Our Lord is terrible

I agree890

 

Just out of curiosity, what lessons were taught in that VBS that supported the theme of God's awesomeness? I certainly hope that at least one was about respectfully fearing God's "terrible" power.

I applaud that critical young mind! I think for a child, a simple explanation that the two words "awesome" and "terrible" mean almost the same thing would likely suffice, thus averting any feelings of confusion or distrust forming in the lad's mind. You could assure him that the overlapping of meaning would become more clear during later VBS lessons. Indeed, the Hebrew does envelope both meanings.

The Hebrew word yare (Strong's #3372) has a range of meaning including to fear, be afraid, to stand in awe of, to reverence, honour, and respect. The KJV revisors stressed the fearfulness we ought to have of God: "fear" 188 times, "afraid" 78, "terrible" 23, "terrible thing" 6, "dreadful" 5, "fearful" 2, "terrible acts" 1 (but only 3 times as "reverence"). Witness these two KJV occurrences of the word in Genesis 28:17 (it is Jacob speaking)--

And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful [is] this place! this [is] none other but the house of God, and this [is] the gate of heaven.​

The employment of the word "awesome" by other versions stresses the reverential aspect of yare, and this trend is on the rise. The KJV does not use "awesome" at all, while the RSV only once; but then the NASB applied it 31 times, and NIV about 34 times; and in the more recent NKJV approximately 38 occurrences, and NLT a staggering 47 times!

But what would be the point if every new version rendered it similarly? By putting the KJV beside the NKJV (and/or beside the NASB or other versions) broader understanding can be obtained. Notice the NKJV translation of Genesis 28:17 --

And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!"​

What I have seen discussed in this thread are the subjective preferences for either: a primacy of the 'source' language (in this case, Hebrew), or an translational emphasis on the 'receptor' language (in this case, English). I think they both may have their place.

But a translation is fixed in time like a photograph. The vernacular advantage of this snapshot begins to depreciate immediately following its publication. Language, like an 8-year old boy, does NOT sit still.