「Abram亞巴郎」在聖經中祗出現了54次，而「Abraham亞巴辣罕」共231次。【思高聖經】卻堅持沿用「亞巴郎」，在創世紀十七章的註釋說：「…從本章6節亞巴郎一名應作『亞貝辣罕』，但因亞巴郎一名已習用，故不改。」 1
從數字上看，這個理由欠信服力，因為不公平。的確在創世紀第十一章至十七章五節，「亞巴郎」共出現了52次，習慣了。但在創世紀餘下的章節，「亞巴辣罕」出現了109次，餘下的122次散見在出谷紀及其餘的書卷。翻譯不是為求「信、雅、達」嗎？從文化上看，在英語世界，認識Abraham的人不一定知道他原本是稱為Abram的。所以，【思高聖經】的取態，不是「習慣」那麼簡單。且看瑪竇福音廿一章「二子的比喻」的翻譯，無論是希臘文，拉丁文，英文或其他語文，都說是第一個兒子起初說不去葡萄園工作，後來改變主意，依父親的意願去了。惟有【思高聖經】力排眾議，譯出「後一個」兒子起初不去，後來悔改去了。我曾去信請教黃國華神父，他說他們根據一個有權威的手抄本譯的，選擇它，因為它配合「最後的將成了最先的」福音教訓！所以，堅持不用「亞巴辣罕」的原因，不應是用了52次而成了習慣那麼簡單。
用中文讀創世紀很吃虧，因為創世紀是一本來源紀，嘗試解釋為甚麼這地方、那個人叫這樣的名字。「亞巴郎Abram」由ab+ram組成，是「Abiram阿彼蘭」（戶16:1）的縮寫。Ab希伯來文解作「父親」，而abi解作「我的父親」。「ram/rum郎/蘭」在希伯來文，解作「崇高的」，因此，「阿彼蘭」可解作「我的父親是崇高的」，「至高者是我的父親」等。於是，「亞巴郎」可解作「崇高之父」、「至高之父」，甚至「至高者是我的父親」等。
「raham辣罕」又是怎樣解呢？
我猜想（祗是猜想，未向黃神父求証，所以絕對可以討論），真福雷永明神父一定很清楚知道，聖經從創世紀第十七章六節起，已不再用Abram。但在「至高者是我的父親Abram」與「萬民之父Abraham」之間，他（或他的團隊）選擇了指向天主，而不是指向個人的翻譯─「亞巴郎，至高者是我的父親」─是深厚靈修的成果。的確，亞巴郎豈祗是「萬民之父」，他更是我們的「信仰之父」（羅4:16，彌撒感恩經第一式）。因此，沿用「亞巴郎」是可取的，可敬的。
郭志強
可惜，希伯來文竟然沒有raham一字！它是一個「文字遊戲word play」，是跟著的兩個字 「萬民hamon goyim: of many nations」所串成，但串成的字不是希伯來文！即是說，創世紀的作者，想解釋「亞巴辣罕」是「萬民之父」的意思，但不要期望造出來的字是完整的希伯來文。
2017年2月9日
1一九六八年十二月香港初版，一九八四年六月台灣六版，29頁
A Hypothesis on why the Chinese Catholic Bible (Studium Biblicum version) insists on translating Abraham亞巴辣罕as Abram亞巴郎
"Abram" appears 54 times in the KJV Bible and "Abraham" 231 times. The Chinese Catholic Bible (Studium Biblicum version) insists on translating "Abraham" as "Abram". In its footnote on Genesis 17, it says "... beginning at version 6 of this chapter, "Abram" should read "Abraham". Since "Abram" has been habitually used, therefore we do not change it."
Numerically, the reason is not convincing because it is unfair. Truly, "Abram" appears 52 times between Genesis 11 and 17:5. It is in habitual use. However, in the remaining parts of Genesis, "Abraham" appears 109 times and 122 times in the rest of the Bible. Shouldn’t translations be faithful? From the cultural point of view, in the English speaking world, people who know "Abraham" might not know that he was originally called "Abram". Therefore, the decision of the translators in Studium Biblicum must be more than "being habitual".
Take a look at her translation of the "Parable of the Two Son" in Matthew 21. Despite the fact that all known versions of the passage --- Greek, Latin, English or whatever --- tell a story in which the first son refused to work in the vineyard at first but changed his mind later, Studium Biblicum insists on making the second son refused first and repented later. I wrote to Fr. Placid Wong, OFM to seek his opinion. He said that the translation was based on an authoritative manuscript. They chose it in order to harmonize it with the gospel teaching of the last becoming the first. Thus, I suspect that insisting on not using Abraham must be more than being habitual.
Reading Genesis in Chinese is disadvantageous. Genesis is a book of etymology. It tries to explain why a location or a person is called by such names. "Abram" is made up of ab+ram. It is a contraction from Abiram (Numbers 16:1). "ab" means "father" in Hebrew and "abi", "our father". "ram/rum" means "exalted". So, "Abiram" means "My father is exalted" or "The Exalted One is my Father" etc. Therefore, "Abram" means "The Exalted father" or even "The Exalted One is my Father" etc.
What about "raham"?
I hypothesize (I have not sought proof from Fr. Placid Wong, OFM. There is still room for discussion) that Blessed Fr. Gabriele Allegra OFM must have known very clearly that the Bible no longer uses "Abram" since Genesis 17:6. But between "Abram: the Exalted One is my Father" and "Abraham: The father of many nations", he (or his team) chose a rendition which points to God and not to man --- "Abram: the Exalted One is my Father". It is a choice of deep spirituality. Indeed, Abram is more than "the father of many nations". He is "the father of our faith" (Romans 4:16, Eucharistic Prayer I). "Abram" is a good and respectable choice.
Deacon Alex Kwok
Unfortunately, there is no such word "raham" in Hebrew! It is a word play of combining the following two words "hamon goyim, of many nations" into one which results in an alien word. That is to say, the author of Genesis wanted to explain that "Abraham" means "the father of many nations" but don’t expect it to be a legal Hebrew word.
February 9, 2017.
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