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I don't care so much about the translation. I just wanted to know how it is interpreted.
I did post one translation just to make sure I emphasized the verse in question.
You will find that the Jewish interpretation does not agree with the Christian interpretation. It is not any type of revelation/prophecy about Jesus(as) The interpretation had to be altered considerably to come to that conclusion.
Instead of asking where he got it from, why don't you give the OP the translation directly from the Torah and the interpretation from that translation.
“And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”
As jb and iwishiwerethin points out: the translation will influence the interpretation, and is an interpretation itself and if the translation is lacking, so will the interpretation. So your following post:
Quote:
Originally Posted by OzzyRules
I don't care so much about the translation. I just wanted to know how it is interpreted.
I did post one translation just to make sure I emphasized the verse in question.
...is a bit short-sighted, don't you think?
Quote:
Originally Posted by iwishiwerethin
This comment makes no sense. If the translation is wrong, the interpretation will certainly be wrong.
This is exactly correct!
Quote:
Originally Posted by JB from NC
Translations are interpretations.
And it means nothing when taken out of the context in which it was written.
A better question would be what does the entire chapter mean when taken within the context of the Book as a whole.
Very good comments!
As to the original OP, I now address the following. Interpretation must follow from a firm basis - a solid rock. This firm basis must start with a reliable vorlage (a semi-original text in the original language) from which to derive a translation as close to the original as possible. Once this text is established, then competent exegesis must be performed on the text, and ONLY THEN can an accurate interpretation be reached. If any of these steps are missing, or out of order, you will never reach a correct understanding of the text. Ever.
The main problem with the New King James Version is that it is theologically biased towards Christian doctrine. It forgoes sound translational principles in favor of its biased view of the text. For example, there is grossly incorrect capitalization in the translation.Biblical Hebrew did not have capitalization as we do in English. It is quite obvious that the translators view the subject of the verse as being Jesus, and thus use the capitalized form of the male pronouns to make a theological statement - but NOT an accurate translation.
See:
“And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”
The italicized bold highlights the biased translation. Such a thing did not exist in Biblical Hebrew, and any attempt at capitalizing pronouns that are assumed to refer to the godhead will result in gross errors of translation and biased ones, at that!
Perhaps a better translation - a more accurate and faithful one to the Hebrew text (which is - after all -what we should be striving towards - will render:
In that day,
The stock of Jesse that has remained standing
Shall become a standard to peoples -
Nations shall seek his counsel
And his abode shall be honored.
(Isaiah 11:10, NJPS)
This is a much better translation to begin with, and removes the obviously biased and theological motives of the capitalized pronouns. It also fixes some of the egregious errors of translation found in the NKJV and fixes some of the blatantly incorrect poetic mistakes.
A second issue is the context. To a Christian singling out this verse as some sort of theological "proof-text", "that day" is obvious to them: it refers to Jesus and a part of his life. Unfortunately, this is not held up when one looks further into Isaiah to see what "that day" actually refers to. So what is "this day" and who is being spoken of? Well, it is pointing to a peaceful future in which a Davidic King will rise again and rule in peace from Jerusalem. It is - indeed - messianic and eschatological. But far too many details in the preceeding chapters point to a messianic time in which Jesus is not a part. If one is to posit Jesus as the subject of this passage - and Jesus was certainly not on the mind of any writer in the Hebrew Bible, since he had not been born yet - then one must account for every single detail of the prophecy in Isaiah, and if one does that then Jesus is excluded from the running.
Some of the things that will happen in "that day" will be the subduing of Israel's enemies - and many of these enemies, by the time of Jesus, had ceased to be any sort of a threat to Israel at all. In fact, many were just plain gone by that time. But again - one must read the surrounding chapters to understand this.
So to close - context, context, context! If one wishes to approach a reliable interpretation, one must begin with textual criticism (attempting to arrive at a reliable vorlage or original Hebrew text), exegesis (examining the text according to rules in an attempt to reach a plain-sense reading of the text), and THEN interpretation. An accurate translation only applies if the interpreter is unable to read the original Hebrew and must rely on a second-hand glance at the text.
The "remnant" - by the way - most likely refers to those Judeans who had lost their land and had become scattered as a consequence. Israel would never truly be complete without them.
“And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”
Here's my take on it:
Isa. 11:1 And there shall come forth a rod, (Jesus), out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch (of Judaism) shall grow (into Christianity) out of his roots:
Isa. 11:2 And, (concerning the seven psychic spirits which are with him [Rev 1:4), the (1) spirit of the LORD, (i.e.; his altruistic Conscience), shall rest upon him, the (2) spirit of wisdom, (i.e.; Harmonous Self Efficacy), and (3) understanding, (through Superego logic), the (4) spirit of counsel (or Intuitive insight), and (5) might, (through his Libidinal strength), the (6) spirit of knowledge (in Self-realization), and of the (7) fear of the LORD (in the bottomless Id);
They, these seven, are the seven stars he brings in his hands to the church of the 21st century:
16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword (cutting through both organized religion and secular atheism): and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
Isa. 11:1 And there shall come forth a rod, (Jesus), out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch (of Judaism) shall grow (into Christianity) out of his roots:
In my experience, Jews will generally take pretty strong exception to the concept of Christianity being a branch of Judaism. Even a cultural, non-devout / non-practicing Jew will bristle at that. Just ask "Jews for Jesus" who try to maintain a Jewish cultural identity while claiming Jesus (okay, Jeshua) as their messiah.
Perhaps a better translation - a more accurate and faithful one to the Hebrew text (which is - after all -what we should be striving towards - will render:
In that day,
The stock of Jesse that has remained standing
Shall become a standard to peoples -
Nations shall seek his counsel
And his abode shall be honored.
(Isaiah 11:10, NJPS)
Whoppers, thanks for your post.
In all of the other posts, I never got a clear idea how Jews interpret that passage. Your explanation made a lot of sense.
Do you think other Jews agree with you?
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