Abraham Goes to Dixie

(Gen 13:1 KJV)  And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.

(Proverbs 15 also read)

Translators drive me crazy.  They want to do my thinking for me and thus confuse the real process of thinking through issues.  The KJV does the best job with “south” (5045) while the NASB and a lot of other translations tell you “what Moses meant was” “Negev”.  Some translations even use “wilderness.”  To me this is a roadblock.  When I first read this in the KJV I scratched my head about the “south”.  How could Abram go south out of Egypt?  That just took him further into Egypt.  This necessitated me turning on my brain and doing a little studying.  That is always a worthwhile project.

Calling the target area “Negev” (5045) is almost exactly the same as calling the southern part of the United States “Dixie”.  It is acceptable to those who know the jargon but not accurate for those who don’t.  

So?  Keep your mind alert and stretch you understanding.  You never know when there will be an important insight.  If you are tired and not able to think then, be my guest.  Get a Living Bible and enjoy the flow of the paraphrase, but don’t make it your normal pattern.