An example just came to me yesterday as my wife encountered Psalms 51:7 in her daily readings and remarked that it might be a basis for "sprinklers" in baptism.
(net) Psalm 51:7 Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow
It struck me as odd that something this closely related to baptism could be unfamiliar to me, so I looked it up in a concordance and in other translations. This is by no means unique -- it's quite frequent that I find something like this and it leaves me with a real uncertainty I don't like.
The NET usually has a pretty good reason for departing from a mostly literal word for word translation, but as I compared to other translations, I noted that some used "purge" instead of "sprinkle" and others "hyssop" instead of "water." So, reading the translation notes of the NET, it was apparent that replacing hyssop with water would make more sense to a modern reader who might not be aware that people used hyssop branches to sprinkle water, but then the word "purge" vs. "water" seemed odd. Wow, what a semantic range for the hebrew word "chata":
How can the same word be used for both "sin" and "purify from sin"? If Hebrew is that limited in its word choice then what hope do I have?"chata"
to sin, miss, miss the way, go wrong, incur guilt, forfeit, purify from uncleanness
(Qal)
to miss
to sin, miss the goal or path of right and duty
to incur guilt, incur penalty by sin, forfeit
(Piel)
to bear loss
to make a sin-offering
to purify from sin
to purify from uncleanness
(Hiphil)
to miss the mark
to induce to sin, cause to sin
to bring into guilt or condemnation or punishment
(Hithpael)
to miss oneself, lose oneself, wander from the way
to purify oneself from uncleanness
Thoughts?