The prophet Hosea, we read, has three children, named yizrael, lo-ruchama, and lo-ammi in Hebrew, but in Greek their names are Yezrael, Ouk-Ileimeni, and Ou-Laos-Mou. What’s going on? Normally Greek names are simple transliterations of the Hebrew sounds. The answer is that the second two Hebrew names are actually phrases that mean “not loved” and…
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The ESV translation of 1 Corinthians 16:13 has Paul tell his audience to “act like men.” This tradition of translation goes back at least as far as the KJV, which renders the text “[behave] like men.” The NRSV, on the other hand, offers “be courageous.” What’s going on? At issue is the Greek verb andrizomai.…
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I imagine a novel written in a remote location, far from western culture. It’s about the last ten days of summer and the nearing autumn. So they call the book the equivalent of “What Happened on September 11” in their local language. My question is this. Should the American version of the book be called,…
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My last attempt to see how people understand the accuracy of their Bible translations didn’t work. I got a lot of responses, but not one answer to the basic question. So I’m trying again, with a poll: [polldaddy poll=5860379] Please feel free to comment after you’ve answered the poll.
I’ve just returned from a three-day festival of learning in Kerhonkson, NY, where I spoke about, among other things, Bible translation. Right at the end I was asked a great question, which I repeating here: What percentage of your Bible translation is accurate? We all know that there is no Bible translation that’s 100% accurate.…
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There is something intuitively appealing about a translation that takes the Hebrew and Greek words in the Bible and translates each one into English. But the premise behind such an approach is flawed, because words work together differently in different languages. Here’s a simple example from Genesis 29:19: vayomer lavan tov titi ota lach mititi…
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An article in World Magazine discusses Wycliffe‘s recent debate about how to translate “Son of God” and “God the Father” into Arabic for Muslim audiences, noting that “in Muslim contexts,” a literal translation “implies that God had sexual relations with Mary” — at least according to some translators. Therefore, Wycliffe’s translations have at times resorted…
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The latest round of reporting on the LifeWay Bible-preference poll addresses the theme of gender-neutral translations, with headlines like, “Study: Bible readers oppose gender-inclusive translations” (from the Associated Baptist Press). What I find interesting here is that the poll specifically explained that some Greek and Hebrew terms refer to “people in general,” and the question…
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According to a recent report by Lifeway Research, described by David Roach in the Baptist Press, “most American Bible readers … value accuracy over readability,” which is why they “prefer word-for-word translations of the original Greek and Hebrew over thought-for-thought translations.” There is overwhelming evidence and near universal agreement among linguists that word-for-word translations are…
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