Evidently, when many Bible translators read Job 21:24 they thought it was a mistranslation. The King James translators using the technique of literal equivalency recorded it thusly: "His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow." Many of the other translators changed the reading, probably because they did not believe a man's breasts could produce milk.

SOME EARLY BIBLE TRANSLATIONS:

Late Hebrew Version -- "His vessels are full of milk."
Greek -- "His pectorals are fat-laden."
Latin -- "His viscera are full of fat."
French -- "His flanks are full of fat."

MODERN TRANSLATIONS

NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION -- ". . . his body well nourished, his ones rich with marrow." A note at the bottom of the page says the Hebrew word is uncertain. However, the Hebrew word is LATIN which the lexicon says is the plural form of "breasts."

REVISED STANDARD VERSION -- ". . . his body full of fat and the marrow of his bones moist." Has the same note as above that Hebrew word is uncertain.

THE LIVING BIBLE -- "He destroys those who are healthy, wealthy, fat, and prosperous." No footnote concerning translation as was found in previous versions.

NEW AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION -- "His sides are filled out with fat, And the marrow of his bones is moist." No footnote concerning translation.

NEW KING JAMES VERSION -- "His pails are full of milk." No footnote.

(COMMENT: Is it possible the modern bible translators, along with these early translations cited, decided to help God say what He meant to say in Job 21:24? Whoever heard of a man's breasts secreting milk?)

" . it has never been profitable in any generation for men to alter the written records of God's Word to harmonize with the demands of the so-called scholarship of that generation. We are under the necessity of accepting the Book just as God wrote it, and our knowledge must be brought into harmony with His revelation," wrote the late Dr. Harry Rimmer.

>From SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES, Robert B. Greenblatt, M.D., (Lippincott Co.,Philadelphia and Toronto, 3rd Ed. 1977, pp. 129-133), Dr. Greenblatt writes; "Scholars in preparing the REVISED STANDARD VERSION (RSV) have retrenched from the original position and subverted Job 21:24 to `his body full of fat.' This is indeed unfortunate because the recently published Targum (Aramaic translation) recovered from Cave XI of Khirbet Qumran in the Judean wilderness speaks of `His teats are full of milk.'"

Recorded in Dr. Greenblatt's book is medical documentation of cases where men's breasts secreted milk in 1738, 1837, 1864 and certain malnourished prisoners of World War II.

He further states: "With recent advances in our knowledge of lactation it has been determined that psychophysical disturbances and disorders of the endocrine glandular system are responsible for such curiosities as lactation in males and in virgin females."

"The mystique surrounding inappropriate galactorrhea in man and woman is no longer the perplexing enigma of by-gone years. We can confidently say that the translation in Job, His breasts are full of milk, was not simply a figure of speech."

The late Dr. Greenblatt, an Orthodox Jew and world renowned endocrinologist, is perhaps best known as the pioneer of the birth control pill.

_ by Dr. Herb Evans

Return to KJV Defense Page Page
Return to Bible Truth Home Page