Comments on: Where did Jesus cast Legion into the swine, in the country of the Gadarenes or the Gerasenes?

By: Amtiskaw

Amtiskaw — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:41:37 +0000

On a suspiciously high number of occasions, the NIV translates in such a way as to hide some problem.

Jeremiah 7:22 (NIV adds “just”, since in fact the earlier events did include mention of burnt offerings)
Matthew 21:20 (NIV changes “at once” to “quickly” to hide contradiction with Mark)
Mark 4:31 (NIV makes it smallest seed “you” plant in the ground rather than smallest on Earth)
Acts 22:9 (“understand” instead of “hear”, hides contradiction with earlier account)
John 19:14 (“day of preparation of Passover week” instead of “day of preparation for the Passover” to deal with timing issues.

By: Errancy

Errancy — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:11:38 +0000

I use the NRSV because I trust it more than other translations. The NIV is theologically loaded, and will sometimes translate away difficulties that are present in the Greek.

That said, I’m considering switching to the NASB, which in a few cases I’ve looked at recently (e.g. http://www.errancy.com/how-many-were-fed-at-the-feeding-of-the-4000/) has done better than the NRSV.

By: roohif

roohif — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:02:01 +0000

What do you guys think of the possibility that that was an “ancient typo”? The names are fairly similar – Gadara and Gerasa. If Matthew was originally composed in Hebrew, it might even be a translation error from Greek to Hebrew? Or if we assume Matthean priority, an error from Hebrew to Greek by Mark! ;)

I’m still giving thought to the two demoniacs/two blind men problem in Matthew. It may lend weight to Markan priority ..

By: roohif

roohif — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:57:08 +0000

I agree with Errancy, the number of demoniacs is a much bigger problem.

I don’t know much about Gadara or Gerasa – can someone confirm whether these were in fact cities of the Decapolis? Were they in the vicinity of each other?

Something needs to be corrected in the description of this error: it says “Luke agrees with Matthew”, when, according to the NRSV quotes, it should read “Luke agrees with Mark”?

The interesting thing with this error though, is that in the NIV, all three versions have a footnote saying something to the effect of “some manuscripts say Gergasenes, or Gadarenes” depending on which Gospel they are looking at. So it’s hard to say who is right or wrong, and that’s a pity because I think it would say something about Markan or Matthean priority.

Do you have any particular reason for using the NRSV? I tend to use the NIV, but if you pushed me for a reason, I’d probably crumble ;)

By: WisdomLover

WisdomLover — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:20:16 +0000

I’ve downgraded my rating of this problem in favor of the problem that errancy notes in remark #2.

It seems to me that the tombs in question were probably well outside of either Gadara or Gerasa (though they might have served both towns). This was a region loosely associated with the towns of the Decapolis. Matthew associates it with Gadara, the closest town of the Decapolis, Luke and Mark with Gerasa, perhaps the more important town.

By: Errancy

Errancy — Tue, 19 May 2009 07:10:28 +0000

For the problem with the number of demoniacs, see How Many Demoniacs Lived Among the Tombs?.

By: WisdomLover

WisdomLover — Mon, 18 May 2009 21:29:16 +0000

I rated this problem as very serious, not so much because of the geographical difficulties. Even though the cites in question, Gadara and Gerasa are different cities, the texts say only that Jesus was in the region of those cities when the demoniac(s) emerged from the tombs. The region that Matthew names may well be the same as the region that Mark and Luke name.

But the problem with these passages is not the geography, it’s the number of demoniacs. I can’t see how to reconcile the fact that Matthew says that there are two, but Mark and Luke both claim one. So I’m stumped.