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In the Lamsa translation of Matthew 1:18 and in Luke 1:27, our Lord's mother Mary is spoken of as being "acquired for a price", rather than being stated to simply be engaged or espoused to Joseph of Nazareth. I don't have a problem with this reading as long as it accurately reflects the source text. I find it odd that Lamsa is the only person who has translated the phrase in question in this manner, as it is almost universally translated as "espoused". What does everyone think about this translation?
ScorpioSniper2 Wrote:In the Lamsa translation of Matthew 1:18 and in Luke 1:27, our Lord's mother Mary is spoken of as being "acquired for a price", rather than being stated to simply be engaged or espoused to Joseph of Nazareth. I don't have a problem with this reading as long as it accurately reflects the source text. I find it odd that Lamsa is the only person who has translated the phrase in question in this manner, as it is almost universally translated as "espoused". What does everyone think about this translation?

Shlama ScorpioSniper,

The root in question, m-k-r, means "to barter/sell". In this sense the word is used to mean a girl being sold to her future husband and his family. The groom-to-be and his family are still today not allowed to take a girl from her father's house on the day of marriage, unless they have payment (usually in the form of gold and jewelry.) My wife's family (being non-Semitic) were quite surprised when 50 people showed up at the door and lavished her in gold chains, bracelets and rings....and gave large sums of money to her father. I also watched this with my sister's betrothal.

The root is a primitive Semitic root shared with Hebrew (cf., Genesis 31:15, Exodus 21:7, etc.) http://biblesuite.com/hebrew/4376.htm

+Shamasha

(This isn't a popular topic in today's politically-correct world. I don't mean to be sexist, so my apologies for any unintended offense to the female participants on this forum. It's a cultural norm to this day, and incidentally, not foreign to European cultures going back a few hundred years ago.)
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Check to link...

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Thanks for that, Brothers! I figured it had some sort of cultural significance.