Skip to main content

Pithy Perfection

New English translations of the Bible are very popular these days. People often ask me which one is best, or which I prefer. The answer is complicated:

  1. I'm not keen on archaic words in translation, which means I don't use KJV much, or even NIV, which follows it to a certain extent
  2. Sometimes it's good to expand the meaning of the Hebrew or Greek to make it clearer, especially when there is an assumption made because the original audience would have known something that we don't. It should be implicit information though
  3. Genre is often ignored by translations. The Bible is rich and varied. We don't want Proverbs to be like a story or sermon. They're supposed to be short and pithy to have greater impact. Hebrew often skips verbs to achieve that. We may not be able to go that far, but translations should keep proverbs as short as possible. Likewise poetry should have rhythm, alliteration and other poetic features, albeit using the richness of the English language rather than Hebrew. Psalms should be singable, or at least sound beautiful when read out loud
  4. Dynamic (meaning-based) translations don't necessarily have to be low style (colloquial). It depends on the audience, and desired use of the the translation. The REB is an example of a dynamic translation that has good literary style but also sounds good when read out loud
  5. We may not agree with the theological and/or political ('hot' topics) presuppositions of the translators. Key terms like 'atonement' are important and, if poorly chosen, without input from key stakeholders, may cause a translation to be rejected, as the TNIV was when it first came out. People weren't ready for it
All in all we need different translations for different purposes. In English we have the luxury of choosing e.g. ESV for Bible study and NLT for reading narrative, but morphing to NJB for Psalms. How lucky we are! Many people don't have access to even one good translation.

Key
ESV: English Standard Version
KJV: King James Version
NIV: New International Version
NJB: New Jerusalem Bible
NLT: New Living Translation
REB: Revised English Bible
TNIV: Today's NIV

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Flow Chart for Bible Translation (a Relevance Theory Approach)

One of the current theories behind modern translation work is Relevance Theory. [1] Here is a flow chart that explains the process often used to produce a draft when using such an approach: *Make sure your translation committee makes the decision as to what kind of translation they want. A domesticated translation is one that submits to dominant values in the target language [2] whereas a foreignized translation is one that is happy to import foreign terms and ideas from Hebrew, Greek, or the language of wider communication such as the Greek term baptizo . The chart looks something like this: Text                                   Communicated Ideas                  Context A sower went out to sow  A farmer went out to sow grain   People scattered/threw seed etc. The text has very little information, but behind i...

Asking the Right Questions in Bible Translation and Scripture Engagement Planning

If you want to get useful answers you have to ask the right questions. Do you agree? Yes, of course you do. In the Bible translation world we often ask a very narrow question when planning for the next stage of work: 'What would you like to see translated next?' Now, if you simply want to translate, and that's it, that question is fine, but what if you want to see some kind of result from your translation work? What if, for instance, you want to see transformation occur? Then a more powerful question to ask the community and positive stakeholders in the project would be: 'What kingdom goals would you like to see reached?' These kingdom goals should meet felt needs of the community - they should solve problems that are apparent to most or all in the community. See below on how those can be met. If that's too abstract, then try, 'What kinds of things, in your extended family, do you tend to worry about?' This will help establish some felt needs, from which...

A Plea Regarding Footnotes in Bible Translation

Recently I was giving input to a team who had worked on Psalms. I noticed that in several places they had included footnotes referring to the New Testament use of those Psalms. One example was a footnote in Ps 34:20 'not one of [his bones] will be broken' that referred to John 19:32, 33, 36 where this prophecy is fulfilled. Now, obviously this is a useful link for readers, but it is better to put it in John's gospel referring back to Psalms. Why? Because the New Testament is (to some extent) a commentary on the Hebrew Bible, whereas the reverse is not true (the Hebrew Bible never refers to the New Testament). There are often two possible ways of reading a Psalm: In its original context, and  As interpreted by the New Testament writers. This is quite important, as the Hebrew Bible belongs to two faith communities, the Jews and the Christians. (Muslims too, to some extent, though they refer to the Torah and the Psalms only). If we translate the Bible in such a way that it onl...