Monday, March 20, 2017

A New Season

Joseph Herrin (03-20-2017)
















I have a couple of Bluebirds playing with the mirrors on my bus. They see their image in them and believe them to be real competition for their mates. Occasionally they go over to the mirror on my RAV4 and have a go at them. It is the first day of spring, and in South Georgia it seems like a spring day.

The weather today is forecast to be 77°. It is supposed to get down to 55° tonight. You couldn’t really ask for a nicer day. It is sunny outside, and I have already had to mow the lawn twice. The downside to all of this is that I suffer from Hay Fever. I always have since I was a young boy growing up in Oregon. You take it as it comes. In a few weeks the allergies will be over.
















We have pine forests all around us. They are the pine forests that men have planted. Long, straight rows of pine trees as far as the eye can see. I don’t have many to look at from where I sit. There is one long row of trees alongside the driveway. It is two trees deep and a couple hundred yards long. If I go out to the main road, a dirt road, there are plenty of pine forests everywhere you look. I can tell that the Hay Fever is in full process by watching the pine trees. A thick yellow smudge of pollen will coat everything outdoors. I can tell by looking at my car. It will be coated with yellow.

The pecan fields don’t show any change yet. They are the last trees to blossom and turn green. They will be looking brown and lifeless for another month. The peach trees are another story. They are already sending up lots of new growth. The Mexicans have been out trimming them already.






















It has been a couple of weeks since they have pruned the trees. They are now starting to grow leaves and put on flowers. There is hardly a prettier site than to see the peach fields all a bloom with their pink flowers.
















They will start picking peaches in May and finish up in August, depending on the type planted. Pecans aren’t harvested until October, or November.

I have a good friend who lives in Northern Idaho. He sent me pictures of his yard yesterday. It is not quite the same.

















This was taken yesterday, the last day of winter. It looks like it will be winter there for a while longer. That is a picnic table in the front of the picture. The top of it has just become visible. I doubt they are talking about peaches there. Of course, having four regular seasons is nice, but I don’t miss the snow too much. I’ve even seen butterflies here.














Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws    

Parables Blog: www.parablesblog.blogspot.com    

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063

Friday, March 17, 2017

The Request and The Order

Joseph Herrin (03-17-2017)


















Letters

I have been busy with letters recently. In response to my latest blog I had a sister in Christ from the state of Wisconsin write me and say that she would be glad to create the labels I needed to send the letters off to the men in prison. I received the package Wednesday, along with the created letters, and spent about 6 hours affixing labels to envelopes and stuffing them with letters. They are now in the mail. The men should be able to quit worrying about where their Newsletters are now. The last Newsletter they received was printed out on 1/28/2017, approximately 6 weeks ago.


















It's hard to tell, looking straight down on the letters, exactly how many there are, but there are 280 of them. The number does not sound that extreme, but it is a lot of Newsletters to send to men in prison. 

After I figured out what was wrong with my computer, and I knew I was going to have to replace it, I have spent a number of weeks saving up whatever cash came in to be able to purchase another one. I was able to order a computer and it is coming in next week. After that it will take me some time to be able to get the new computer loaded with all of the software I use and get some Newsletters printed on it. I figure by the end of this month I will be back in business. I may wait until then to work on the Scriptures that I am translating for they have bogged down also when I attempted to do a large search and replace. I attempted to do a search function on Exodus through Malachi, so that I would not have to do a separate search on names in each book, and the computer bombed out on me, repeatedly. I cannot change names in the Old Testament unless I do it one book at a time, and that would take too long. There are dozens of names I need to change, and with 39 books that would take a long time and I would be prone to missing some of them.

I looked at computers, and was surprised to see that AMD had just released a new processor about a week ago. The Ryzen processor was a good deal, but it is encountering some problems in getting it to run at full steam with certain Microsoft programs and using non-AMD graphics cards. I decided not to take the chance on a Ryzen card (you would have to use one of their approved motherboards, and there aren’t too many of them out), and I ordered an Intel processor instead.





















I ordered the system from Adamant Computers. They have been in service for ten years and have a 100% review based on more than 2200 entries on Ebay. The system I ordered has 4 expansion slots, which should be more than enough to handle the Soundblaster sound card and the Nvidia graphics card I am going to take out of my existing system to save some money. I am also going to re-use my 960 GB SSD drive. I had the 480 GB Kingston M.2 card installed. I have never had one of these before, but they are rated faster than the standard SSD drive. I had to have this installed to have Windows 10 preloaded at Adamant Computer. Interestingly, Microsoft just announced that they will no longer support Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.

The system has a Corsair case, Thermaltake 750 Watt power supply, ASUS motherboard, Intel i7-6900K Broadwell-E 8 core running at 3.2 GHz, and a Corsair High Performance Hydro water cooler to keep it cool. The Broadwell-E 8 core processor is what makes this PC go, and it isn’t Intel’s newest processor. The 6950 10 core is newer, but it is also $600 dollars more. The 6900 is $1,000, which I will need to keep my system running for at least the next 5-7 years. The computer also comes with 64 GB of RAM and is upgradable to 128 GB.

Some people may think this computer is too fast, but in 5 years these stats will seem rather tame. I paid $2,866 dollars for the PC, not counting the upgrades I have for it in my present system. With the programs I already have the system should easily carry the load. Excel should be no problem. I also have Xara Web Designer, Audacity, Camtasia Studio 8, Adobe Premiere, Corel Paintshop Pro ver. 18, and numerous other programs, some of which have been too slow to run on my current system.

I sincerely want to thank those of you who have given freely to make purchasing this PC happen, and I thank the sister in Wisconsin for printing the labels for me. Your gifts are being used with much appreciation.

Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws    

Parables Blog: www.parablesblog.blogspot.com    

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063

Saturday, March 11, 2017

A Request Fulfilled















I wanted to let you know, in case you were interested in fulfilling the request, that the request has been fulfilled. A sister in Christ in Northern Wisconsin has volunteered to take care of the job for me.

I am very thankful for all of you who were so thoughtful in considering my request. I wish to express my thanks to all of you.

Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws    

Parables Blog: www.parablesblog.blogspot.com    

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063

Friday, March 10, 2017

A Request

Joseph Herrin (03-10-2017)
















(Click on Picture to View Larger)

I have a request to ask of a reader. Because my prisoner newsletters have been down for a few weeks as I wait for the money to come in to purchase a new computer, I would like to send out letters to let the prisoners know why they have not been receiving them. I have all of the prisoners addresses in my Excel spreadsheet, but I do not know how to get them out. The Excel spreadsheet I have is just for printing Parables Bookshelf Newsletters.

If you are familiar with Excel spreadsheets and could devise a way to do the job I would like to hear from you. The spreadsheet has the addresses of the prisoners and a check box called Suspend. If nothing is in the Suspend field then that person would get a letter notifying them of the temporary suspension of the newsletter.

I would like to print the address on an envelope.

My mind is still not very good for things like this, so I am asking for someone that could do it pretty much on their own. I will be glad to answer any questions, however. I have all of the envelopes and the printer here.

The letter will not be attached to the address, but it will say something along the lines of:

Dear Sir,

As a reader of the Parables Bookshelf Newsletter you have noticed its absence in the past weeks. This is due to my computer no longer being able to print it. This necessitates the replacement of my computer with a new up-to-date system. As I am waiting on the funds to come in for the computer you will have a delay. I hope to have your Newsletters printing again as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Joseph Herrin

That is all that I am going to mail out to each person. If you are able to help me out with this matter I would appreciate it.

Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws    

Parables Blog: www.parablesblog.blogspot.com    

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Editing

Joseph Herrin (03-08-2017)

























I have had a number of readers write and request a PDF document of the books of the Bible as I translate them. I have inserted the above document as requested. Next time I print my Flipbook file I will also publish a PDF.

I wanted to take this time to share with people some of what I am going through in editing the Bible for translation.

The first thing I am doing is copying the American Standard Version of the Bible into a Book format that I have prepared. Some of you may be surprised at this, for the translation I am writing is obviously different from the American Standard Version. The American Standard Version did a fairly commendable job in translating the Bible into English. There are of course the many parts I am changing, but this would be true of any version. What the American Standard Version of 1901 did was to place the text in good American English. Where they have done well at this I have left it alone.

I am, however, aware of some facets of translation that are interpreted wrong. In these I am going through the whole book and looking at the original text and changing it to a better translation. Let me list a couple of these for your benefit in the book of Genesis.

The book of Genesis begins by relating the creation of all things that man has to do with. It often sets out in minute form some aspect that it elaborates on further into the book, or the Book, the Bible. For example, the first statement is not part of the seven days of creation. It says:

In the beginning Elohim [Mighty One, plural] created the heavens and the earth, but the earth had become formless and empty and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of Elohim was moving over the surface of the waters.

Note that there are no dates for this section. There are also no examples in the Bible of Yahweh creating something in a formless and empty state. The very next verse starts the 7 days of creation with the “Elohim said, ‘Let there be light.’” This is the same way the other days of creation start. We can tell by this that the earth is being re-created. It is not speaking about its first creation.

Another point that demonstrates this, and which some translations got wrong, is the word given for “refill” This occurs on the fifth day. The word “refill” comes from the Hebrew “male.” This word means to refill, or replenish.

The same word is used in Genesis 9 where Yahweh is speaking to Noah and his sons.

“Be fruitful, and multiply, and refill the earth.”

By understanding how a word is used in other passages it is possible to bring forth a right translation in every passage. The word in Genesis in the early passage is not “fill,” but “refill.” The same word is found a little further down in the same passage.

Elohim created Adam in his own image. In Elohim’s image he created him; male and female he created them. Elohim blessed them. Elohim said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, refill the earth, and subdue it.

Some readers may be surprised that the Bible speaks in this way. They may prefer their King James Bible that says to the animals on the 5th day, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas…” What they don’t realize is that the KJV editors translated the same word as “replenish” a few short verses later when speaking of the man and woman. It is correcting words such as these that is an important part of translating the Bible. I don’t believe every Hebrew word should have only one way to translate it, but I do believe in consistency in a passage.

Another passage that needed some cleaning up was the one about the Tower of Babel. It says in the passage:

They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top represents the heavens, and let’s make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”

In the KJV Bible it says:

Genesis 11:4
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
KJV

















Perhaps some of you are familiar with the ziggurat. It is a stepped tower that is perfectly described by the passage in Genesis – if it is translated properly. The above ziggurat is a reconstruction of Birs Nimrud. This is thought to be the original site of the Tower of Babel. Each level was dedicated to one of the seven known heavenly orbs. There were five planets and the sun and moon. Altogether there were seven levels, or enough to depict each of the seven heavenly bodies.

Pictures of the Tower of Babel stretching up to heaven are insincere. The tallest ancient building was the Great Pyramid of Giza. It was 451 feet high, and remained the tallest building in the world for 3,800 years. A person can easily see the top of the pyramid. Neither the Great Pyramid, or Birs Nimrud had a level “whose top may reach unto heaven.” However, Birs Nimrud did have a top that represented heaven.

Birs Nimrud was also named after Nimrod. In the Bible we have the following passage on Nimrod.

Kush became the father of Nimrod [rebel]; he began to be a tyrant in the earth. He was a tyrannical hunter in the face of Yahweh. Therefore it is said, “Nimrod, the tyrannical hunter in the face of Yahweh.”

I have always had trouble with Nimrod being depicted as a mighty hunter that Yahweh wanted to boast about. This thought gets placed in the Bible by the editors of all of the popular English translations. Following is the KJV.

Genesis 10:8-9
And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.
KJV

This passage was written for the purpose of providing a positive or negative report on this man. Looking at the cities established by Nimrod, a case could be made for a negative report.

The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erek, Akkad, and Kalneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land he went into Ashshur, and built Nineweh, Rehoboth Ir, Kalah, and Resen between Nineweh and Kalah (the same is the great city).

One word in question in the passage is the Hebrew word “gibbor.” Strong’s Concordance lists this word in the following way.

gibbowr (ghib-bore'); or (shortened) gibbor (ghib-bore'); intensive from the same as OT:1397; powerful; by implication, warrior, tyrant:

Whenever I read about this man I am struck by the word “tyrant.” It is for this reason that I have translated this word as “tyrant” and “tyrannical” where it occurs in this passage. It also employs the word “paniym,” meaning “face.”

paniym (paw-neem'); plural (but always as singular) of an unused noun [paneh (paw-neh'); from OT:6437]; the face (as the part that turns)

This word occurs twice in this passage and I started out by translating it “opposition,” but changed it to “in the face of.” The KJV translates it as “before.”

Genesis 10:8-9
And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.
KJV

You can see very well how I got the translation I came up with. I do not wish for the Bible to treat as a righteous person one that is unrighteous.

Kush became the father of Nimrod [rebel]; he began to be a tyrant in the earth. He was a tyrannical hunter in the face of Yahweh. Therefore it is said, “Nimrod, the tyrannical hunter in the face of Yahweh.”

The point that is left for us to answer is, “Who is this passage talking about?” Looking for clues, we are directed toward a ruler of Sumeria. Is there anyone from this time period in Sumeria that is spoken of as a ruler of these cities in writings that are not Biblical. Even if a writing is not the Bible it may include clues that point to a person. In this case we have a person named Gilgamesh.























Gilgamesh

Perhaps the oldest writing known to man is the tale of Gilgamesh. It is recorded on clay tablets. It was first discovered in the palace library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh. Nineveh was one of the cities founded by Nimrod. The story of Gilgamesh is a very profane story as the hero of the tale would often take women from the populace and have sex with them. It is suggested by numerous Bible commentators that Gilgamesh and Nimrod were the same.

Nimrod was mighty in hunting, and that in opposition to YHVH; not "before YHVH" in the sense of according to the will and purpose of YHVH, still less,... in a simply superlative sense… The name itself, "Nimrod" from marad, "we will revolt," points to some violent resistance to God… Nimrod as a mighty hunter founded a powerful kingdom; and the founding of this kingdom is shown by the verb with vav consecutive, to have been the consequence or result of his strength in hunting, so that hunting was intimately connected with the establishing of the kingdom. Hence, if the expression "a mighty hunter" relates primarily to hunting in the literal sense, we must add to the literal meaning the figurative signification of a "hunter of men" (a trapper of men by stratagem and force); Nimrod the hunter became a tyrant, a powerful hunter of men.
(Keil and Delitzsch)














Gilgamesh

In the mural above Gilgamesh is shown ruling over men, and taking their women for his own purposes.

If Gilgamesh is not intended to be Nimrod, he is a very good copy. His attributes in Genesis are a statement of indictment. Even so, Josephus testified when he gave his history of the Jews in the first century, that Nimrod was a “tyrant.” I discern that the writing of the translation in the way I have set forth is by far the better interpretation.

Kush became the father of Nimrod [rebel]; he began to be a tyrant in the earth. He was a tyrannical hunter in the face of Yahweh. Therefore it is said, “Nimrod, the tyrannical hunter in the face of Yahweh.”

Besides correcting the text of the book, I am primarily changing the names. The names of Yahweh and Yahshua are some of the principal names that I am setting forth more accurately. The name of Yahshua will particularly be seen when I start to translate the book of Joshua. The leader of the 12 tribes of Israel who led the people into the land to take possession of it shared his name with the Savior. Yahshua (called Joshua) was intended as a prophetic sign of the Son of God who would lead the people into possession of their inheritance. By naming them correctly this great significance will be made known.

Some of the names of the godhead are not as clear to readers, however. Yahweh is known, though it has been expunged from the Scriptures. The names that have been given to God such as El Shaddai are not so well known, or are wrongly known. For this purpose I have included square brackets next to them when they occur, along with their meaning. The name of Elohim is the most common title given to the Godhead in the Old Testament, but it is wrong to say that this word means “God.” The word elohim is used for the gods of Egypt, as well as for demons, seraphim, and other beings brought forth from the dead, such as the spirit of Samuel in I Samuel 28:13. It is a word that announces ones territory. It is saying they are not of the earth, but of heaven, or other realms.

Names of people are next on the list to be changed. Names are horribly confused in our translations. The KJV Bible lists as names for Joshua the names Jehoshua in Numbers 13:16, and Jesus in Acts 7:45. It gives as names for Jeremiah the name Jeremy in Matthew 2:17, and 27:9, and the name Jeremias in Matthew 16:14. The corruption of names in the Bible is one of its most flagrant acts. We even have entire books named after people whose names are not suggested. The Book of James is actually the Book of Ya`aqob (Jacob).

One thing I have to do in correcting the names is to adjust the clear American editions of names. In reading a book as important as the Bible why would a person want to know what the persons name might be in English. We read so many names that are clearly in Hebrew because they have no corresponding name in English. Names like Methuselah are clearly not American. We read so many of the names in their Hebrew versions that it should seem odd to come across an Americanized word. For example, there is no “J” in Hebrew. A Hebrew would not know who a Japheth or Jacob or Joseph or Jesus is unless they had heard it in English. They would say Yepheth, Ya`aqob, Yoseph, or Yahshua. Many would automatically go to the Babylonian names for these people, for example calling Yashua Yeshua. If we are to keep the types clear between the Old and New Testament we must call them by their Hebrew names.

There are many other spelling changes that have been made to make names sound more English. V`s have been rendered such as “Javan” instead of “Yawan.” I have made a number of changes to names of people and places to bring consistency to them. The ch`s have been rendered as k’s. Many of the words starting with an I have been changed to Y. If you know the changes I am looking for, there aren’t that many, but they do occur often.

Then there are names that have been changed to names of modern states. One of the most common is changing Mitsrayim to Egypt. We have no idea that the land of the Old Testament Mitsrayim coincides with the territory of modern Egypt. There are many good reasons to not change the name, but to call it Mitsrayim and its inhabitants Mitsrites.

These are a few of the changes that I am making to the Heart of David Study Bible. I have not yet decided to call it the Heart of Dawid Study Bible, but I am thinking on it.

Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws    

Parables Blog: www.parablesblog.blogspot.com    

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063

Sunday, March 5, 2017

GENESIS























Following is the Flipbook file for Genesis. I have put the book in Flipbuilder format to make it easier to read.

Genesis - Flipbook

http://online.flipbuilder.com/wefq/qmsx/

For those who would like to proofread the book of Genesis the above account has been made available. More will be written on this rendering of Genesis in the next few days.

Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws    

Parables Blog: www.parablesblog.blogspot.com    

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063