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2005-12-10 22:38:57
From: JJ
(San Francisco)
[The old Chinese housekeeper Lee’s words on that sentence from the Bible.]
“The King James version says this: thou shalt rule over him.’ It was the ‘thou shalt’ that struck me, because it was a promise that Cain would conquer sin.”
“Then I got a copy of the American Standard Bible — It says, ‘Do thou rule over him.’ Now this is very different. This is not a promise, it is an order.”
[So Lee got interested and started learning Hebrew so he could read the original version of this line. After two years of study, he found out, it was actually:]
“Thou mayest!”
…there are many millions in their sects and churches who feel the order, ‘Do thou,’ and throw their weight into obedience. And there are millions more who feel predestination in ‘Thou shalt.’ Nothing they may do can interfere with that will be. But ‘Thou mayest’! Why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it through and win.”
-"East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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