An atheist trying to lecture a master of translations is rather amusing. The two most accurate modern translations of the entire Bible containing old and new testaments are the MEV & NKJV. Other acceptable modern translations are ESV, RSV, YLT and for those already knowable about the Bible the NLT and HSCB can be handy for posting verses where all translations agree for the purpose of easier reading and comprehension. Even the older NIV 1984 Edition has its place.
However, I'm sure you would like to claim that the worst modern translations like NIV 2011 Edition, NRSV, NAB, NABRE, and other dubious translations. I've studied translations for many years and can tell you right off the bat that the most accurate English translations of the Bible are as listed in order of accuracy:
1. 1537 Matthew's Bible
2. 1539 Great Bible
3. 1568 Bishop's Bible
4. 1769 King James Bible
5. 1611 King James Bible.
Though somewhere on this list I would have to place the 1535 Coverdale Bible and 1876 Julia Smith Bible but not exactly sure where they would fit in. Both translations have their place among the most accurate translations.
Lets quick compare two verses with a few translations using H8398 תֵּבֵל têbêl as the focal point.
Psalm 89:11,
"The heauens are thine, the earth is thine: thou hast layed the foundation of the rounde world, and al that therin is" (1537 Matthew's Bible).
"The heavens are Yours; the earth also is Yours;
the world and all that is in it, You have founded them" (KJV).
"Yours are the heavens, yours the earth;
you founded the world and everything in it" (NABRE).
"The heavens are yours, the earth also is yours;
the world and all that is in it—you have founded them" (NRSV).
Proverbs 8:31,
"As for the rounde compase of his worlde, I make it ioyfull: for my delyte is to be among the chyldren of men" (1537 Matthew's Bible).
"Smiling in the habitable globe of his earth; and my delight with the sons of man" (1876 Julia E. Smith Bible).
"Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men" (KJV).
"Playing over the whole of his earth,
having my delight with human beings" (NABRE).
"rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race" (NRSV).
Now first lets see how the Latin compares before presenting Hebrew definitions.
Psalm 89:11,
Latin Vulgate: "tui sunt caeli et tua est terra orbem terrae et plenitudinem eius tu fundasti"
Word: Orbem, from H8398 תֵּבֵל têbêl &
Orbem, accusative singular of orbis.
Latin Definition of Orb
https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/t...1C3101BFdaf7JC8bWfqfnUES8pHLJejlqzKFs34fZkGZE
Latin Definition of orbis
https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/t...Y4_gnobiqvUerEs0564gaTwoE0z8DlalaE6ToGAkG8yHw
Latin Definition orbis terrae
https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/t...MqZs5C5l3aNUBu4LmDyJKsm29ri5WwK7mH1fSd1bMFHv0
Latin Definition of Orbis terrarum
https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/t...n5eEq3QIfdlW9wvdH8t0FdTJIJ_7MBAJRzcudA8VOUkTk
How to say "world globe" in Latin
https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/t...Ka5_5MFejHTDlmLOwYoZhZa5otb8rEMy9Nc2uG-AAwe_s
Proverbs 8:31,
Latin Vulgate: "ludens in orbe terrarum et deliciae meae esse cum filiis hominum"
Phrase: Orbe terrarum, from H8398 תֵּבֵל têbêl & H776 אֶרֶץ ʼerets
Latin Definition of Orbis terrarum
https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/t...cv9DlFAlTqKDbiyktGZVRJzvwtBOw4I-AJxPcV_h9ubOs
How to say "world globe" in Latin
https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/t...2cxMq2_1wxAz7bmoC6KOcVzNnfsVdN8_qDVG4834p5-q8
Hebrew Lexicons for H8398 תֵּבֵל têbêl,
The New Strong's Exhaustive Expanded Concordance of the Bible. H8398
"8398. têbêl, tay-bale'; from H2986; the earth (as moist and therefore inhabited); by extension, the globe; by implication, its inhabitants; specifically, a particular land, as Babylonia, Palestine:—world [35x] habitable part, [1x].
The word signified, first, the solid material on which man dwells, and that was formed, founded, established, and disposed by God; and secondly, the inhabitants thereof. See TWOT 835h; BDB--385c, 1061d."
Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon
View attachment 255119
Genesis 1:1 (KJV)
Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament.
TWOT 835h תֵּבֵל têbêl, tay-bale'; world.
"This noun is used in three basic situations.
First, the noun is employed to represent the global mass called earth, including the atmosphere or heavens (cf. Ps.89:12; II Sam 22:16; et al.). têbêl is often in parallelism or apposition with 'eres (I Sam 2:8; Isa.26:9; 34:1; et al.) when 'eres is used in its broadest sense of "the world." The "world" was created by God, not false gods (Jer.10:12; Ps.93:1) and it belongs solely to him (Ps.24:1). God's eternality is illustrated by his existence before the creation of "world" (Ps.90:2) and his wisdom (perhaps a personification of Christ) was present prior to the world's creation (Prov. 8:26, 31). Creation itself gives a "worldwide" witness to God's glory (Ps.19:4 [H 5]) which should result in Yahweh's praise (Ps.98:2). Yahweh will judge this "world," making it empty (Isa.24:4), though in the millennium God will cause Israel to blossom and fill the whole world with her fruit (Isa.27:6).
Second, têbêl is sometime limited to "countries" or "the inhabitable world." This meaning is more closely related to the root meaning. It refers to the world where crops are raised. This is observed in the judgment message against the king of Babylon (not Satan) for violently shaking the "world" or "inhabitable world" (Isa.13:11; 14:17). Lightning is said to enlighten the "world"---undoubtedly referring to a limited land area (Ps.77:18 [H 19]; 97:4).
Third, têbêl may also refer to the inhabitants living upon the whole earth. This is demonstrated by the parallelism of têbêl with I' umim (Ps.9:8 [H 9]) and 'ammim (Ps.96:13; 98:9). The context of these references is Yahweh's judgment upon the world's inhabitants---a judgment both executed in righteousness and instructive of Yahweh's righteousness (Isa.26:9; 34:1).
In several passages the sense of têbêl as the globular earth in combination with its inhabitants is clearly observed. Everything belongs to Yahweh as his creation (Ps.50:12). Yahweh alone controls this world (Job 34:13; Nah 1:5) and his power is over all the earth which always responds to his presence (Job 37:12; Ps.97:4)".
New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis, Volume 4:
"9315. têbêl תֵּבֵל Nom. fem., world (#9315).
OT Found 36x exclusively in poetic texts,
the word conveys the cosmic or global sense in which 'eres is also sometimes used; i.e., the whole earth or world considered as a single entity. It sometimes occurs in parallelism with 'eres (Jer.10:12; Lam.4:12). Twice it is used together with 'eres, either to express "the whole earth" (Job 37:12), or perhaps in the sense of the inhabited earth (Prov.8:31). It is used frequently in contexts that associate it with Yahweh's creative act and that, as a result, express the stability or durability of the earth (1 Sam.2:8; Ps.89:11 [12]; 93:1; 96:10). It is used when the whole population of the world is referred to (Ps.24:1; 33:8; 98:7; Isa. 18:3; 26:9; Nah.1:5). Isaiah uses têbêl more than any other prophet, mostly in the context of universal judgment (Isaiah 13:11; 24:4; 34:1; cf. Ps.96:13; 98:9).
Land, earth: --> damd (ground, piece of land, soil, realm of the earth, #141); --> 'eres (earth, land, #824); --> têbêl (world, #9315)."
___________________________________________
Breakdown of Hebrew Lexicons for H8398 תֵּבֵל têbêl,
Strong's: ";
by extension, the globe;"
Gesenius': ",the habitable globe,"
TWOT: "First, the noun is employed to represent the global mass called earth" <---AND--->
"In several passages the sense of têbêl as the globular earth in combination with its inhabitants is clearly observed."
New International:
"the word conveys the cosmic or global sense in which 'eres is also sometimes used; i.e., the whole earth or world considered as a single entity."
As you can see the 1537 Matthew's Bible (as well as other Tyndale Bibles) and 1876 Julia Smith Bible nail down the Hebrew meaning of H8398 תֵּבֵל têbêl much better than other translations. St.Jerome also translated the word correctly.
In the Greek Septuagint, which gives us the clearest look at the original Paleo-Hebrew before it, the word têbêl is translated to its Greek equivalent G3625 οἰκουμένη oikouménē. Remember, The Greek Septuagint was translated by 72 Jewish elders.
Greek Septuagint: Proverbs 8:31,
ὅτε εὐφραίνετο τὴν οἰκουμένην συντελέσας
καὶ ἐνευφραίνετο ἐν υἱοῖς ἀνθρώπων.
Textus Receptus: Matthew 24:14,
και κηρυχθησεται τουτο το ευαγγελιον της βασιλειας εν ολη τη οικουμενη εις μαρτυριον πασιν τοις εθνεσιν και τοτε ηξει το τελος
The LXX: οἰκουμένην
The TR: οικουμενη
The New Strong's Exhaustive Expanded Concordance of the Bible, G3625 οἰκουμένη oikouménē
"οἰκουμένη oikouménē, oy-kou-men'-ay; feminine participle present passive of G3611 (as noun, by implication, of G1093); land, i.e. the (terrene part of the) globe; specially, the Roman empire:—earth, world."
It means "the globe," the inhabited part of the globe. The Greek equivalent differed from the Hebrew word only slightly. With the word oikouménē comes a wall of Greek philosophy which is vital in how we understand the definition. The Greek's excluded barbarians from true inhabitants of the earth while Jesus used the word to include everyone. Look, its Greek, and nobody said learning Greek was easy. I have a friend who moved to Greece back in 2008 and he still hasn't learned it even after taking Greek courses. Greek is very difficult to learn, harder than Latin. However, the word was used by globe earth Greeks like Crates of Malle and savants such as Pliny the Elder who was scornful of those unable to grasp the elementary fact that the earth is round. In the Greek world dur the times of the Septuagint and New Testament, the earth was spherical and this wasn't disputed. In fact, even the word "world" or "earth" meant "globe."
The New Strong's Exhaustive Expanded Concordance of the Bible, G1093 γῆ gē,
"γῆ gē, ghay; contracted from a primary word; soil; by extension a region, or the solid part or the whole of the terrene globe (including the occupants in each application):—country, earth(-ly), ground, land, world."
But like its earlier Hebrew relative têbêl, the word oikouménē is used according to the sense of the context, meaning either all or part of the globe. The church also applied oikouménē to the entire globe as it is contextually applied to the sense in Matt.24:14.
Simply put, no Greek word from Pythagora on up meant flat earth as belief in flat earth, especially after Eratosthenes, was very highly frowned upon. When Greeks said words like gē and oikouménē it always meant globe. Yet the Hebrew word têbêl, being much older than oikouménē, was slightly broader in scope, included all inhabitants and excluding nobody, while also including the atmosphere of the earth where it seems to have been excluded with oikouménē. But equivalents don't always nail things down with absolute 100% precision. Yet the 72 elders who translated têbêl to oikouménē chose a Greek word that has always been associated with the globe and its inhabitants. The NT uses oikouménē more in the sense of têbêl than in the Greek sense. But both words mean "the habitable globe" which is why the 72 Jewish elders translated têbêl in the Septuagint to oikouménē.
View attachment 255119 View attachment 255126
View attachment 255127
View attachment 255128