Isaiah 66, The Rapture, and Translator Bias
It took me a while to come around on this... but now I believe that it is actually more accurately connected to the Revelation 12 Sign and the rapture of the church. I will show you below why I think this. Basically you will see that the wording of the Isaiah passage was changed in the modern translations to "help us out".
What you will see is a prime example of Translator Bias. It seems that what was assumed by the translators of most modern Bibles is that Isaiah 66:8 was speaking of Israel in 1948, therefor they worded the text in a way to make that connection clear... but in doing so I think you will see that they drifted away from the original meaning.
Let's look at the verses... For clarity I will focus in on the specific portion of the verse that exhibits the bias...
First the modern translations (After 1948):
Isaiah 66:8 ESV (Year Published: 2008)Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment?
Isaiah 66:8 NLT (1996)
Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment?
Isaiah 66:8 NIV (1978)
Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment?
Isaiah 66:8 NASB (1960)
Can a nation be brought forth all at once?
These verses seem to make it clear... A nation was born in a moment, very quickly. Just like how the Israel achieved statehood on May 14th, 1948. This truly was an amazing event, but what did the translation say before it happened? Let's look...
Older translations (Before 1948):
Isaiah 66:8 KJV (1611)Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day?
Isaiah 66:8 DRC (1752)
shall the earth bring forth in one day?
Isaiah 66:8 YLT (1862)
Is earth caused to bring forth in one day?
Isaiah 66:8 DBY (1890)
Can a land be made to bring forth in one day?
Here we see that it's not a nation being born, but in fact the EARTH giving birth! That's a big difference!
A Subtle But Substantial Difference
Did you notice how in the modern translations the wording was changed from earth to country?Also notice how in the modern translations the country is the one being born, while in the older translations the earth is actually the one bringing forth.
It is a subtle difference, but it changes the meaning entirely. Which is it, was a country born, or did the earth give birth? I would lean towards trusting the original translations. With that in mind, read the two following verses, both of which are rapture verses.
Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.
You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For your dew is a dew of light,
and the earth will give birth to the dead.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
The dead are in the earth (news flash, right?). At the rapture / resurrection of the dead, they will be born out of the earth and rise, they will meet us in the air to be with Jesus.
Now read Isaiah 66:7-8 KJV again...
Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.What I believe we see here is a direct connection between the Revelation 12 Sign (verse 7) and the rapture. The earth gives birth (Isaiah 26:19), and the dead shall rise (1 Thes 4:16-17) and a Holy Nation will be brought forth....BORN!
A Holy Nation... that's us! See 1 Peter 2:9...
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Putting it all together
Israel will be in labor for 7 years during the Great Tribulation. But before she is in labor a son will be delivered. The son is representative of the Body of Christ... a Holy Nation of believers intimately connected to Him. How can this be? The Pre-Tribulation Rapture! The body of Christ will be born to heaven prior to the Time of Jacobs Trouble (Jer 30:6-7 KJV). We will be caught-up to the throne of God (Rev 12:5) to rule and reign with Him (Rev 2:26-27, 2 Tim 2:12).Isaiah 66 makes much more sense once you get past the translator bias. The surrounding context seems to fit better as well (Isaiah 66:15-16).
If you want a prophecy that DOES actually speak about 1948 and the Miracle of Israel look up Ezekiel 37:1-14. Those are some amazing verses!
Lastly, I must say thank you to Jeff at Unsealed.org for helping me see this clearly!! For more info on the Miracle of Israel, order this DVD. It is amazing!! God Bless!
For more information on Isaiah 66, check out Jeff's fantastic article as well:
Isaiah 66 and Revelation 12 - Which Nation is Really Born?
I thought the U.N. voted to create the state of Israel in 1947 and in 1948 Israel created their government. 1947 + 70= 2017
ReplyDelete1948+70=2018.
Thank you, I tweaked the wording to be more clear. : )
Deletethey also voted to remove it on Dec 23rd 2016.
DeleteYes.... that was crazy. Exactly 9 months before Sep 23rd, 2017.
DeleteWho is the author of this article?
DeleteI Hope everyone Understands that the Real Jews Are Black or in my case African American. Our Identity and Land has Been Stolen from The Ashkenazi (Jewish Coverts). We would like for You All To Finally Acknowledge That.
DeleteI'm no scholar but I just listened to a teaching last night by Chick Missler and he made a good case against these newer translations because they rely on the Codex Vaticanus or Codex Sinaiticus and not the LXX as did the King James translation. Long story short, the King James was translated by men who were truly saved and truly putting together the best translation as led by the Holy Spirit. It is not perfect as no translation will be perfect but it is the best English word-for-word translation possible. Great lesson above by the way! The earth giving up her dead, bearing her dead totally matches up with the dead in Christ rising first! Thanks for the insight.
ReplyDeleteYes, good points John. I love the Blue Letter Bible because it makes it so easy to drill down to the original. I love Chuck as well... What a blessing he has been to so many of us.
DeleteI'll second that point with Chuck. I always search out his videos when researching. And great article Brad.
DeleteCodex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus are Greek manuscripts used primarily for the New Testament although they also contain the LXX. The LXX was one of several Greek translations of the Hebrew Old Testament.
DeleteWhen it comes to translating the Old Testament, most modern translations rely on Hebrew manuscripts rather than using a Greek translation of the original Hebrew.
If Chuck is making the claim that modern translators used Codex Vaticanus or Sinaiticus to translate the Old Testament he would be quite mistaken.
Yes I do apologize. I got my versions I cited mixed up. (Just when I think I'm edumacated...)
DeleteNext you can go to Ezekiel 37 and ask if this has been fulfilled. People want to say that the valley of dry bones is the fulfillment of the reestablishment of the nation of Israel. But look at 37:11. These bones are the whole house of Israel. Even today, there are still more Jews living in gentile lands than in Israel. Ezekiel 37 can not have been fulfilled yet. However Ezekiel 36:1-15 tells us that prior to the full return of Israel the Lord will bring the land which had been perpetually desolate ( since the desolation of Hadrian who cut down all of the trees and rocked the land in 135 A.D. ) back to fruition. But why. See verse 11. For my people are at hand ready to come. The Lord restores the land to fruition so it can support the mass return of the Jews whose numbers are estimated to be about 15,000,000.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree Brad. The dry bones are the ENTIRE house of Israel and they are brought forth at the end of the tribulation as per Matthew 24:
DeleteEzekiel 37:9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
Matthew 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Same with the 'famous' verse of Joel 2:28 BTW - because what Peter proclaimed in Acts 2:17 at Pentecost was only a PARTIAL fulfillment of this prophecy to Israel. Many today (thinking also of dear & beloved brethren like Barry Scarbrough here) claim this verse to be fulfilled today to the church (dreams, vision etc.) but this is NOT the case.
DeleteI had a pastor teach once a while back that he believed that Ezekiel 37 was a prophecy about all the babies aged 2 and under that Herod killed when the wise men came and told him about how they came to see the birth of the King because of the sign in the sky they saw. The pastor thinks that the dry bones will be the 144,000 that will prophecy during the tribulation. I thought that was very interesting....
DeleteAnnabel I agree with Joel 2:28 applying to the very end times, not the times before the rapture. I cringe every time I hear one of my trusted sources cite this in that way. Anyway, that is how I have come to understand that verse, I could be wrong.
DeletePraise Christ Jesus! Once again the alarm clock is going off... Hurricane Harvey is set to make landfall on Louisiana today.. 12 Years to the day after Hurricane Katrina.
ReplyDeleteDear Matthew, this connection to US-Israel peace talks might be interesting for you? Blessings! :)
DeleteWhat do you guys think of this connection to the rebirth of Israel?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.alphanewsdaily.com/mathprophecy2.html
I have seen that taught before, and I believe it. Why else would God add a 7x compound on a judgement and then not apply it upon the transgression. The same teacher I heard it from, also believed in the 70-80 years from 1948 as well for the final generation. I openly tell people i expect the rapture to come by 2021 (1948 + 80 -7). After reading the information on the 5993/2017AD year hypothesis, I hope its sooner than that.
DeleteA vid by hank lindstrom on calculating the 2520 years to 1948:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBxVbT12bSA
A vid by Ken Johnson as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coMpcBGH8kQ
Awesome information. Thanks to all of you.
ReplyDeleteI have learned so much over the past few months that (through my own laziness) I never knew.
40 Years ago I gave my heart to Jesus as an 8 year old child during a revival.
All my life I have read the Word, straying occasionally, but I have learned so much just in these last few months through all of your hard study and reading.
I guess the biggest "aha"! moment for me was the Mazzaroth.
Virgo to Leo............Alpha and Omega......the Beginning and the End.
Wow. Jesus is Awesome!
(Steve)
Agreed....it's always been right there in front of us the whole time. Similar "aha!" moment for me as well. Another good study here also!
DeleteDoes anyone have a good link for where I can go to learn about the Mazzaroth? I keep seeing that word but I am way behind the power curve. I am not even sure what it means.
DeleteDear Sheryl, 'Mazzaroth' means 'constellations' in Hebrew. It is the term for biblical astronomy which Satan turned into the 'zodiac' and astrology over the years. Here is an article about the book of Job explaining the different constellations. I think there are several teachings of Mark Biltz on YouTube which are worth watching (Mazzaroth, Feast days). Blessings, sister!
DeleteSheryl, here is a Chuck Missler video discussing the Mazzaroth.
DeleteReview the word "Mazzaroth" in the Book of Job 38:32
"Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons"
Review Pleides and Orion in Job 38:31
"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ6szvfApNM&app=desktop
(Steve)
"Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once?" (KJV 66:8). If you include the second part of the sentence from the KJV, the post-1948 translations don't appear to be that far off.
ReplyDeleteGood observation. The post-1948 translations aren't incorrect when they translate a nation being born. That's clear from the text. The question is: What nation? A geo-political entity? The State of Israel? It's the presumption that the modern state of Israel fulfills Isa. 66:8 that influences the other part of the verse. The KJV and NKJV get it correct by translating the earth giving birth, or bringing forth, rather than a land being born. A resurrection is in mind here and not a geo-political state (Isa. 26:19-21 fleshes this out further as a literal resurrection from the dead).
DeleteSo amazing and utterly encouraging!!!
ReplyDeleteFor, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. - Isa 26:21
ReplyDeleteIt is utterly amazing how points like this and dozens more seem to leap off of the text all of a sudden!
ReplyDeleteThe Hebrew word for "nation" in Isaiah 66:8 is H1471 "goy" which is and was EVER used in an insulting manner by Jews when snidely speaking of NON-HEBREW GENTILES (goyim). Strongs Dictionary mentions also a 'swarm of locusts' in meaning (in the sense of massing, heathen people, foreign & hostile nations). Look up for yourselves, the meaning is obviously tied to the Gentiles globally, not to the Jews on one single location in Israel. Preceding verse 7 clearly speaks of the BIRTH of the MALE CHILD BEFORE labour i.e. the rapture of the church. Read in CONTEXT. Thank you Brad for clarifying this! :)
ReplyDeleteThis verse may be relevant to help show that Israel cannot be the nation referenced, right?
ReplyDeleteNumbers 23:9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.
Yes!!! Finally someone else is saying this! Thanks guys! With the Rev 12:1-2 sign (The Sign of the Woman in Labor) happening just after the end of the Feast of Trumpets (the rapture of the church / the birth of the manchild), the timing is perfect... as God said, and as only God can do.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how people will fall for the rapture theory.and then twist the bible into supporting their rapture theory.
ReplyDeleteWhen there is nothing in the bible to support the rapture theory.
It's all man made teachings.and that's all it is.
This has good points . Consider:
ReplyDelete1947 +70 =2017
The 70 years Zechariah 1
The dry bones nor gathered
Who is in the Land ? Rev.2.9
Where are we in history?
We are at the end of the time of the Gentiles dominance.
Romans 11.25
Israel is in Egypt. Ezekiel 29-30 verse 1 .
Who is Israel? The descendents of the transatlantic slave trade/Deuteronomy 28.68 .
Romans 11 , don't lift yourself up against the branches. The branches are broken off, temporarily. They are the dry bones .
If you read Ezekiel 33.24 you will notice God says that there are those that inhabit " the land of Israel " which claim Abraham are not. They are the Synagogue of Satan. If you understand that the children of the transatlantic slave trade, black people in the West are Israel it will all make sense . As Jeremiah says " they are black" . Thank you .
The Lord God created a people for Himself from all nations, who love Him with all of their heart, soul, and strength. I would venture that few love Him in the way He ought to be loved. Oh, what a sight that will be when all nations worship together the One who loved us so much.
DeleteTic Toc... 8/30... just a few more days.. before 2 witnesses to validate..the sliver of the moon..
ReplyDeleteand at 6pm on 9/22..technically it is 9/23.....Tic Toc.. Something pretty big -Biblically Prophetic is about to happen.. The world is so not ready..
I did an inconclusive word study of Isaiah 66:8b "As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons." The "as soon as" seems like the correct interpretation or maybe even the word "when". The word "also" there would seem to indicate that the two events are linked in time. To me, this is saying that there is no delay between the start of the birth pains (Sept. 23) and the birth of the church. Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteJohn, interestingly the used word for "as soon as" is Hebrew H1571 "gam" (div. adverbial use = also, moreover, indeed, even, though) which Strongs Definition explain to derive from a contracted root word meaning "to gather, assemblage". Suddenly the "day of gathering", the "holy convocation" on the Feast of Trumpets comes to my mind... No, I personally don't think there will be much delay. Blessings, brother! :)
DeleteGood comments John. the actual word does remain 'also', just like the word 'earth' is actually 'land'. We need to clearly note the different possibilities of the scripture, not be stuck with one interpretation that fits our perspective on events
DeleteOur Father Abba is trying to tell us something....
ReplyDeleteThis in Iran, leave my people alone?...http://strangesounds.org/2017/08/mysterious-noise-in-the-sky-of-iran-terrifies-residents-of-astara-videos.html
Poland~ oh my gosh...http://tapnewswire.com/2017/08/millions-of-trees-blown-down-in-massive-hurricane-no-news-reporting-why/
Then there is Harvey....The worst ever.
Ah!...Then there is Israel....http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/this-day-in-jewish-history/.premium-1.739074
Who is the author of this article on the rapture?
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting, and would like to know more.
Thank you for the timeless reminder to study the Word of God. Translator bias can be missed if you rely on only one translation and don't further investigate by seeing how the same word was translated in other verses. I use the Tecarta Bible app to review the Strong's definition, down to the root word, and see the most common translation of a word and read the other verses where the word was used. For example, Matthew 24 and Luke 17 both discuss end times but there is a key verse that appears the same on the surface, but a deeper look reveals an important difference. In Matthew, it's Matthew 24:28 and in Luke it's Luke 17:37. Depending on which translation you use, there's a word that's translated as "corpse" and/or "body". In Matthew 24:28 the original Greek word is ptoma, Strong's G4420, which means a ruin, specifically a lifeless body. HOWEVER, in Luke 17:37 the original Greek word is soma, Strong's G4983, which means "the body as a sound whole". It is the same word that Paul uses whenever he refers to believers as the "body of Christ". And, digging deeper, soma comes from the root word sozo, Strong's G4982 which means "to save, that is deliver or protect". Therefore in Matthew 24 it's referring to Christ's Second Coming, and the corpses at Armageddon, whereas in Luke it's referring to the Rapture. Some translations have vulture instead of eagle for the original Greek word aetos, but according to Strong's G105, it should be eagles.
ReplyDeleteWonderful, TY!! So this is why I always have read Matthew 24 divided into half - until verse 31 spoken to the Jews and then from verse 32 on to the church. This might be unconventional but as today I hear many say that the church was not the recipient of Matthew 24 but only Jews (e.g. Robert Breaker) I cannot understand all the prophecies about the fig-tree parable, the Feast of Trumpets and "no man knows", days of Noe and then the obvious RAPTURE of the church in verses 40-41 (which are absolutely parallel to Luke 17). How can this be to Jews only? I have decided to read this chapter according to the biblical pattern "Jews first, Gentiles second" (Romans 1:16) even if this means that chronology is reversed here. Never was a stumbling block for me then, no dissent at all.
DeleteIf "ptoma" is related to Armageddon, then the "great supper" of Ezechiel 39:17-19 and Revelation 19:17-18 may be the subject of Matthew 24:28 (even if there is another word for "birds" used). In Luke 17:37 the eagles / vultures may be already waiting for the corpses of the dead church being judged at the moment the "soma" sound church body is gone. :)) MARANATHA!
Isaiah 26:2 talks of a righteous nation (singular) which keeps the truth. Could that also be talking about the body of Christ which, after the rapture, follows Jesus wherever he goes? In a Bible version called The Cepher, it is translated as the righteous nation which GUARDS the Truth.
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ReplyDelete