Endnote 2 – Biblical Views: Of Philistines and Phalluses

For example, Isaiah 57:8 where the NRSV demurely translates yad as “nakedness.” Isaiah 57:8 becomes positively raunchy in Hebrew: NRSV has “your desire (yad) rekindled.” In Canaanite mythology, the “hand” of the god El (from whom Biblical scholars think Yahweh evolved) is—in certain poetic contexts—clearly his penis.