HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1560
IN T RO D U C T I O N T O T H E NEW L IV ING TR ANS L ATION
to translate this phrase dynamically for clarity: “They went home in deep sorrow.” Then
we included a footnote with the literal Greek,
which reads: “Greek went home beating their
breasts.” In other similar cases, however, we
have sometimes chosen to illuminate the existing literal expression to make it immediately
understandable. For example, here we might
have expanded the literal Greek phrase to read:
“They went home beating their breasts in sorrow.” If we had done this, we would not have
included a textual footnote, since the literal
Greek clearly appears in translation.
• Metaphorical language is sometimes difficult
for contemporary readers to understand, so at
times we have chosen to translate or illuminate the meaning of a metaphor. For example,
the ancient poet writes, “Your neck is like the
tower of David” (Song of Songs 4:4). We have
rendered it “Your neck is as beautiful as the
tower of David” to clarify the intended positive meaning of the simile. Another example
comes in Ecclesiastes 12:3, which can be literally rendered: “Remember him . . . when
the grinding women cease because they are
few, and the women who look through the
windows see dimly.” We have rendered it:
“Remember him before your teeth—your
few remaining servants—stop grinding; and
before your eyes—the women looking through
the windows—see dimly.” We clarified such
metaphors only when we believed a typical
reader might be confused by the literal text.
• When the content of the original language text
is poetic in character, we have rendered it in
English poetic form. We sought to break lines
in ways that clarify and highlight the relationships between phrases of the text. Hebrew
poetry often uses parallelism, a literary form
where a second phrase (or in some instances
a third or fourth) echoes the initial phrase in
some way. In Hebrew parallelism, the subsequent parallel phrases continue, while
also furthering and sharpening, the thought
expressed in the initial line or phrase. Whenever possible, we sought to represent these
parallel phrases in natural poetic English.
• The Greek term hoi Ioudaioi is literally translated “the Jews” in many English translations. In the Gospel of John, however, this
term doesn’t always refer to the Jewish people
generally. In some contexts, it refers more
particularly to the Jewish religious leaders.
We have attempted to capture the meaning in
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these different contexts by using terms such
as “the people” (with a footnote: Greek the
Jewish people) or “the Jewish leaders,” where
appropriate.
• One challenge we faced was how to translate
accurately the ancient biblical text that was
originally written in a context where maleoriented terms were used to refer to humanity
generally. We needed to respect the nature of
the ancient context while also trying to make
the translation clear to a modern audience
that tends to read male-oriented language as
applying only to males. Often the original text,
though using masculine nouns and pronouns,
clearly intends that the message be applied to
both men and women. A typical example is
found in the New Testament letters, where the
believers are called “brothers” (adelphoi). Yet
it is clear from the content of these letters that
they were addressed to all the believers—male
and female. Thus, we have usually translated
this Greek word as “brothers and sisters” in
order to represent the historical situation
more accurately.
We have also been sensitive to passages
where the text applies generally to human
beings or to the human condition. In some
instances we have used plural pronouns (they,
them) in place of the masculine singular (he,
him). For example, a traditional rendering of
Proverbs 22:6 is: “Train up a child in the way
he should go, and when he is old he will not
turn from it.” We have rendered it: “Direct your
children onto the right path, and when they are
older, they will not leave it.” At times, we have
also replaced third person pronouns with the
second person to ensure clarity. A traditional
rendering of Proverbs 26:27 is: “He who digs a
pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone, it
will come back on him.” We have rendered it:
“If you set a trap for others, you will get caught
in it yourself. If you roll a boulder down on
others, it will crush you instead.”
We should emphasize, however, that all
masculine nouns and pronouns used to represent God (for example, “Father”) have been
maintained without exception. All decisions
of this kind have been driven by the concern
to reflect accurately the intended meaning of
the original texts of Scripture.
Lexical Consistency in Terminology
For the sake of clarity, we have translated
certain original-language terms consistently,