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NASB | Psalm 119:105 ¶ Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Psalm 119:105 ¶ Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. [Prov 6:23] |
Subject: ESV opinion poll |
Bible Note: Hank, Just to follow up on this comment--I mentioned your remarks to a Bible translation list and received this response: Quote The main concern I have with the ESV is the poor quality of its English. I am an English editor and believe that English Bibles should be written in grammatical, good quality standard English. Grammar includes following not only the syntactic rules of English but also the lexical rules of English. The ESV, like most other FE [Functional Equivalent] translations, breaks many lexical rules of English, making the translation sound like it was not written by a native speaker of English, giving the translation a foreign sound. Also there are a quite a few passages where non-English syntax is used, syntax which is borrowed by the Biblical languages. Whenever unnatural syntax or lexical combinations appear in a translation, it makes it more difficult for the users of that translation to accurately understand the meaning the translators intended them to understand. And it also reinforces the widespread stereotype that the Bible is kind of a strange book, not normal, not meant to communicate in Koine English (equivalent to Koine Greek). I'll give some specific examples to support my claims about the poor quality English in the ESV: 1 Kings 2:10 "David slept with his fathers": this is inaccurate in standard English; David did not sleep with his father. Instead, David died and was buried with his fathers. The ESV literally translates a Hebraic idiom here. It is almost never possible to literally translate an idiom from one language to another and accurately communicate the original meaning in the process." Endquote [There were other examples] I've known this gentleman long enough to know he insists common vernacular is to be preferred over beauty because the Bible is written that way (at least in the Greek). His motivation is a translation for the Cheyenne nation in Oklahoma. Steve |