Much of what we read in
our Bibles is not what we might call “inspired”: the choice of English words
made by translators; the marginal commentary; beginnings and ends of verses;
chapter and passage headings ... all these things were simply not
subjected to the same level of divine control which the writers of scripture
claim for the Greek and Hebrew text itself.
This being the case, once in a blue moon something done by a translator or publishing house works against
our ability to discern the meaning of a text. One of my brothers is fond of
pointing out how many times a chapter division in our English Bibles has obscured
his understanding of a passage which should rightly flow right on without pause,
and did so in its original form. Sometimes the answer to a question posed at
the end of chapter 3 (where you probably stopped your daily reading) is to
be found three verses into chapter 4 (where you have probably
forgotten what it is answering by the time you read it tomorrow).
