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NASB | Numbers 11:12 "Was it I who conceived all this people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which You swore to their fathers'? |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Numbers 11:12 "Was it I who conceived all these people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, 'Carry them in your arms as a nurse carries the nursing infant, to the land which You swore to their fathers'? |
Bible Question: Has anyone read this verse and been a bit confused by the NASB's use of Moses' quoting of God? that is, the "'Carry them... their fathers'?" bit? This doesn't seem grammatically possible - NIV rephrases this verse while KJV and AMP don't put quote marks in the verse, so i'm just a tad confused. Seems to me like Moses' quotation should end after 'nursing infant'. i know it's a bit pedantic but i wanna work it out! lol |
Bible Answer: You have displayed by your question another fine example of the genius of giving close attention to minute detail! And the New King James version agrees with your conclusion, and so do I, that the Moses' quotation of God (a quote within a quote, really) should indeed end with "....nursing infant. The NASB rendering of the subsequent phrase "to the land which You swore to their fathers" has God uttering these words, and that makes no contextual sense at all. The complex construction is compounded by the NASB's capitalization of "You" when it is, in fact, God who is being quoted, according to the quotation marks employed in the NASB. One simply doesn't say "you" when speaking of himself! Here is the full verse as the translators of the NKJV punctuate it: (Moses, of course, is the speaker, speaking to God) "Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, (beginning of God's quote) 'Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,' (end of God's quote) to the land which You swore to their fathers?" The parenthetical notations are, of course, mine. The NIV addresses the problem by recasting the sentence in such a way that God's remarks are referenced but not quoted directly; hence, no quotation marks are needed. This is a passage which I feel really ought to be brought to Lockman's attention for consideration in subsequent editions of the NASB. You can contact them via email on the Lockman.org website. And I for one would love to hear from you should you decide to contact Lockman. It would be of interest to learn about their parsing of this passage. --Hank |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Num 11:12 | Author | ||
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JustNiN | ||
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Hank |