God Didn't Say That

You Have to Choose

Recents discussions (on Dr. Jim West’s blog, ScriptureZealot, etc.) have focused on what to do with Greek pronouns in English.

But the discussion seem to gloss over the fact that subject pronouns are generally missing in Greek. So instead of “he said,” Greek offers us just eipen “said.” It can be “he said,” “she said,” or “it said.” A translator has to supply a pronoun in English. So the question for the translator is not whether to add an English word to the Greek, it’s which English word to add to the Greek.

You have to choose.

September 3, 2009 - Posted by Joel H. | translation theory | Bible, gender, grammar, Greek pronouns