[Steven Avery]

Hi Folks,

We are mostly putting aside the nonsense of Price & Combs and simply trying to understand the genesis of "captured". In its own right "captured" is an example of an "under the covers" translation shift, virtually unknown, where the translators starting around the 1890s (significant exception : Robert Young) simply followed the "new" text with little thought, comment or insight. Going against the long Reformation Bible history, following their new sources.

Hand-in-hand with the decrepit NT revision text came new ideas of word-meanings out of the German scholarship of the 19th century (an error era rife with the two or three Isaiahs, the huge tetragrammaton blunder, higher criticisms, etc.).

Gesenius is considered a rationalist, a pragmatic philologist. Joseph Addison Alexander, while respecting his scholarship, refers to"

"his (Gesenius) fundamental error, that there can be no prophetic foresight".

We can consider Gesenius as intellectually honest as can be for one with the fundamental spiritual difficulty of a rejection of the supernatural prophetic aspect of the Bible text.

Gesenius for "captured" in the 19th century is clearly the key (again putting aside the bogus representations of Price & Combs). And the next two posts will look at this closer. First the history leading up to his changeover. The original year was likely earlier than 1829 since in 1821 Gesenius wrote on Isaiah and his Hebrew technical writing work began as early as 1810 with English translation as early as 1824. However we see no notice of this "captured" from others until about 1840 (although there could be mention in the German literature). Let us first review the history, then we will look at the Gesenius explanation.

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Isaiah 13:15 (KJB)
Every one that is found shall be thrust through;
and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword.

Where did Gesenius come up with the "captured" idea ? We can see that it clearly was not in any of the major commentators in the century and more leading up to his writing, and it is rare in the years after. We now skip over ahead to the 1700s, we have shown above there is absolutely no mention of "captured" in Reformation scholarship, we want to focus on the change period.

http://www.msbcoc.com/mhc/MHC23013.asp
Matthew Henry (1712)
every one that is joined to them shall fall by the sword; those of other nations that come in to their assistance shall be cut off with them. It is dangerous being in bad company, and helping those whom God is about to destroy. Those particularly that join themselves to Babylon must expect to share in her plagues, Re 18:4.

http://www.studylight.org/com/geb/vi...=013&verse=015
John Gill (1765)
everyone that is joined [unto them] shall fall by the sword;
or "added" unto them; any of other nations that joined them as auxiliaries, see (Revelation 18:4) or "that is gathered"; so the Septuagint, "they that are gathered"; that are gathered together in a body to resist the enemy, and defend themselves. Some render the word, "every one that is consumed", with age; neither old nor young, as follows, should be spared. The Targum is,
``everyone that enters into the fortified cities,''
flees there for safety and protection.

John Gill discusses :

John Gill - "joined" or "added"
Greek OT - "they that are gathered"
Targum - "everyone that enters into the fortified cities"
"some" - "every one that is consumed"

http://books.google.com/books?id=p_IoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA81
Robert Lowth (1815)
Every one, that is overtaken, shall be thrust through :
And all that are collected in a body shall fall by the sword.
http://books.google.com/books?id=p_IoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA252
Every' one that is overtaken *
That is, none shall escape from the slaughter : neither they who flee singly, dispersed, and in confusion ; nor they who endeavour to make their retreat in a more regular manner, by forming compact bodies ; they shall all be equally cut off by the sword of the enemy.

Note: this translation is also in the edition with Lowth, Blayney and Newcome. (Referenced by Spurgeon in his commentary list.)

http://books.google.com/books?id=dSZdAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA25
A Literal Translation of the Prophets, from Isaiah to Malachi (1836)

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bible/webster.ii.Isa.13.html
Noah Webster Bible (1833)
Every one that is found shall be thrust through;
and every one that is joined to them shall fall by the sword.

This next article is very helpful, almost a historic review. One that de facto acknowledges Gesenius as having formed a new view, one accepted by Ewald.

http://books.google.com/books?id=C41wAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA256
The Earlier Prophecies of Isaiah By Joseph Addison Alexander (1846)

The flight of the strangers from Babylon is not without reason, for every one found (there) shall be stabbed (or thrust through), and every one joined (or joining himself to the Babylonians) shall fall by the sword. All interpreters agree that a general massacre is here described ....

Alexander goes on to mention interpretations by Junius, Kimchi, Hitzig, Lowth, Umbreit, Michaelis, Henderson, Knobel, Ewald & Gesenius. (Rashi and Calvin and Gill are major omissions).

Alexander considers (if it is given that "thrust through" and "fall by the sword" are referring to the same people) that there are two major understandings. (A bit oversimplified, but reasonable for now.)

One is Kimchi applying to the foreigners included with the Babylonians - (matching "joined unto them" - the only direct discussion of Kimchi available far on this verse is the one we shared from Hayim Sheynin).

The second is the Ewald (he first to popularize the form Jahve for the Tetragram) and Gesenius "captured" view, with Ewald following Gesenius. The 1840 German edition of Ewald is in Google "Die Propheten des Alten Bundes" along with the 1869 English translation (no commentary involved).

every one who lets himself be found shall be pierced through,
and every one taken falls by the sword; (The prophet Isaiah p. 156)

Now we continue with our 1800s survey.

http://books.google.com/books?id=bP42AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA273
Notes: Critical, Explanatory, and Practical on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah
- Albert Barnes (1854)

Every one that is joined unto them -

Their allies and friends. There shall be a vast, indiscriminate slaughter of all that are found in the city, and of those that attempt to flee from it. Lowth renders this, ' And all that are collected in a body;' but the true sense is given in our translation. The Chaldee renders it, ' And every one who enters into fortified cities shall be slain with the sword.'

http://books.google.com/books?id=JIkfAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA40
The Holy Bible, in the Authorized Version - Christopher Wordsworth, Frederick Henry Ambrose (1869)

Notation that the first part of the verse found == "caught in a net".
No note on "joined unto them".

This is a nice rundown of the history. Gesenius made the changeover, it made little headway other than Ewald (1840) and then Cheyne (1870) with the strange "every one that is surprised - every one that is taken". Yet when the new versions started coming out with the revision, anything from Gesenius --> BDB was simply accepted without examination. The fact that this matches no other verse in the OT for nispeh and was totally non-existent as a translation until the 1800s made no difference to most (having noted the significant exception of Robert Young). With a man like James Price being the OT editor of the NKJV (amazing) this ultra-dubious translation not only made it to the NKJV, "captured" became the springboard-highlight for a backfire-attack against the pure word of God, the King James Bible.

The Price/Combs accusation would be ludicrous and malicious even if "captured" was a solid, long-lasting alternative translation -- simply because "joined unto them" is clearly a major historic, well-supported translational understanding of nispeh -- however in this case the Price/Combs bogus accusation nonsense has opened up a more general fuller understanding of translation analysis.

Next we will look at the closest we can find of the Gesenius logic, also an astute comment by Hayim Sheynin. Our goal is no longer to emphasize Price/Combs (for now) simply to learn from the word-translation issue.

Shalom,
Steven