Bible Gateway’s new Perspectives in Translation blog, a joint project with The Gospel Coalition, went live last week with the question “What Makes a Translation Accurate?” So far, six answers to the question appear on the blog. Unfortunately, reading the posts feels — at least to me — like joining a debate in the middle.…
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From the About page comes this follow-up question from a presentation I recently gave: Thanks for your presentation for the ARC — You mentioned the use of achoti in Song of Songs meaning more than “my sister,” but better translated as “my equal.” How do you understand Abraham’s turning to Sarah and telling her to…
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Bible Gateway is one of the top destinations for different translations of the Bible. It has also announced that the widely-anticipated updated NIV translation (the so-called “2011” edition) will first be available on its website. So its new Perspectives in Translation blog, a joint project with The Gospel Coalition, is sure to receive attention. The…
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From the About page comes this great question: This may be more of a philosophical/historical question than a linguistic one, but how would you render the word usually given as “vanity” in Ecclesiastes? Abstract nouns are notoriously difficult to track even within a language — “nobility” now is not what it was — but how…
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Different communities have different styles of conveying information. I think this is particularly important for understanding and translating the Bible. I recently posted some thoughts about prophecies (and why they don’t “come true” in the NT). Along the way, the idea of a proof text came up. In particular, I claimed that one style of…
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What happens to prophecies in the New Testament? The obvious answer is that they come true, but I think a more careful look shows otherwise. Matthew 1:18-22 / Isaiah 7:14 As an example of a prophecy apparently coming true, we might consider the first chapter of Matthew. The text starting around Matthew 1:18 deals with…
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According to the New York Times, Stuxnet, a computer worm aimed at slowing Iran’s race for nuclear weapons, contains an important file called myrtus. According to Esther 2:7, Esther, who played an important part in defending the Jews against the Persians, also went by the name hadasah, which is the feminine form of hadas. Both…
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