Do the oldest Bibles call Jesus Beloved?

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Clarencew

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I have just discovered that Matthew 17:5 and Mark 1:11 are translated differently in different versions of the Bible. In many versions of the Bible we read ‘This is my Beloved Son’. In the New Jerusalem Bible, which, I understand, references texts written prior to Latin translations, we read “This is my Son, the Beloved”. I am astounded by the implications of this difference. In the first, ‘Beloved’ is used as an adjective. In the second a noun. In other words God is saying that Jesus is both Son (noun) and Beloved (also noun) ie God is effectively saying that Jesus’ name is Beloved! Could God be saying that Jesus also has a divine name, that name being ‘Beloved’? Is this how the original (non-Latin) scripts read?
 
You’re dealing with a different way of translating the same phrase, not a different phrase entirely. They’re just saying “the Beloved” instead of “the beloved son”, “the beloved one”, “my favorite son” or “my precious inkypoo”. God the Father is confirming that Jesus has a perfect right to call Him Abba (as Jesus will proceed to do throughout all the Gospels) and that Jesus is His official heir/right hand man. This position is very important throughout the history of God’s covenant with humanity. It’s also very important to us, as Jesus has the right to make us co-heirs and adopted sons and daughters.

If you’re really interested in this sort of thing, you will just have to learn Greek and Hebrew, because translations don’t cut it for exact shades of meaning. (And some people’s translations can only be understood properly if you already know Greek and Hebrew; this translation you reference seems to be one of 'em.)

Moving on, you already know that God is Love, and that his banner over me is Love, and so forth. These are the occurrences you should be paying attention to.
 
Hi Calrencew,

The Greek is identical in both texts. : “ho yios mou ho agapêtos” . Now a word for word translation would be “the son mine the beloved”. This construction, as every student of elementary Greek knows, is that language’s way of qualifying a noun. “Agapêtos” (beloved) is without any doubt an adjective here. The phrase means “my beloved son.”

It would be foolish on my part to call the translator of the NJB iincompetent. He/she may have been just too zealous for literalness. Anyway, the meaning does not change.

Verbum
 
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