(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
The Christian world’s conception of the Jewish God as a “God of vengeance” has rested on a false translation of a Biblical passage, according to the Bible scholar, Benjamin Donath, in a lecture he delivered before a circle of Bible scholars. Negotiations are now under way to correct the passage in the Latin and other translations of the Bible, he stated.
Dr. Donath declared that the Biblical passage speaking of God as seeking revenge “unto the fourth generation” is a mistranslation of the original which implies, instead, mercy. Dr. Donath stated that he, the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and the Alliance Israelite Universelle are negotiating with Pope Pius XI and the Biblical commission of the Vatican, through the Archbishop of Canterbury, to correct the translation in the new edition of the Bible which is now being prepared.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.