Perfect in God's Eyes. . .


 


As I've written many times before, I love doing word studies in the Bible.  Reading in other than the original languages is always a compromise.  It is impossible to perfectly translate a text from one language to another.

Today I was taking my lunchtime walk of 1.8 miles, while listening to my audio Bible, when I heard this verse:

Genesis 6:9 KJV  These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect (Strong's H8549) in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

From my recent studies in the book of Job, I knew that God called Job 'perfect':

Job 1:8 KJV  And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect  (Strong's H8535) and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

I wanted to know more about what God called perfect.  So I did a search for the instances of 'perfect' in the Old Testament, and then I did another search for the Hebrew words themselves, which including instances where the translators chose something other than 'perfect' as the English meaning. . . The same Hebrew word may be given several other translated words.

Strong's H8549 is translated thus:

Without blemish ( 44 ) complete ( 1 ) full ( 1 ) perfect ( 18 ) sincerely ( 2 ) sincerity ( 1 ) sound ( 1 ) without spot ( 6 ) undefiled ( 1 ) upright ( 8 ) uprightly ( 4 ) whole ( 4 )

Here we see H8549 is translated 'perfect' 18 times, but more commonly it is translated as without blemish or without spot 50 times.

Strong's H8535 is translated thus:

perfect ( 9 ) plain ( 1 ) undefiled ( 2 ) upright ( 1 )

While I was going through all the instances of 'perfect' verses, I ran across this verse:

Joshua 24:14 KJV  Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity (Strong's H8549) and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.

Notice the Hebrew word Strong's H8549 is translated as 'sincerity' here is only translated sincerity or sincerely 3 times out of the 91 times that the Hebrew word is used.  Considering all the ways H8535 was translated, sincerely seems rather tepid to me.

Consider the verse expanded with other meaning as such:

Joshua 24:14 KJV  Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him

WITHOUT BLEMISH

PERFECTLY

COMPLETELY

WITHOUT SPOT

UNDEFILED

UPRIGHTLY

and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.


Sincerely seems weak. . . I might sign a business letter "Yours sincerely, Dave", but there is no depth of feeling or power in such a closure. . . . It surely would ramp up the intensity to close my letter, "Yours completely, Dave".  

All translators have an impossible task before them.  I greatly envy those who can read the Bible in the original languages.  I try to make up for my ignorance, by doing studies of the underlying Hebrew and Greek words.  

The Word of God is so important.  It is worth every bit of effort to understand it perfectly/completely/uprightly. . . 

Oh Lord. . . 

Help my worship to be without blemish. . .

Help me to perfect my walk with you. . .

Help my faith to be without spot. . . 

Help me to live an undefiled life. . .

Help me to more completely understand Your Word. . .


I love You my God. . . 





Dave

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