Tag: Bible translation

Bible Translations and Mistranslations

Tennessee Courthouse Displays Translation Mistake in Ten Commandments

As the debate about public displays of the Ten Commandments heats up again (also via the AP), this time in Mountain City in Johnson County, Tennessee, I think it’s worth remembering that most people are fighting over an inaccurate translation of the Ten Commandments. In particular, the original Hebrew of the sixth commandment (fifth for…
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January 13, 2011 17

Translation Challenge: Joseph, Pharaoh, and the Servants’ Heads

The Joseph narrative is brilliantly written in a way that few translations capture. One example comes when Joseph, having been thrown in jail, is asked to interpret the dreams of two of Pharaohs’ servants — the butler and the baker — who have also been imprisoned. First comes the butler, and Joseph has good news…
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January 13, 2011 8

The Year in Review (2010)

As we mark the end of 2010, here are the top ten most-viewed posts from the past 12 months at God Didn’t Say That: Who Says Homosexuality is a Sin? Gender in the Updated NIV Q&A: What’s the best Bible translation to read and study from? Q&A: How Mistranslation Created Divorce in the Bible What’s…
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December 31, 2010 2

Top Translation Traps: Too Much Information

Translators frequently have information at their disposal that doesn’t come directly from the text they are translating. Though it’s often tempting, it is nonetheless almost always a mistake to add the additional information into the translation. For example, if a mystery novel starts, “a man was walking by the beach,” the translator should not change…
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December 19, 2010 10

Adultery in Matthew 5:32

Adultery and Matthew 5:32 According to Matthew 5:32, divorcing a woman causes her to commit adultery. But Peter Kirk notices that the new NIV (“NIV 2011”) translation has a new take on the verse. Peter writes: One rather odd change I noticed, which some might attribute to political correctness: in Matthew 5:32 the “adulteress” (1984,…
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November 28, 2010 339

A New Collection of Questions and Comments About Bible Translation

The popular Better Bibles Blog (“BBB”) has a new feature: Share, where you can leave questions about Bible translation and share links. From the announcement there: GIVE US A LINK! We would like to hear from you. The Internet is a big place with far too much interesting stuff for our small group of writers…
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November 28, 2010 1

The Ten Commandments Don’t Forbid Killing

The Pope’s latest comments about condoms have again brought up the Ten Commandments, and, in particular, “thou shalt not kill,” which Catholics and some others number as the fifth commandment, while Jews and most Protestants call it the sixth. Unfortunately, “kill” is a mistranslation of the original Hebrew, which does not say, “you shall not…
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November 24, 2010 13

Which Jews Opposed Jesus?

The latest incarnation of the NIV (“NIV2011,” released on-line in 2010) sometimes translates ioudaioi (“Jews”) as “Jewish leaders” because “the negative statements made about groups of Jews in the New Testament were clearly never intended to refer to every living Jew at that time….” (translators’ notes, available on-line as a PDF — emphasis from the…
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November 21, 2010 18

Words that Mean More than One Thing

I think it can helpful to look at familiar English words as a way of understanding ancient words and how best to translate them. In this case, we’ll look at one way words can mean more than one thing. “Cash” in English One meaning of the English word “cash” is actual physical money — dollar…
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November 3, 2010 12

Gender in the Updated NIV

According to the translators’ notes for the updated (“2011”) NIV, “every single change introduced into the committee’s last major revision (the TNIV) relating to inclusive language for humanity was reconsidered.” This is in keeping with an announcement the translators made in 2009. Some people were concerned about this, because they were afraid the translation committee…
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November 1, 2010 19