Sid: Now on yesterday’s broadcast we had a lot of people listening to us, Bill Morford, and we’re talking about his brand new translation, fresh vibrant translation than any other translation. It reminds me of Passover, we say “Why is this day different than any other day?” Well Bill Morford, why is your translation different than any other translation?
Bill: Because I went through looking for power that’s been left out. In fact years ago when I was studying Greek, twenty five years ago or more I would tell people, “This is what it really says.” And they would say, “Well you need to do a translation.” I said, “No, no that’s intimating now to to deal with scripture that way.” But over the years I got so upset with reading watered down translation; the power is there in the Greek.
Sid: Alright, when you say the power what do you mean by that, explain.
Bill: In the New Testament particularly the imperative move there means you must do this and then the tense of the verb tells you must do it continually, or you must do it now depending on which tense it is. So I put that in, and I’ve had a couple of pastors that study Greek tell me they used to have to go through their Bible before they were preparing a message for the coming Sunday; that they wanted to know is it an imperative in the first place, and is it present tense or aros tense. But any way it just got to me when God finally told me to get serious with it, then I knew I had to, and got into it.
Sid: Okay, on yesterday’s broadcast we were talking about Phoebe in Roman’s 16, tell me about her.
Bill: Well, she’s very interesting, she was actually technically a woman set over others, and Paul said…
Sid: Are you telling me that Phoebe was set over men?
Bill: Yes.
Sid: You better not tell that in your Baptist church around the corner.
Bill: Right, right and here…
Sid: Well, how do you know that?
Bill: Because of the Greek word that is used there describing her.
Sid: Explain that.
Bill: It means a woman set over others.
Sid: Boy, this would sure change a lot of people’s theology if they only understood about Phoebe. Let’s talk about healing, because that was a thing that originally attracted me to your translation. I have never seen before that one of the definitions of the Greek word for sickness is evil.
Bill: Right.
Sid: Now I believe that sickness is evil but I didn’t know that that was the translation. Tell me, explain that exactly.
Bill: The Greek word that I translate evil, is “kakos” which is actually the adverbial form, it’s strange, of a word with one letter difference, an omicron, instead of an omega, the adverbial form is listed in the best Classic and Koina Greek Lexicon under, you know as the same word. And it gives the same noun form.
Sid: Okay, if it is evil why do we translate it sickness?
Bill: Well, you’ll have to go back a few hundred years and ask those that did it. After them it’s tradition.
Sid: Alright, what a difference that makes to me it really gets, it calls sickness what it really is, evil. I mean if it’s sickness, well get over it. But if it’s evil get rid of it.
Bill: That’s right.
Sid: I mean it’s a big difference. Tell me about the woman that touched the hem of Jesus garment.
Bill: Yes, that’s awesome. She came up behind Him, and see His prayer shawl then was a huge garment. It was like a poncho and it went from wrist to wrist and down to His knees, and had the fringes on the corners. The fringes called a “tseet-tseet”, and she knew that the “tseet-tseet” represented all the commandments and promises of God, and when that was worn on an anointed man of God she just had to touch that and she would be healed. And she did and was healed; came up behind Him and Jesus could feel the power leaving Him. And in Luke, Luke is the one that records it, that as she confessed to Jesus that she was the one that touched His garment as she confessed she was healed. Which gives us a very very important rule to have in healing is to confess it. Confess that we’re healed, whether she felt it or not she confessed it and as she confessed she was healed.
Sid: Okay, as she reached to of course it’s the “tseet-tseet,” the fringes wasn’t the hem of His garment, but as she reached to it what did that mean to her?
Bill: It means that she was touching all that God had, that fringe represented all the commandments of God and all the promises.
Sid: That sure sounds a lot more meaningful to me than the hem of His garment.
Bill: Yeah, there not quite the same are they?
Sid: Okay, now when you translate Isaiah 53 you came up with a revelation I’ve never heard anyone come up with before on the word stripes; explain that.
Bill: Right, that’s very interesting, the word there is “havurato” and what it means is literally on His wounds, His stripes; either one is correct, but in Modern Hebrew “havurah” means fellowship. And so there is an Orthodox Jewish Bible in use in Orthodox Synagogues today that translate that not as wounds or stripes but translates it as fellowship.
Sid: Now let me understand this, in other words it could be translated wounds or stripes and it could equally as it’s done in this approved Hebrew scriptures be translated fellowship. But I think you need both, you need to know what the blood of Jesus by His stripes brought us and you also need to have fellowship with the Lord.
Bill: Right.
Sid: But that is such a wonderful revelation. Okay, now tell me about I Am that I Am.
Bill: Oh yes, wow, the I Am is significant, two common words for I Am are “ani” which simply means I Am and “anohi”, which is I am with an attitude, it’s determination. And the anokhi is used over a hundred times with God speaking.
Sid: Give me an example and say it with that attitude.
Bill: Right, Isaiah 43:11 God says “I Am, I Am the only Savior!”, and in 43:25 “I Am, I Am the one who forgives all your transgression!”
Sid: Wait a second; you said that twice, it doesn’t say it twice in the scriptures.
Bill: Yes it does.
Sid: No, in my King James Bible it doesn’t.
Bill: Well it does “anokhi anokhi” is there.
Sid: No, in the translation it doesn’t say that in the Hebrew; does it say it in your King James, so why would it say I Am, I Am with an attitude.
Bill: Yeah.
Sid: Why not?
Bill: I sure agree with you, why not? I put it in twice.
Sid: Why should someone get a hold of the One New Man Bible?
Bill: I put the “anokhi” and that’s I Am I put that in bold so that there’s no missing it; so that you know that it’s not just I Am doing this. But when it’s the I am with an attitude; when there’s determination. I have determined that this is what I am going to do! And see in Isaiah 43:25 what He says, “I erase all your sins.” Erase that means it never happened; Satan might remember it, might have another record but his record doesn’t count. The official record that sets in never happened isn’t that awesome.
Sid: This is the Shabbat broadcast and Bill Morford I am going to let you do something I’ve never asked a guest to do, but you have corrected the translation of the Aaronic Benediction, would you pray that in English with the way it really is in the Hebrew?
Bill: Oh yes, “The Lord will bless you and He will keep you, the Lord will make His face to shine upon you and He will be gracious to you. The Lord will lift His countenance to you and He will establish you in Shalom.”
