Better Khmer Bibles Blog

A place to discuss Khmer Bible translation problems and suggest improvements. View this tutorial on how to install Khmer Unicode on your computer so that you can view the Khmer fonts on this blog.

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

KSV John 2:17 and Psalm 69:9 Error

John 2:17 quotes Psalm 69:9 and in the KSV reads: «មក​ពី​ទូលបង្គំ​ស្រឡាញ់​ព្រះដំណាក់​របស់​ព្រះអង្គ បាន​ជា​គេ​ប្រហារ​ជីវិត​ទូលបង្គំ»

The main problem with this text is that the translation miss-links the subject of the verb "to kill/consume/​ប្រហារ​" with "they/គេ" (which actually does not exist in the original Greek) rather than the "zeal/love/ស្រឡាញ់" of the speaker.

In Hebrew Psalm 69:9 (actually verse 10 in the Hebrew Bible) reads:
כִּֽי־קִנְאַ֣ת בֵּיתְךָ֣ אֲכָלָ֑תְנִי וְחֶרְפּ֥וֹת ח֝וֹרְפֶ֗יךָ נָפְל֥וּ עָלָֽי׃

The translators apparently ignored the clear subject of the verb אֲכָלָ֑תְנִי which is Qal Perfect Second Person Feminine Singular with a suffixed pronoun first person singular as the direct object. The clear subject of אֲכָלָ֑תְנִי is the feminine noun קִנְאַ֣ת not "they/គេ"

In Greek the text reads: Ὁ ζῆλος τοῦ οἴκου σου καταφάγεταί με

Here the subject of the verb καταφάγεταί is not quite as clear, but the subject of the verb cannot be translated as "they/គេ" because it is a third person singular verb. In Greek, when a noun is provided that matches a verb in number, it is normal for it to be linked as the subject. ζῆλος is singular and in the nominative form (signaling that it is the subject [Mounce, Basics p. 31), καταφάγεταί is singular a very clear link exists (every major translation makes "zeal" the subject of "consume").

A better translation would be:
«សេចក្តី​ស្រឡាញ់​ដល់​ដំណាក់​ទ្រង់ បាន​ប្រហារ​ជីវិត​ទូលបង្គំ»
or:
«បំណង​ប្រាថ្នាដ៏​ឆេះឆួល​​ទៅ​កាន់​​ដំណាក់​ទ្រង់ បាន​សម្លាប់​ចិត្ត​​​​ទូលបង្គំ»

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