Hebrew or Greek how did they determine parentheses in those languages?
Gary
I don't know, could it be a narrative?
Gary, I'm not learned in these things, but I believe that when the King James Bible was translated from the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts, the translators were Godly men, who allowed the Holy Spirit to guide them in how to translate.
And since there were about 50 of them who checked and rechecked each other's work, those things they added, like parentheses and italics, had to be agreed to by the entire bunch.
The translation of the AV is a miracle, in itself: do you know of any other work by a large committee that was perfect? It had to be of God.
(02-21-2010 03:51 PM)Gary Wrote: [ -> ] (02-21-2010 02:55 PM)Ronnie Wrote: [ -> ]I don't know, could it be a narrative?
I am not sure Brother. The following verses from II Chronciles 6 are two which jumped out at me this morning.
2 Chronicles 6:30 Then hear thou from Heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men: )
2 Chronicles 6:36 If they sin against thee, (for there is no man which sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them over before their enemies, and they carry them away captives unto a land far off or near;
The truth contained in those two parentheses is outstanding.
Gary
According to the folks at
GrammarBook.com, there are three uses of the parentheses. According to their definition, Rule 1 would apply. Here's what they say:
Rule 1. Use parentheses to enclose words or figures that clarify or are used as an aside.
Examples: I expect five hundred dollars ($500).
He finally answered (after taking five minutes to think) that he did not understand the question.
Commas could have been used in the above example. Parentheses show less emphasis or importance.
Em dashes, which could also have been used instead of parentheses, show emphasis.
I guess the comments in parentheses are asides. Based on the verse Bro. Gary posted as an example, the remarks in the parenthetical are a minor clarification of the already stated prayer request.
The King James translators, besides being a work directed by God, were scholarly men who could, with their knowledge of languages, detect an inflection of the voice being portrayed in a passage. They knew wheter to use commas because the remark was more necessary, or parentheses' because it was almost like something only thought, rather than written.
Kind of like the piano recital I went to and commented, "I can't wait for this song to be over, (because it is really terrible.") I didn't make the after statement out loud as to not offend those sitting around me, (even thought the song REALLY was very terrible!)
Thank you Brother Ben for that explanation.
So it is safe to state that the words in parentheses are in the originals but convey a clarifying thought?
Gary
(02-21-2010 05:27 PM)Gary Wrote: [ -> ]So it is safe to state that the words in parentheses are in the originals but convey a clarifying thought?
Yes, parenthetical statements are actual statements in manuscripts. The words are there, the translators added the grammatical marks to help us better understand.
Thank you all for the replies and information.
(02-21-2010 10:00 PM)Daniel Wrote: [ -> ]Yes, parenthetical statements are actual statements in manuscripts. The words are there, the translators added the grammatical marks to help us better understand.
That's correct. Parentheses are often necessary in translation, simply because words can be used differently, and in different constructions, in different languages. If the KJB translators had left out the parentheses, it wouldn't have made proper sense.
The English alphabet wasn't in "the originals," either, but its use in our Bibles is not a stumbling block. In fact, in "the originals," there were not even spaces between most words; but the addition of spaces, in other languages, is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, as Dr. Ruckman has said, we couldn't tell the difference between
"I saw abundance on the table"
and
"I saw a bun dance on the table!"