The Message – Page 2 – God Didn't Say That

So, What? John 3:16 and the Lord’s Prayer

Scripture Zealot reminds us that the usual translation of John 3:16 is wrong. The Greek there doesn’t mean, “for God so loved the world…,” so the line shouldn’t read (NRSV) “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have…
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JoelMHoffman February 4, 2010 40

Being Clear on Being Clear

A post by David Frank on BBB has got me thinking about clarity in Bible translation. I think there are at least two kinds of clarity, and two times when we don’t want clarity. Clarity of Language The most basic kind is clarity of expression in the target language — in our case, the English…
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JoelMHoffman January 29, 2010 9

A Sweet Translation

I stumbled across this blog post that laments what the author calls “Cultural Diabetes.” She starts by pointing out that Americans (in particular) have become so accustomed to sweetened food that anything unsweetened seems unacceptable, but her point is that the problem is more widespread: Just as the American palette cannot bear the taste of…
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JoelMHoffman January 26, 2010 4

Top Translation Traps: Seductive Translations

Some readers want clarity (as in The Message or the CEV) in a Bible translation. Others want loftiness (NKJV), or even near incoherence (KJV). Others yet opt for chattiness (Good News). And so forth. I think what these approaches to translation and others like them have in common is that they put the proverbial cart…
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JoelMHoffman January 11, 2010 8

Top Translation Traps: Short-Circuit Translations

The God’s Word (“GW”) translation of Luke 2:1-7 (which Wayne Leman recently posted) and The Message‘s rendition of Proverbs 14:15 (tweeted by Rick Warren) highlight a common translation trap that I’d like to call translation short-circuits. What I mean is when a translation short-circuits the original text and tries to jump right to the point.…
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JoelMHoffman December 28, 2009 2

Translate But Don’t Editorialize

We just saw a case of an attempt to translate the pragmatics of a text instead of the text itself. In general, a text will have a variety of implications, morals, allusions, etc. I think that a good translation of the text will match the original with a translation that has similar implications, morals, allusions,…
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JoelMHoffman December 18, 2009 13

Is a Book Report a Translation?

I recently criticized The Message for adding “all you see, all you don’t see” to its rendering of Genesis 1:1. Dannii responded: If you think the Hebrew refers to the totally of God’s creative work, both the earth, the heaven(s), the underworld, the physical, the metaphysical, the spiritual, the holy and the demonic, then The…
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JoelMHoffman November 12, 2009 9

Q&A: What’s the best Bible translation to read and study from?

From the about page comes this important question: I am currently trying to find a good Bible translation to read and study from. What would you recommend and could you point me to any good articles/books/resources which could help me make this decision? Thanks! It’s hard to imagine a reply that won’t get someone really…
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JoelMHoffman November 10, 2009 49

On Translation Strategies: An Exercise

Today’s on-line edition of Le Monde is currently running the headline: Les magasins de jeux vidéo vont-ils disparaître? How should we translate that into English? The stores of video games, are they going to disappear (italics a la KJV) The stores of video games, are they going to disappear? (“essentially literal”) Video game stores, are…
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JoelMHoffman October 1, 2009 10

Children, Oxen, Asses, and Cribs

Isaiah 1:2-3 reads (NRSV): [2] Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. [3] The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not understand. When I read…
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JoelMHoffman September 20, 2009 7

Tag: The Message