한ㆍ중ㆍ일 성경의 성서 히브리어 ‘베라크’ 이해

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to suggest that the Korean expression of ‘축복(祝福)하다’(to bless) used in Bible translations has both meanings of (1) ‘to confer happiness, as God’ and (2) ‘to pronounce a wish of happiness to someone’. There are two reasons to support this suggestion. First of all, most Korean Christians usually ask for blessings in prayer with the expression, ‘축복하소서’ which would mean “O God, bless us!” or the like. Second, modern Chinese and Japanese Bibles use the expression of ‘축복’(祝福) for both meanings mentioned above.<BR> Korean versions of the Bible such as the Old Version (1911), the Revised Version (1938), and the Common Translation (1977) have traditionally differentiated ‘축복하다’, which literally means ‘to pray a blessing for someone’, from ‘복을 베풀다’, ‘to be given a blessing by God’. In contrast, modern Japanese and Chinese Translations of the Bible have not differentiated one from the other. By modern Japanese Bibles, I am referring to the Colloquial Translation (1955), the New Interconfessional Translation (1987), and the Iwanami Shoten Translation (2004). Modern Chinese Translations of the Bible include the Lu Chen-Chung Version (1970) and the Catholic Studium Biblicum Version (1968). Somewhat different from these Bibles, the Old Chinese Delegates’ Version (1854) and the Japanese Meiji Translation (1888) take the Hebrew verb b?rak(* ??? ) literally as both ‘(God) to grant a blessing to someone’ and ‘(human) to pray to give a blessing to someone’. Interestingly enough, the English-Chinese Dictionary (1866-1869) by W. Lobscheid lists both meanings of ‘祝福’ to the entry of ‘to bless’.<BR> Korean language belongs to Chinese character culture so we Koreans can follow both usage of ‘祝福’ in the Chinese and Japanese Bible translations. Nowadays Koreans use the expression of ‘축복’(祝福) to imply both meanings. Indeed, the language itself has been changing over the time.