Haggai2:13

Translation

Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean because of a person

touches any of these, will it become unclean? The priests answered and said, “It will be unclean.”

Paraphrase

Then Haggai said, “If one who is in isolation because of a [dead] body

touches any of these types of food, will the food be cast aside as inedible?” The priests responded by saying, “Yes, It will be cast aside as inedible.”

Footnotes

1

What I have rendered in the translation as “person” and in the paraphrase as “[dead] body” interestingly comes from the Hebrew word for “life, or breathing soul”! Living things in this world have bodies in which they reside, so touching a living being means to touch their body. But touching the body of a normal (clean) person does not cause contamination. It can be assumed that the body is dead if it consistently causes contamination. The expression of this concept was so common and well understood that they did not need to say “dead body,” they only had to say “person” and the listener or reader knew that they were talking about a person’s dead body because that is the kind of body that would obviously cause one to be unclean.

This expression is based on a few statements in the Law where the word “breathing soul” is used for a person’s body, and sometimes a person’s dead body. Most of the uses of this word are straight forward and positive; here I will give you some exceptions that mean “dead body.” In Numbers 19:13 it is made clear by using the adjective “dead” with the word “person or living breathing soul” (thus the word “dead” and the word “living” appear side by side); Numbers 9:6 & 7 uses the phrase “person adam” which can be rendered “a human person,” but it means “a dead body;” Numbers 5:2 and 9:10 use the simplified version “due to a person” or “due to a living breathing soul.” All of these verses use the same key word found in Haggai 2:13 which has the primary meaning of “life, breathing soul,” but in each case it is referring to a dead body. Some of these use an adjective to explain it and others leave out all descriptive words. The Law explained many times and in various ways the need to not touch dead things. Therefore, these statements were clear to the ancient Israelites, even when the only thing in the text was the word meaning “life or breathing soul, i.e. a person.”

This is a good picture of what translators of the Bible often face. There are many assumptions that need to be made and many instances in which the intended meaning is not at all what the words themselves seem to communicate. Actually, all languages do that, but the written form of some languages is more straight-forward while others are more free and open, requiring more adaptation by a translator.

HERE'S WHY YOU DON'T WANT A TRULY LITERAL TRANSLATION

Below I offer you 5 attempts to show you all the steps needed to go from the most basic meaning of the words in the text to the intended meaning of the text. This starts with the option that is least clear but closest to the original text and moves to the option that clearly expresses the intended meaning (in my opinion) but is furthest from the original text.

In this example the only confusion pertains to one Hebrew word which is expressed in a phrase that is both italic and bold below.

Basic word meanings:

And Haggai said, “If unclean living breathing soul touches any of these, will it be unclean?” Then the priests answered and said, “It will be unclean.”

Cleaned Up a Bit:

Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean because of a living breathing person, touches any of these, will it be unclean?” The priests answered and said, “It will be unclean.”

Clarified Some More:

Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean because of a person touches any of these, will it become unclean? The priests answered and said, “It will be unclean.”

Clarified even more:

Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean because of a person’s dead body, touches any of these, will it become unclean? The priests answered and said, “It will be unclean.”

The Intended Meaning:

Then Haggai said, “If one who is in isolation because of a dead body, touches any of these types of food, will the food be cast aside as inedible?” The priests responded by saying, “Yes, It will be cast aside as inedible.”

The full version of this phrase appears in Numbers 19:13 where it uses the words “dead living breathing soul” implying a dead person’s body. Numbers 9:7 says “a living breathing human,” but means a dead person’s body and Numbers 9:10 and 5:2 say “because of a living person” once again meaning “because of a dead person’s body.” The concept of avoiding a dead body was so common in the law that it was unnecessary to say the entire phrase; they could shorten it. The irony is that the full version of the phrase (numb 19:13) used the word meaning “living soul” and the adjective “dead” side by side. Then the shortened version uses only the word for “a living breathing soul” but means “a dead person’s body.” To ancient Jews the meaning was quickly recognized. Translators also know what to make of this, but a true word-for-word translation would give the wrong idea.