Song of Solomon is replete with erotic poetry, but if you only read the translations, you’d never know it. Phrases like “my beloved is to me a bag of myrrh that lies between my breasts” (1:13, NRSV) and “my beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-gedi” (1:14, NRSV)…
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Judge Not “Judge not…” Most people are familiar with this famous verse from Matthew 7:1 (and the similar Luke 6:37), and know that the full line runs along the lines of “Judge not, that you be not judged” (ESV). The content of the line is pretty easy to understand, but the poetry is very hard…
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[Between six appearances in four cities and then having to buy a new car, I haven’t been in front of a computer in nearly two weeks. So I’m playing catch-up, starting with a much-delayed installment of “translation traps.”] Following up on some thoughts about myopic translations, here’s one way in particular that a translation can…
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A recent post by Mike Aubrey (quoting and disagreeing with Paul Helm) again raises the issue of “dynamic equivalence,” and, more generally, the goal of translation. In a comment, Jason Staples suggests: Good post. I think the basic translation philosophy of attempting to most clearly convey the meaning of a text (which is effectively “dynamic…
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It turns out it’s hard to write poetry, at least good poetry. But even so, many efforts seem to focus more on the words than on the poem. Job 38:36 is an interesting example, because no one knows for sure what the words there mean, particularly tuchot and sechvi. Still, the poetic nature of the…
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