On Thu, 14 Jan 2021 10:01:56 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:

On Wed, 13 Jan 2021 11:49:04 +0700, John B.
wrote:

Well, certainly there are various "versions" of the Bible and some of
the instructions are a bit different. "Thou shall not kill" in some
versions and "Thou shall not commit murder" in others for instance

New versions appear constantly. The latest is the MEV (Modern English
Version) which takes the KJV bible and translates the 17th century
idioms and terminology, into modern English. It was finished in 2013.
https://modernenglishversion.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_English_Version

It's the idioms that drive readers nuts. One famous example is from
WWII, when a misunderstanding of the phrase "table the motion" brought
an important military meeting to a grinding halt:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_(parliamentary_procedure)
That's just one example, and the bible is crammed full of idioms.

"Thou shalt no kill" is not sufficient in a court of law. Question
arise as to exceptions and killing what? Is it acceptable to
slaughter animals for food? Some attempts have been made to clarify
such details, usually resulting in a bible that reads like a legal
document or history book:
https://gnt.bible
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_News_Bible

Incidentally, here's a vocabulary list extracted from the KJV bible:
https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.tbsbibles.org/resource/collection/D1B0BDBE-CD9E-4D12-BBDD-138677F98835/Bible-Word-List-and-Reading-Plan.pdf
Most of the words and phrases on the list are in dire need of
translation to modern terms.

Another thing, regarding the Bible is that of translation. As I have
lived in a number of non-English speaking countries I have been made
aware that literal translations are frequently meaningless, if even
possible, and even worse people often use nicknames and phrases that
when literally translated are far different in meaning then what is
meant by those using them. For example, it is very common,
particularly in Bangkok, to hear a man reference "fan phom" which
literally translated is "friend me" but actually means "my wife", a
somewhat different meaning than the translation.

Given that the Jewish holy books weren't originally written in
English, or Latin, but were likely translated first into Greek, and
then into Latin and then into English the chances of misinterpreting a
word or phrase, or even a loyal advocate of one group or another
simply inserting a totally new word into his copy seems more than
likely.
--
Cheers,

John B.