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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According to the Religion Newswriters Association, Bible translation stories were among the top 10 religion stories of 2011. The RNA singled out three events that contributed to the prominence of Bible translations in the news this past year: Celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the King James Version. There’s no doubt that the King James…
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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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Isaiah 54:7 — part of the incredibly uplifting poetry of Isaiah 54 — has two parallel phrases, both starting with the Hebrew b-. First we find b- attached to rega (“moment”), and then next attached to rachamim (“mercy” or “love” or “compassion”). The effect is to underscore the contrast between God abandoning for a moment…
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