Why does the New World Translation render Psalm 90:2 so differently from other translations?
According to the Revised Standard Version
Psalm 90:2 reads: "Before the mountains were brought
forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the
world, from everlasting to everlasting thou art God". The
New World Translation of this verse reads:"Before the
mountains themselves were born, or you proceeded to bring forth
as with labor pains the earth and the productive land, even from
time indefinite to time indefinite you are God."
The Hebrew word for the first of these expressions is the passive
voice of yalad and, according to Hebrew lexicographers,
it means to be begotten, born, and relates to the ordinary birth
process. Yalad is applied to both the father's and the
mother's part, as can be seen from Job 14:1 ("Man, born
of woman" ) and Psalm 2:7 ("I have become your
father").
The Hebrew word for the second verb in Psalm 90:2 is entirely
another verb and is used in connection with the birth process to
call attention to the pain and travail thereof. It is the Hebrew
word hhil, which, according to Hebrew authorities, means
basically, "to have labor pains". The form of this verb
in the Hebrew text here has a sort of reflexive force in which
the performer of the act suffers the accompanying sensations. In
other words, he experiences the labor pains or childbirth pains.
That is why the word is also defined as "to bring forth (in
pain)."- Young's Analytical Concordance of the Bible.
This same word is found at Deuteronomy 32:18, which reads: "The
Rock who fathered you, you proceeded to forget, and you began to
leave God out of memory, the One bringing you forth with
childbirth pains," without doubt referring to the miracles
Jehovah wrought in Egypt in connection with the deliverance of
the nation of Israel. Also, we find this Hebrew term at Isaiah 51:2,
where we read: "Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who
gradually brought you forth with childbirth pains".Also at
Proverbs 25:23: "The wind from the north brings forth as
with labor pains a downpour."
From the foregoing references we can see the use of these words
particularly in poetic writing, and we see that they are full of
meaning, expressive indeed. Modern translations hide the force of
these expressions by their free renderings.
Regarding the use of these terms in Psalm 90:2, it might be said
that, judged by human standards, the producing of this earth and
the productive land with all its complicated mechanisms and
chemistry would certainly call for a great deal of effort,
painful effort, as measured even by scientists today. The
psalmist here speaks from a purely human standpoint and thereby
shows both an active imagination and great respect for the amount
of work involved for Jehovah to create these things; with what
expenditure of time, of course, we do not know.
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