Editing Sinim

{{Short description|Unknown nation mentioned in the Bible}}
The land of '''Sin''' ({{langx|he|סִין}}) or '''Sinim''' (from: {{langx|he|סִינִים}}, i.e. the inhabitants of the land of Sin, or the people of Sin) is a biblical [[hapax legomenon]] that appears in [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]] 49:12: "Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim."<ref>{{cite web|
language=Hebrew|title=Wikisource: Book of Isaiah: 49:12|url=http://he.wikisource.org/wiki/קטגוריה:ישעיהו_מט_יב}}</ref> The Greek [[Septuagint]] instead says, "from the land of the Persians."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brenton |first1=Lancelot |title=Isaiah 49 Brenton's Septuagint Translation |publisher=Bible Hub |url=https://biblehub.com/sep/isaiah/49.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Ἡσαΐας - Κεφάλαιο 49 - Isaiah - The Septuagint: LXX |url=https://www.septuagint.bible/-/hesaias-kephalaio-49 |website=www.septuagint.bible |publisher=Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America}}</ref>

Some English versions simply [[transliteration|transliterate]] the word, others translate the Hebrew as [[Syene]] (Aswan), and still others associate Sin with [[China]]. Sinim resembles ''Sinae'', the [[Latinization (literature)|Latinization]] of ''Qin'', after the [[Qin (state)|Qin state]], founded in 778 BC, and the [[Qin dynasty]], founded in 221 BC by [[First Emperor|Qin Shi Huang-Di]].<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/israel/losttribes3.html PBS Nova]</ref>

''[[Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible]]'' (1879) defines the word as "a people in the far east; the Chinese?" ''The [[International Standard Bible Encyclopedia]]'' (1915) says, "The land is clearly far off, and it must be sought either in the South or in the East. Many scholars have favored identification with China, the classical Sinae. It seems improbable that Jews had already found their way to China; but from very early times trade relations were established with the Far East by way of Arabia and the Persian Gulf; and the name may have been used by the prophet simply as suggesting extreme remoteness....While no certain decision is possible, probability points to the East, and China cannot be quite ruled out."<ref>[https://www.biblestudytools.com/encyclopedias/isbe/sinim-land-of.html International Standard Bible (1915).]</ref> Modern translations of the Bible tend to translate Sinim as Syene (ancient Aswan) because the [[Great Isaiah Scroll]] of the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] uses that word.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Beegle|first=Dewey M.|date=October 1951|title=Proper Names in the New Isaiah Scroll|journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research|volume=153|issue=123|pages=28|jstor=1355787}}</ref>

In modern Hebrew, ''Sin'' ({{langx|he|סין}}) is the word for China, just as modern Hebrew uses other ambiguous biblical place names for contemporary countries, such as ''[[Sepharad|Sfarad]]'' ({{langx|he|ספרד}}) for Spain and ''[[Tzarfat]]'' ({{langx|he|צרפת}}) for France.

In the [[Vulgate]], [[Jerome|Jerome of Stridon]] translated “Sinim” as "[[Terra Australis]]" into Latin. Also, Sinim may be derived from the old Hebrew words "Sinah" or "Sneh", meaning a hostile bush. This lends credence to the purely speculative thesis that Sinim – according to Isaiah 49 – refers to a land of bushes located at the ends of the Earth, i.e. [[Australia]], although Jews and Europeans had no knowledge of it at the time.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brooks |first=Pastor Jory |date=2020-10-10 |title=Sinim: A Biblical Mystery Land - The Association of the Covenant People |url=https://www.associationcovenantpeople.org/sinim-a-biblical-mystery-land/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=www.associationcovenantpeople.org/ |language=en-CA}}</ref> This thesis was notably put forward by [[Herbert W. Armstrong|Herbert Armstrong]] to justify [[British Israelism]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Hasty Mistake |url=https://hwarmstrong.com/church-of-god-info/Is-Australia-Named-In-Prophecy.htm |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=hwarmstrong.com}}</ref>

{|class=wikitable
!style="width: 50%;" | Bible Version
!style="width: 50%;" | Translation
|-
| style="vertical-align:top;" |
* American Standard Version
* Amplified Bible
* Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
* Christian Standard Bible
* Common English Bible
* Contemporary English Version
* Douay-Rheims 1899
* English Standard Version
* Geneva Bible 1599
* Good News Translation
* International Standard Version
* King James Version 
* Living Bible
* The Message
* New American Standard Bible
* New Century Version
* New International Version
* New King James Version
* New Living Translation
* Revised Standard Version
| style="vertical-align:top;" |
* Sinim
* Aswan (southern Egypt)
* Sinim (China)
* Sinim [perhaps modern Aswan]
* Southland
* city of Syene
* South country
* land of Syene
* Sinim [meaning South country]
* Aswan in the south
* China
* Sinim
* south
* all the way down the Nile
* Sinim
* Aswan in Southern Egypt
* region of Aswan
* Sinim
* as far south as Egypt
* land of Syene
|}

==In Latter-day Saint theology==
In language nearly identical to that of the [[King James Version]], [[First Nephi]] 21:12 in the [[Book of Mormon]] reads: “And then, O house of Israel, behold, these shall come from far; and lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.”<ref>{{cite web|
language=English|title=Wikisource: Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 21:12 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Book_of_Mormon_(1981)/1_Nephi#Chapter_21}}</ref> The index of this scripture of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] defines Sinim as “possibly [the] land of China”.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Book of Mormon — Index|publisher=Intellectual Reserve, Inc.|date=1830|edition=1981, reprinted October 2010|isbn=978-1-59297-501-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/bookofmormonanot00/page/731 731]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/bookofmormonanot00/page/731}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Eichler, Raanan. (2023). "China Is in the Bible", ''Vetus Testamentum'' (published online ahead of print). {{doi|10.1163/15685330-bja10124}}

[[Category:Hebrew Bible places]]