Chiswickite - formerly The Croydonian

I am indebted to the Chicago Tribune for making me aware of 'The Green Bible', "which hit shelves this month, prints God's word on partly recycled paper in soy-based ink. It indexes all mentions of animals, land and water. It also highlights, in green ink, all verses of the New Revised Standard Version that speak to stewardship of the planet".

Sounds more than a tad sacrilegious to me, in that any colour coding ought to be reserved for the word of God. Leastways, that's what I am used to.

Anyway, some indication of how fast and loose the publishers have been is evident from this quote on its site:

“You shall not pollute the land in which you live…you shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell; for I the Lord dwell among the Israelites.” Numbers 35:33-34


All sounds right up the street, or perhaps footpath or bridleway, of every enthusiastic tree hugger, doesn't it?

However, over at the KJV, this is the full verse in context:

[30] Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die.
[31] Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death.
[32] And ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.
[33] So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.
[34] Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel.

Not exactly an order to avoid fly-tipping, is it?

Labels: Greenery, Men and women of the cloth

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 11:46 am. You can skip to the end and leave a response.