I doubt that my classmate ever forgave me for what I did to him in Hebrew class one day. We were working on Proverbs 5:18, which says in both the King James and the N.I.V. that one should “rejoice in the wife of your youth.”

He was leading the class, and it was his job to explain: What does that mean in ordinary English?

Ray said “You should rejoice with your wife while she’s young.”

My hand shot up. “I reject that interpretation. I think it means you should rejoice with the wife you married WHEN you were young, instead of trading your 50-year-old wife for two 25-year-olds!”

After the laugh-explosion–this was a seminary, after all– everyone adopted my interpretation. » Read more: Out with the old, in with the young?