Dear Editor,

In the burning fervour of admirable and honest missionary zeal, as well as for perhaps other less worthy emotions such as display of intellectual virtuosity, Bible societies have long adapted the King James Version to local conditions. Since the Eskimos have no word for “lambs”, and do not know of “sheep”, the ingenious solution was to refer to the “lamb of God” as the “seal of God”. The Eskimos had no bread at the time, so the Lord’s Prayer

read:”Give us this day our daily fish…”

In the Kacongo dialect of West Africa there is no word for shepherd, the nearest reference being “i lungo mbizi” (he who keeps wild animals). The priest in the area therefore decided to describe the shepherd who visited Christ child as “galignera” from a Portugese word meaning “one who looks after chickens”. So, in a long-standing tradition, theologians have indeed tried to be creative in translation of the Jewish Holy Scriptures.

The Patois Bible seems to be motivated primarily by a desire to reverse “cultural imperialism”, rather than to explain and make simple, since, as I see it, the text could not by any stretch of the imagination have been aimed at a semi-literate audience. Indeed, many degreed people find it harder to decipher than the KJV. In this aim it must succeed. One can imagine baffled English theologians of high rank having to converse with the patois experts in endless consultations over nice points of translations from English to patois and vice versa. While I give the patois translators good marks for at least “trying a thing” and so resonating with literate black urban youth who seek some cultural relevance from the Jewish Bible which they can relate to, I feel it has further obscured the most valued messages of the Judeo-Christian collection.

In fact, the King James version has also totally demolished some of the most valuable meanings of the Mazoretic and/or Rabbi-approved versions. Ever since the prophetic codes were said to have been uncovered by Israeli scholars recently, it has been thought that the Torah, in particular, in the original language, is a virtual interactive computer translatable series of codes of quantum depth of multiple references (and meanings) for the education of, and warning to, modern man.

These revelations were not possible before the computer age, though many scholars such as Newton and Jewish intellectuals (and perhaps Roman Catholic priests) sought to find them during entire lifetimes. In the Torah, there have been found references to the most notable names of the 20th century (among other time spans), including many well-known humans who are still alive. Terrorist attacks, bombings such as the Oklahama atrocity along with the time and hour of the attack and the name of the terrorist, Timothy McVeigh, are clearly hidden in plain sight. Most Western intelligence organs are therefore currently studying the Bible avidly to try to find events before they happen. But this is yet a young science. So apart from its rites, ethical education, and comforting and compassionate phrases, non-Jewish translations tend to obscure deeper meanings of the Bible.

Peter Lawrence

ptah2009@gmail.com