# When the Bible Gets Vulgar (Dan McClellan) **Source**: [[3. Resources/Readwise/Podcasts/When the Bible gets vulgar]] > [!question] Lingering Questions > - How many other biblical terms have a similarly wide gloss range between "polite" and "vulgar" where translators default toward the polite end? > - Is there a meaningful difference between translating *for* shock (matching register) and translating *to mark that a term was shocking* (footnoting it) — which serves readers better? > - Does denominational or institutional affiliation of a translation committee predict how it handles obscene source language? > [!tip] Article Ideas > - "What translation domestication costs readers" — pairing this with other softened passages (Song of Songs, Hosea) for a fuller pattern piece on how mainstream English translations systematically launder register. (Private-hold: verify Punch's article directly before citing.) > [!link] Cross Reference > - [[3. Resources/MOCs/Faith & Theology MOC]] — translation-choice ethics as a live question in how scripture reaches lay readers > [!quote] Vocabulary > - **skybala/skybalon** (σκύβαλον) — Greek term in Philippians 3:8, glossed by BDAG as "refuse, garbage" but argued by scholar John David Punch to function as crude slang closer to "crap"/"shit" > - **zirma** (זרמה) — Hebrew hapax legomenon in Ezekiel 23:20, glossed alternately "phallus" (via proposed metathesis) or "ejaculation" (from the root *zaram*, "to pour out") > - **hapax legomenon** — a word occurring only once in a given corpus (here, the Hebrew Bible), making its precise sense harder to pin down from context alone ## Bib capsule Biblical scholar Dan McClellan argues, via close lexical analysis of Philippians 3:8 and Ezekiel 23:19–21, that biblical authors deliberately used profane and sexually explicit language for rhetorical effect, and that mainstream English translations (NRSVUE and others) routinely euphemize that language in ways that obscure authorial intent. ## Author's thesis Biblical authors do use profanity and vulgarity — more often in the Hebrew Bible than the New Testament, but present in both — and translations should let it show rather than soften it, for the sake of fidelity to the text's intended rhetorical effect on its original audience. ## Key arguments (≤3) 1. **Paul's *skybala* in Philippians 3:8 is closer to "shit" than "rubbish"** — BDAG's own entry already cites a scholar rendering it "it's all crap"; John David Punch's 2014 peer-reviewed article argues the word choice was a deliberate, calculated shock device, not incidental. 2. **Ezekiel's *zirma* in 23:19–21 sexualizes Egyptian men via explicit animal imagery**, and NRSVUE's "members... emission" softens what the Hebrew is doing — both lexicographically (contested between "phallus" and "ejaculation") and rhetorically (an othering device McClellan compares to modern racialized rhetoric). 3. **Euphemistic translation is a disservice, not a neutral choice** — it erases what the authors were trying to accomplish with vulgar/obscene language, which McClellan frames as a translation-fidelity failure, not just a stylistic one. ## Claim atoms ### Skybala in Phil 3:8 likely means "shit," not "rubbish" > [!quote] ID:transcript-verbatim > "To convey the crudity of the Greek, it's all crap." From BDAG's own lexicon entry for σκύβαλον — a scholarly source already pushing past "rubbish"/"garbage" toward vulgar register; McClellan extends this further to "shit." ### Paul likely wouldn't have used skybala in mixed company casually > [!quote] ID:transcript-verbatim > "He likely would not have said it in mixed company unless he expected a reaction." From John David Punch's 2014 *The Bible Translator* article conclusion — supports the claim that the word choice was a deliberate rhetorical device, not habitual speech. ### Zirma's meaning splits between "phallus" and "ejaculation" > [!quote] ID:transcript-verbatim > "phallus... alternatively ejaculation from Zaram" HALOT's entry for the word's only biblical occurrence (Ezekiel 23:20); Klein's dictionary rejects the phallus/metathesis reading and sides with "ejaculation/pour out" — genuine, unresolved lexicographic disagreement. ### Ezekiel's body imagery others Egyptians via a male-obsession framing > [!quote] ID:transcript-verbatim > "this has less to do with actual female desire and more to do with male obsession with the phallus" McClellan's framing, drawing on outside scholarship (cf. Liebermann's *Exile Incorporated*), connects the imagery to a broader ethnic-othering pattern via sexualized body rhetoric. ## Permanent candidates - **Euphemistic translation can erase a text's intended rhetorical force** — the strongest, most general candidate; promoted below. Holds when register itself is the argument; breaks when the source term's meaning is genuinely contested (as with *zirma*). ## Processing checklist - [ ] Read John David Punch's "Skibala Happens" (2014, *The Bible Translator*) in full before citing further - [ ] Read Liebermann's *Exile Incorporated* for the ethnic-othering argument in Ezekiel - [x] Connect into the relevant MOC — [[3. Resources/MOCs/Faith & Theology MOC]] ## Links - [[3. Resources/MOCs/Faith & Theology MOC]] — translation-register choices as a case study in how doctrine, propriety, and textual fidelity trade off against each other