Brown 3

Yesterday I said that the only occurrence of the word "brown" in the Bible was in the first chapter of Zechariah--where a "brown" horse is part of a multi-colored herd God sent to roam the earth--truly "a horse of a different color."

But not so fast--it all depends on the translation. In the old King James Version it's a "speckled" horse. In the New American Standard Bible it's a "sorrel" horse. In other translations it's a "bay" horse or a "chestnut" horse.

Clearly, the Hebrew word behind "brown" and all those other color words is rare and not well understood or easily translated. And I'll admit to the fact that I haven't got a clue about the difference between "sorrel" and "bay" and "chestnut." I'm pretty sure that real horse people never refer to any of their animals as "brown." Maybe some more research is called for!