In keeping with the spirit of spring, here’s another post on the Song of Solomon, this time addressing how hard it is to translate the romantic imagery there. Here are two translation challenges: Fragrant Oils Verse 1:3 is supposed to express the physical beauty of the male hero of Song of Solomon, but translations like…
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Dr. Joel M. Hoffman on Bible Translation: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcH31y1VgFI] With some reluctance — and with renewed appreciation for people who spend their professional lives in front of a camera — I’m posting this short video excerpt in which I discuss what can go wrong in Bible translation.
Thanks to Naomi of Storahtelling for pointing out this ancient (mid-first-millennium AD) thought about translation, from the Babylonian Talmud (Kiddushin 49a): Rabbi Judah said: One who translates a verse according to its form is a liar; and one who adds anything commits blasphemy and sacrilege. (my translation from the Aramaic) Plus ça change…
The KJV translation of the OT mentions unicorns nine times and dragons over 30 times — translations that go back to the LXX, which features the monokeros (“one-horn”) and the drakon. The Hebrew words behind these animals — r’em and tanin, respectively — are more obscure. But the real question, in seems to me, is…
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I’m pleased to announce that my latest translation goes on sale today in Who by Fire, Who by Water. The book is about Un’taneh Tokef — a medieval poem now widely used in the High Holiday liturgy — and in addition to my translation and commentary, it contains 41 short essays by “contributors who span…
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Who says homosexuality is a sin? The NLT does, right there in its “translation” to Leviticus 18:22: “Do not practice homosexuality; it is a detestable sin.” But that’s not what the Hebrew says, and I’ve put the word “translation” in scare quotes because I think that what the NLT has here is an interpretation, not…
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Anthony asks on the About page: I have a question about Heb 3:13. When it says “exhort yourselves,” is the Greek literally saying “you all exhort each other” or “you all exhort your own selves,” supporting Galatians 6:4? Would the expression in question be parakaleite eautous? Yes, that is the Greek, and it’s a great…
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Sometimes it seems that translators look too closely at individual words, only asking “how do I say this ancient word in English?” rather than asking “how do I translate this text into English?” I think this flawed approach comes in part from ignorance, but also from the religious tradition that each word has meaning. So…
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A question arrived via e-mail about the different Hebrew verbs that mean “create” or “make” and how they relate to “peace.” There are three Biblical Hebrew verbs that all mean roughly the same thing: asah, yatzar, and bara. Later Jewish thought would differentiate them, giving asah the most basic meaning (like “do” or “make” in…
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Perhaps the biggest translation mistake I’ve seen is relying too closely on word-internal structure to figure out what words mean. We saw this last week with toldot and in a comment regarding etymology. I call this the trap “word-internal structure” (even though it applies to phrases, too). English As usual, we can look at modern…
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