Dr. Jim West’s comment that Jeremiah 25 is a good litmus test for translation — and his claim that the NLT doesn’t do badly — directed my attention to the NLT’s translation of Jeremiah 25. In light of some resent claims about the disaster in Haiti, Jeremiah 25:7 in the NLT jumped off the page…
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From the About page comes this question: Mark 1:2 and Isaiah 40:3 — is the idea that crooked paths need to be straightened, or that obstacles need to be removed? Neither, actually. Isaiah 40:3 is a variation on classic Hebrew parallel poetry. We have two parallel phrases, each with four words. For example, from the…
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The KJV popularized the tradition of using italics to mark the English words of a translation that are not actually in the original Hebrew or Greek (or Aramaic) of the Bible. But I think this typographic custom creates the false impression that translation words come in two varieties, with the first kind supposedly representing words…
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Two questions from the About page ask about Isaiah 9:5 (9:6), “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (NRSV). The final phrase of this child’s name (“Prince of Peace”) are probably…
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The recent brouhaha about gun sights etched with references to Biblical passages has brought renewed attention to John 8:12 and 2 Corinthians 4:6, both about light. To understand the light, I think we need a detour through the word for “face”: prosopon. The Face – prosopon At its most basic level, prosopon is literally the…
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Perhaps because understanding parts of speech is so central to learning a foreign language, translators often try to preserve parts of speech when they translate. But I think this is a mistake. We know from modern languages that parts of speech often have to change in translation, and I think we see cases where more…
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I saw the following on the NLT website (my emphasis): I found out that I had a lot to learn from the God of my New Living Translation Study Bible […] Why didn’t I discover this about him earlier? I had allowed my pride and prejudice to cloud my judgment. The kind of pride that…
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Recent posts from my Ancient Wisdom, Modern Lives:
