NTW Version (Update)

Thanks to Mason we have more info on the NTW translation lifted from his New Testament for Everyone series. The translation will formally be called The Kingdom New Testament: A Contemporary Translation. I think that is better than King's Version since the translator is not a king and you can hardly say that King Jesus authorizes this 2011 version in the same way that King James authorized the 1611 version!

NTW Version

Thanks to Mark Stevens it looks as if N.T. Wright has produced his own NT translation. No, it's not called the "NTW Version" or even the "Bishops's Bible" (that's already been taken). It is called The King's Version and is slated to come out in September 2011 with Harper Collins. It arguably stands in the tradition of James Moffatt who was a Scottish scholar who produced his own translation of the New Testament (and eventually Old Testament) and it even had its own commentary series that accompanied it, i.e. the Moffatt New Testament Commentary. You can see the one on Hebrews at Google Books by, you guessed, James Moffatt.

Translating Rom 1:17 - Bird, Yarbrough, Moo

Over at Bible Gateway there is a discussion on how to translate Rom 1:17. See Colin Hansen's intro here. It includes my own translation and its rationale for how I handle Rom 1:17. Doug Moo literally takes me to task for my understanding of "literal".

Bible Translation and NIV10

The NIV10 is now up at Bible Gateway. Brian LePort has a good round up of reviews on the new NIV. Denny Burke links to a video by Doug Moo (head of the translation committee) and Denny offers some commentary about the NIV, NIVI, TNIV, and NIV10 controversy. I should also point out that Bible Gateway/Gospel Coalition has some blog posts on Perspectives on Translation. This includes my own contribution to the topic of "What Makes a Translation Accurate?". The forum will soon post some additional questions with answers from various scholars. Questions to be addressed in the forum include:

(1) What makes a translation accurate?

(2) Should I consider using multiple translations or stick with one?

(3) When and why do we update Bible translations?

(4) How should a translation render Romans 1:17?

(5) How does a translation best convey hilasterion in Romans 3:25?

(6) How should we identify the teachers Paul has in mind in 2 Timothy 2:2?

(7) How should we translate the phrase πίστις Χριστοῦ in such passages as Galatians 2:16?

I had a lot of fun answering these myself, esp. (4) and (7)! More anon on that.

CEB - Gospel of Matthew

The forthcoming Common English Bible has released its first excerpt and it features a translation of the Gospel of Matthew. Probably the most interesting "new" thing is that ho uious tou anthropou, normally translated as "the Son of Man", in the CEB is rendered as "the Human One".

HT: Doug Chaplin

Karen Jobes on Bible Translation as Bilingual Quotation

I got an email from Michael Pritchard of Zondervan, and he informed me about a blog post that highlights the work of Karen Jobes (Wheaton) on Bible Translation as Bilingual Quotation. Zondervan have made available an18 page paper given by Karen on Bible Translation as Bilingual Quotation at the Fall 2007 Evangelical Theological Society Annual Meeting. Her two major contentions are:

1. Translation as bilingual (inter-lingual) quotation.

“Because of the growing importance of accurate, authoritative translation in the highly charged forums of the United Nations and the European Union, the practice of simultaneous interpretation has enjoyed increasing study by linguists over the last thirty years.” p. 5

“Although simultaneous translation of spoken language may at first seem an inappropriate analog to Bible translation, both tasks share the paramount goal of producing a precise and accurate translation that is faithful to the meaning of the original language.” p. 6

2. Verbosity as a measure of translation.

She surveys the word count of several English translations and compares it with the Greek and Hebrew Texts.

“My point is that the concepts of formal versus functional equivalence, though perhaps useful in their day, do not fully do justice to how language works and to what characterizes translations that are faithful to their sources. Furthermore, the concepts of formal and functional equivalence have been polarized and used to valorize or demonize a given English translation, which has been quite counter-productive for scholarly debate of translation issues, to say the least.” p. 16

Her paper seems to be a criticism of the "essential literalists" of the ESV etc. I know that a number of professional Bible translators read this blog, and I'd like to hear what they think of Jobes' proposal.

New English Bible Translation

I am glad to report that a new ecumenical Bible translation project is in development (as yet unnamed) but you can read the details about it over at the graphe site. As for the aim of the translation: "We intend to introduce and distribute a new ecumenical Bible translation to congregations. This completely new translation (title to come) will be an excellent rendition of the original texts and also a document that is accessible to readers of the Bible in our churches. The new Bible translation would be pitched at an 8th grade reading level (compare 11th grade for the NRSV), so that it might enjoy wider use. The new translation will be used in the teaching and worship practices of congregations in at least the following traditions: Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, Disciples of Christ, and the United Church of Christ. Readers and seekers from many other traditions will benefit also from this new translation."

The editors include:

David L. Petersen, Old Testament Editor
Joel B. Green, New Testament Editor
Elizabeth Caldwell, Readability Editor
David A. deSilva, Apocrypha Editor
Emerson B. Powery, Greek Associate Editor for Apocrypha and NT
Brent A. Strawn, Hebrew Associate Editor
Cynthia Long Westfall, Greek Associate Editor
Carol A. Wehrheim, Associate Readability Editor

And before anyone knocks it, I'm doing the translation of 1 Esdras.