Camels and needles

[tanwo at hotmail.com]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "Amy Z" <aiz24 at h...> wrote:
> Wotan wrote:
> 
> > And on the subject of Hebrew, I remember somebody once telling me 
> > that if you make a minor change to the following in Hebrew -
> > 
> > 	It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a 
> > needle ...   (Matthew)
> > 
> > (like changing an 'i' to a 'j' in written English) you end up 
with -
> > 
> > 	It is easier for a ship's rope to go through the eye of a 
> > needle ...
> > 
> > Does that sound plausible?
> 
> Yael can answer that, but I'll answer the implied Biblical 
> interpretation question (i.e. is this what Matthew really meant?):  
he 
> didn't write in Hebrew, but in Greek.
> 
> Amy Z


I think the idea was that when the translation into Hebrew was done a 
mistake was made (reading/writing 'i' for 'j' , whatever) and the 
mistake was then propagated into subsequent versions, including 
English.

I can't remember if the Greek New Testament was translated directly 
to Hebrew or if it came via Latin? Or indeed if we even know.


W