Proverbs 7:22 “He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, OR AS A FOOL TO THE CORRECTION OF THE STOCKS.”

So read the Hebrew texts, as well as the JPS (Jewish Publication Society) 1917, the 1936 Hebrew Publishing Company translation, the Complete Jewish Bible, Coverdale 1535, Matthew’s Bible 1549, the Bishops’ Bible 1568, the Geneva Bible 1599, the RV 1881, Rotherham’s Emphasized bible 1902, the ASV 1901, the NASB, Darby, Youngs, the KJV 21st Century version 1994, and the Third Millenium Bible 1998.

Foreign language Bibles that read the same as the Hebrew texts and the King James Bible are the Spanish Reina Valera’s 1909, 1960, 1995 - “o como va el necio a prisión para ser castigado”, the French Martin 1744, Louis Segond 1910, and Ostervald 1991- “Comme un fou qu'on lie pour le châtier”, the Italian Diodati 1649 and 1991, Riveduta 1927 - “come un incatenato alla punizione dello stolto”, the Portuguese Almeida - “como o louco ao castigo das prisões”, and Luther’s German bible 1545 and 1912.

The NKJV reads the same as the KJB: “Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, Or AS A FOOL TO THE CORRECTION OF THE STOCKS”, BUT THEN, just so you won’t be too confident in what God said, it footnotes: Septuagint, Syriac, and Targum read AS A DOG TO BONDS, Vulgate reads AS A LAMB...TO BONDS.”

Let’s see what a confusing mess the modern versions have made out of this verse.

The NIV actually says: “All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, LIKE A DEER STEPPING INTO A NOOSE.” (Deer, Fool, Dog... Yeah, that’s pretty much the same, right?) Then the NIV footnotes: Syriac; Hebrew “fool”. And it also adds: “The meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.”

Well, even the NIV does seem certain that the Hebrew says “fool” but they have given us A DEER instead! 

Lamsa’s 1936 translation of the Syriac says: “He went after her as a little child, as an ox that goes to the slaughter, and AS A DOG TO BE MUZZLED.” - A DOG, not A DEER, not a FOOL.

The Holman Standard is basically like the NIV with: “He follows her impulsively like an ox going to the slaughter, like A DEER BOUNDING TOWARD A TRAP.” Then it tells us in their footnote: “Text emended (That means changed!) - like shackles for the discipline of a fool; Hebrew obscure.”!

Hey, wait a minute. They admit they changed the text; then they give us their translation of the Hebrew, which is basically the same as what the KJB says, and then they tell us it is obscure! You gotta luv ‘em. These bible correctors are a kick in the head, aren’t they?

The liberal RSV 1954 has: “as an ox goes to the slaughter, or AS A STAG IS CAUGHT FAST.”

The ESV 2001 is the same with: “All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or AS A STAG IS CAUGHT FAST.” Then it has this amazing footnote: “Probable reading (compare Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac) Hebrew - as an anklet for the discipline of a fool”!!!

It should also be noted that neither the so called Septuagint, nor the Vulgate, nor the Syriac read as does the Hebrew text they call “obscure” NOR do any one of them agree with each other!

The Septuagint copy I have reads like no other Bible version on the face of the earth I am aware of and adds a whole bunch of words besides. It says: “And he followed her, being gently led on, and that as an ox is led to the slaughter, AND AS A DOG TO BONDS, OR AS A HART SHOT IN THE LIVER WITH AN ARROW.”!!! Hellooooo? Is anybody home?

The Douay Rheims is translated from the Latin and it says: “Immediately he followeth her as an ox led to be a victim, and AS A LAMB PLAYING THE WANTON, AND NOT KNOWING THAT HE IS DRAWN LIKE A FOOL TO BONDS.”

And the Syriac, as we have seen, says: “He went after her as A LITTLE CHILD, as an ox that goes to the slaughter, and AS A DOG TO BE MUZZLED.” So, in other words, their “helpful footnote” is nothing more than a confusing bunch of Baloney.

Dan Wallace and Company’s silly NET version reads: “Suddenly he went after her like an ox that goes to the slaughter, LIKE A STAG PRANCING INTO A TRAPPER’S SNARE.” (This is basically like the NIV, Holman junk)

With today’s multiple Bible Babble Buffet “scholars” giving us such “an embarrassment of riches” to chose from for what God may or may not have said in His word, small wonder most Christians no longer believe “The Bible” or any bible is the complete and 100% true words of the living God.

Will Kinney

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