Matthew

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NASB	Matthew 1:18 ¶ Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.
AMPLIFIED 2015	Matthew 1:18 ¶ Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by [the power of] the Holy Spirit.

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Bible Question (short): How far would you go in a translation?

Question (full): Greetings Forum Friends!

In light of the recent discussion about the new TNIV, I thought it would be interesting to get everyone's feedback on this question.

Is it best to be woodenly literal when traslating or is it best to attempt to put the original language into it's English equivalent?

There are many passage where even very literal translations will disagree, simply because the original language leaves out words, implies words, or uses constructions which are extremely difficult to understand. These are not the issue of my question.

I am simply curious as to where we draw the line. For example:

Example 1:

Matt. 1:18 literally says of Mary, "...she was found in belly having of the Holy Spirit".

Most translations say that "she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit". Would it be better or worse to simply say:

"...It was discovered that she was pregnant."

Example 2:

John 6:47 literally says, "Amen Amen, I say to you, 'He who believes has life eternal'".

The "he who" is the literal translation of the masculine pronoun associated with the participle "believing". Clearly this is a universal passage, which does not refer to only those of a masculine gender. So, would it be better to translate this passage as:

"Everyone who believes" or "All who believe" rather than "He who"?

My reason for questioning is simply to get your thoughts on how far we should go in our attempts to make a translation understandable. I am not defending or condemning the TNIV at this point, since I haven't read any of it yet - and may not! :-)

Your Brother in Christ,

Tim Moran

Down View Branch

ID# 32784

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