Is there any chain of continual translation as you would translate it:
The German Luther:
Do you claim that Luther's German Bible has the preserved word at Leviticus 11:30?
Translations on the KJV-only view's good line or pure stream of Bibles disagree concerning how to translate most accurately a Hebrew word at Leviticus 11:30. Is there any chain of consistent continual translation of this Hebrew word in the KJV-only view's good line of Bibles?
Tyndale's, Coverdale's, Matthew's, Great, and Bishops’ Bibles rendered the Hebrew word
anakah as "hedgehog," possibly through the influence of the Rabbinical writers or Luther‘s Bible or both.
The 1534 Luther’s German Bible has “Igel” [hedgehog] as its rendering. The 1637 authorized Dutch Bible evidently agreed with Luther’s at this verse as can be seen in Haak’s rendering “hedgehog.” The 1569 and 1602 Spanish Bibles have "erizo" [hedgehog, porcupine]. In addition, the 1853 Leeser's Old Testament also has "hedgehog." Aryeh Kaplan translated it “hedgehog” [“
Anakah in Hebrew;
yala in Aramaic (Targum;
Bava Bathra)‘
herison in French (Rashi; Chizzkuni)
erizo in Spanish (Ralbag)“ (
Living Torah, p. 321). Do KJV-only advocates consider this rendering "hedgehog" in their pure line of good Bibles to be an error or a corruption? Was the KJV a revision of earlier English Bibles whose translators failed to translate what the Hebrew says? Is the evidence from their view’s good line possibly stronger for this rendering “hedgehog” than it is for the KJV’s rendering?
On the other hand, the Geneva Bible rendered it as "rat," perhaps through the influence of the Greek Septuagint and Latin that rendered it with a word or words meaning "shrew" or "shrew mouse." At his note for this verse, Kaplan asserted that “the Septuagint translates it
mugale, a mole, shrew mouse or field mouse” (
Living Torah, p. 321). Tristram maintained that “the old Greek translation renders it ’the shrew-mouse” (
Natural History, p. 265).
The KJV rendered it as "ferret." What is the source of the KJV’s rendering? What sound evidence supports the KJV’s rendering? The ferret is a member of the weasel family that was already listed in the twenty-ninth verse of this chapter. In the
Anchor Bible Commentary on Leviticus, Jacob Milgram suggested that the rendering "ferret" came from the Septuagint (p. 671). Andrew Willet also indicated that the rendering “ferret” came from the Septuagint and possibly also Pagnim [
Viverra] (
Hexapla, p. 269). Lancelot Brenton’s 1851 English translation of the Greek Septuagint has “ferret” at this verse, but it could have been influenced by the KJV‘s rendering. The truth of the original [language] text does not seem to have been responsible for the KJV translators changing the rendering of the pre-1611 English Bibles unless they possibly found it in the previous verse. At Leviticus 11:29 where the KJV has “tortoise,“ Kaplan has the translation “ferret” with this note [“
tzau in Hebrew;
huron in Spanish (Ralbag);
faruita in Old French (Chizzkuni)” (p. 321). While other Jewish sources identify the Hebrew word in that verse with a form of lizard or with the toad (Rashi), Kaplan noted that “some say that the
tzau is a tortoise (
MeAm Lo’ez) since it is like a covered wagon, which is also called
tzau (see Numbers 7:8)” (
Ibid.). Perhaps the interpretation of some rabbical writers for a word in this previous verse [Jewish tradition] helped influence the KJV translators to follow the Greek LXX and include “ferret” in the list of animals. The 1568 Bishops’ Bible has “toad” and the 1560 Geneva has “frog” where the KJV has “tortoise.”
What is the better or more accurate rendering of the Hebrew word at Leviticus 11:30 according to the overall known evidence? Henry Hart contended that “there is little doubt that the ferret could not have been intended by the word
anakah, which means literally ’that which groans or sighs’” (
Animals, p. 93).
The Illustrated Bible Treasury edited by William Wright maintained “the translation ‘ferret’ is now admitted to be incorrect” (p. 278). G. S. Candsdale asserted that the KJV’s rendering “ferrent” is “incorrect, as also are older suggestions of shrew mouse and hedgehog” (
All the Animals, p. 200). Candsdale maintained that “the ferret is not a wild animal but a domesticated form, usually albino, of the polecat” (p. 128, footnote 1). Hedgehog seems to have stronger support than ferret.