Comments: References

	The Spaceships of Ezekiel Are there Flying Saucers in the Bible?

Comments: Blumrich's References

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Comments on Blumrich's References

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Blumrich on translations and commentaries: (beginning of Chap. 5)

All the translations and commentaries of the Bible used in this work are commercially available. I have chosen translations that not only cover a span of some 150 years, but also come from geographically and theologically widely differing quarters.

Initially I considered inviting the cooperation of an expert in ancient languages. However, I soon gave up this idea for two reasons: (1) Text differences as such, insofar as they are of linguistic origin, already are different interpretations by experts. The involvement of yet another expert would merely have added one more opinion, without any prospect of arriving at a final decision. (2) There are no fundamental or essential differences among these versions. All describe—and one could rightfully say, "naturally"—the same events and the same physical structures.

As the work progressed, this decision was proved correct again and again. In most cases the differences in the text could be traced back to word choices by translators and thus clarified and eliminated. On the other hand, a few passages are so fundamentally different that the only explanation can be sought in differences in the original texts. But I wish to stress explicitly that none of these cases has any technical significance. In addition, the following should be considered: If—beyond differences in time, space, and religious beliefs—all translations describe the same structures, functions, and events, then that too makes it unnecessary to ask the opinion of yet another language expert. (all emphasis added)

Unfortunately, the highlighted passages indicate several fundamental errors by Blumrich.

"Involving another expert would just add another opinion."

Blumrich obviously does not consider any commentator's opinion worthwhile. However, he did not take the time and effort to become familiar with the literature on Ezekiel. (Incidentally, his dismissive attitude that he is an engineer, and he can figure out anything for himself and he doesn't need to consult non-engineers is an extremely common attitude among engineers.)
Blumrich doesn't even realize how much he doesn't know. He obviously did not realize that the opinions of some Bible commentators are highly regarded and others are justifiably ignored.
Blumrich has an exaggerated view of his own abilities. Although he has absolutely no background whatsoever in theology, history, biblical languages, etc., he thinks that he can make valid determinations on the basis of six translations in two languages and two commentaries written for laymen. He didn't even consult a Protestant or Eastern Orthodox commentary.
It is clear from his overall approach that he did not know enough to be able to determine the quality of the commentaries he used.

See Textual Analysis: General Translation Issues

Reference 7: The New American Bible. (NAB)

NAB Ezekiel Chapter 10 contains verses from three different chapters and those are out of sequence, yet Blumrich does not mention this. Note that the re-sequencing indicates the translators' interpretation of events. The NAB sequence is:

Chap 8:1-2
Chap 8:4
Chap 10:20-22
Chap 10:14-15
Chap 10:9-13
Chap 10:16-17
Chap 10:1-8
Chap 10:18-19
Chap 11:22-23

Remember—this is Chapter 10.

End of Chapter 10
Then totally re-arrange the middle.

They might as well include the first 8 verses someplace!

And let's end with the final verses from the next chapter!

Frankly, it is extremely likely that Blumrich didn't notice either the "butchering" of Chapter 10 or the resequencing of Chapter 1, which has the verses in order: 1-through-7-10-9-12-8-11-13-through-28. Bible readers just assume the verses are in numerical sequence and don't even notice the verse numbers. I have about 20 Bibles in a variety of languages including English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Yiddish, Hebrew and Russian and the NAB is the only Bible I have seen that rearranges large parts of any biblical text.

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