Hello everyone, God Bless.
I would like to share something that I came across which may shed some light on this topic. The debate is new to me, but I stumbled into it today as I was cross checking Strong's definitions against 3 versions of Daniel 8:14 (For reference the 3 versions were the KJV, ABP, and HOT on e-sword, all of which say "two thousand").
Indeed Strong's reference H505 does define what is written as "a thousand" which led me on a search with many people trying to reconcile biblically why they believed the text should read 1300 instead of 2300.
After several hours, I decided I had better research the Hebrew numbering system and this is what I found. http://smontagu.org/writings/HebrewNumbers.html
Toward the end of the page you will find a section heading titled Larger Numbers. with the following...
Because there is no symbol for zero, this will cause ambiguity in some cases.
ג Is this 3? 3,000? 3,000,000?
Possible solutions to this problem:
Adding the word for “thousands”. This will need special handling for 1,000 and 2,000 because of grammatical considerations.
1000
אלף
2000
ב׳ אלפים or אלפיים
Notice the actual Hebrew characters for 1000 and 2000 are different
Now compare them to Strong's H505
H505
אלף
'eleph
eh'-lef
Properly the same as H504; hence (an ox’s head being the first letter of the alphabet, and this eventually used as a numeral) a thousand: - thousand.
and lastly compare the original Hebrew text (+Strong's numbers)
14 ויאמרH559 אליH413 עדH5704 ערבH6153 בקרH1242 אלפיםH505 ושׁלשׁH7969 מאותH3967 ונצדקH6663 קדשׁ׃H6944
or here
יד וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי--עַד עֶרֶב בֹּקֶר, אַלְפַּיִם וּשְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת; וְנִצְדַּק, קֹדֶשׁ.
14 And he said unto me: 'Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; then shall the sanctuary be victorious.'
Indeed the text is correct to read 2300 days
Strong's mis-rendering of the Hebrew characters representing 2000 for the characters representing 1000 has caused Much confusion. What ever grammatical considerations were used by Strong in doing this I cant say, but it is clear from reading other peoples comments who are much more intelligent and well read than I am that both scholars and writers of even the most ancient scripts knew this (the Hebrew charcters for 2000 meant 2000 not 1000 as Strong implies) as such a basic fact that they found no need to clarify it.
Do you think this is a one off event?
No, not at all! Search "two thousand" (or even "two hundred") in e-sword and you will find many examples of where the word "two" is not present when referring to the number 2000 (or 200) especially in Numbers.
After seeing this it seems obvious that Hebrew grammer is not one of my strengths. I will be trusting on the Lord that he has Lead the writers of the Bible and has protected every word of it through the years just as it should be.
1Th 5:16 Rejoice evermore.
1Th 5:17 Pray without ceasing.
1Th 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
1Th 5:19 Quench not the Spirit.
1Th 5:20 Despise not prophesyings.
1Th 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
1Th 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
I would like to share something that I came across which may shed some light on this topic. The debate is new to me, but I stumbled into it today as I was cross checking Strong's definitions against 3 versions of Daniel 8:14 (For reference the 3 versions were the KJV, ABP, and HOT on e-sword, all of which say "two thousand").
Indeed Strong's reference H505 does define what is written as "a thousand" which led me on a search with many people trying to reconcile biblically why they believed the text should read 1300 instead of 2300.
After several hours, I decided I had better research the Hebrew numbering system and this is what I found. http://smontagu.org/writings/HebrewNumbers.html
Toward the end of the page you will find a section heading titled Larger Numbers. with the following...
Because there is no symbol for zero, this will cause ambiguity in some cases.
ג Is this 3? 3,000? 3,000,000?
Possible solutions to this problem:
Adding the word for “thousands”. This will need special handling for 1,000 and 2,000 because of grammatical considerations.
1000
אלף
2000
ב׳ אלפים or אלפיים
Notice the actual Hebrew characters for 1000 and 2000 are different
Now compare them to Strong's H505
H505
אלף
'eleph
eh'-lef
Properly the same as H504; hence (an ox’s head being the first letter of the alphabet, and this eventually used as a numeral) a thousand: - thousand.
and lastly compare the original Hebrew text (+Strong's numbers)
14 ויאמרH559 אליH413 עדH5704 ערבH6153 בקרH1242 אלפיםH505 ושׁלשׁH7969 מאותH3967 ונצדקH6663 קדשׁ׃H6944
or here
יד וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי--עַד עֶרֶב בֹּקֶר, אַלְפַּיִם וּשְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת; וְנִצְדַּק, קֹדֶשׁ.
14 And he said unto me: 'Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; then shall the sanctuary be victorious.'
Indeed the text is correct to read 2300 days
Strong's mis-rendering of the Hebrew characters representing 2000 for the characters representing 1000 has caused Much confusion. What ever grammatical considerations were used by Strong in doing this I cant say, but it is clear from reading other peoples comments who are much more intelligent and well read than I am that both scholars and writers of even the most ancient scripts knew this (the Hebrew charcters for 2000 meant 2000 not 1000 as Strong implies) as such a basic fact that they found no need to clarify it.
Do you think this is a one off event?
No, not at all! Search "two thousand" (or even "two hundred") in e-sword and you will find many examples of where the word "two" is not present when referring to the number 2000 (or 200) especially in Numbers.
After seeing this it seems obvious that Hebrew grammer is not one of my strengths. I will be trusting on the Lord that he has Lead the writers of the Bible and has protected every word of it through the years just as it should be.
1Th 5:16 Rejoice evermore.
1Th 5:17 Pray without ceasing.
1Th 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
1Th 5:19 Quench not the Spirit.
1Th 5:20 Despise not prophesyings.
1Th 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
1Th 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
