02-08-2008, 08:12 PM
In answer to Yaaqub, the idea that Christians could make a translation better than the original makes me sick. A translation never touches the original, and that Christians could do better than Jews? Don't make me hurl.
Next, on multiple occasions when I've found a confusing reading in the Massoretic texts, I generally find that the LXX and POT are simply attempts to make sense out of the same reading that I found confusing. I have to agree with the rule laid out by textual critics, that the most confusing reading is generally the original. The others are almost always attempts to explain it, unless it is clearly a reading that has been garbled in translation. Edit the MT based on the POT? Perhaps in a few places. But by and large the MT is far more trustworthy.
Next, on multiple occasions when I've found a confusing reading in the Massoretic texts, I generally find that the LXX and POT are simply attempts to make sense out of the same reading that I found confusing. I have to agree with the rule laid out by textual critics, that the most confusing reading is generally the original. The others are almost always attempts to explain it, unless it is clearly a reading that has been garbled in translation. Edit the MT based on the POT? Perhaps in a few places. But by and large the MT is far more trustworthy.