A note about Hebrew, translation as an act of textual violence, and the Book of Mormon

A few years ago, I began following a prompting to learn how to understand scripture in God's context rather than my own.  At the time this felt unimportant to me -- I suspected it would contribute little to my understanding of the scriptures, but I plodded ahead nonetheless.

Today I can testify of the importance of striving to understand the original context of holy writ. It isn't enough to simply read the words and use the modern English conception to derive meaning from the verse. Doing only this might cause us to completely miss very important subtext. Genesis 1 gives us multiple important examples, such as the fact that Adam's name means "from the ground." Another example would be poetic features intended to relay layers of meaning in very few words. The second half of Isaiah 5:7 is a perfect example of this (as Stisa has previously discussed here):

he expected justice ('mishpat'),
    but saw bloodshed ('mispakh');
righteousness ('tsedaqah'),
    but heard a cry ('tseaqah')! (NRSV)

Many elements are happening all at once in this poetic verse about Israel's covenant rebellion. Taking the verse from Hebrew to English forces the translator to make a choice between preserving the ringing sounds of the poetry or the strict meaning of the words. The example above preserves the meaning of the words.  Notice how another translation reads:

“And [God] hoped for justice, 

But behold, injustice; 

For equity, 

But behold, iniquity!” (NJPS)

In this case, the ringing sound of the words is preserved at the expense of the meaning of the original Hebrew.  In English, one can't have both a precise rendering of the meaning and a preservation of the ringing poetry.

Translation as as act of violence

The need to transform . . . the ancient languages of the Bible (Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek) into a modern language, thereby modernizing the language, thought, and culture of the Bible by means of such translation does unimaginable violence to the text. It wrenches the text from its home in the ancient cultures and languages, deports that text and exiles it in foreign languages and cultures. The cultural transformations required to make the translation work in its new language and culture often involve serious violations of the text. Radical changes between cultures are not easily accommodated by translation techniques and each cultural translation shifts the text further away from its roots in ancient culture. (Robert P. Carroll, “Cultural Encroachment and Bible Translation: Observations on Elements of Violence, Race and Class in the Production of Bibles in Translation,” Semeia 76 (1996): 39–53, here 39–40.)

Any time we attempt to study scriptures in a language other than its original language we run a risk of grossly misinterpreting what was meant by the author.

How this relates to studying the Book of Mormon

The original language of the Book of Mormon is neither English nor Hebrew. It is clear that the writers knew Hebrew, evidenced by numerous examples of Hebrew wordplay, metanyms, and literary devices common to ancient Hebrew. So why do Stisa and I spend so much time trying to understand Hebrew if this is not the original language of the Book of Mormon? 

The best answer to this is that by a deeper understanding of Hebrew very often leads to a deeper/better understanding of the the Book of Mormon.  Identifying patterns such as the Isaiah example above reveals hidden layer of meaning within the English text.

Let's look at 3 Nephi 9:11 in light of Isaiah 5:7 --

11 And because they did cast them all out, that there were none righteous among them, I did send down fire and destroy them, that their wickedness and abominations might be hid from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints whom I sent among them might not cry unto me from the ground against them. (3 Nephi 9)

God expected righteousness from His covenant people but found none righteous among them. He found their blood crying to Him from the ground (ha'adamah) against the people. He goes on to introduce Himself to those who were spared four verses later:

15 Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name.

Do you see the deeper message here?  The creator has come to visit His people. Mormon describes the visitation (and preceding destruction) in a way that highlights Isaiah's words (which we know Mormon had as they are contained on the small plates). These sons of Adam had forgotten the purpose of the creation, ignored messages from the prophets, and instead spilled their blood onto the ground from which they had come.

If this were an isolated example, or if they were few and far between, I'd probably be able to dismiss the concept as mere coincidence. Instead, I find them almost every time I study the scriptures. Here is a link just to wordplay in names found in the Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon was very carefully written by people familiar with ancient Hebrew.  As we take the time to understand this deeper context, our understanding of the scriptures will expand in a very satisfying way.

I've learned that for me, part of "studying it out in my mind" is now:

1. unlearning the typical modern meaning of a word
2. learning the scriptural context for that word
3. getting a deeper understanding of the passage itself
4. seeing how clearly it connects to other passages

The Holy Ghost teaches me along the way at each step, and the more I succeed in this process the easier it has become to trust this will continue to happen for the rest of my life.