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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. |
Subject: How far would you go in a translation? |
Bible Note: Greetings Tim! I would agree, every translation is, to some extent, not objectively literal; that is, that it cannot be completely and strictly literal. If that was the case, then we would not be able to understand any passage at all. It would be like trying to read through an original 1611 Edition KJV. However, I believe that we can come extremely close at times, and that, I believe, is what we should strive for in translation. So I place the "emphasis" on being literal rather than on "meaning", even though every good translation has to be comprehensible in English, even if it has an 11th or 12th grade reading level. But my point is, is that we should not reduce the reading level much lower if we are translating 'literally', which would only serve to oversimplify the text and take our emphasis off of the primary responsibility of translation. I'm not trying to say that those translations who do have 'lower reading levels' are in some way circumspect, but I am saying that it is better to translate more "specifically" or as literal as possible, rather than to risk oversimplifying the text, and therefore adding more into the text than what is there. So how far should we go? We should stop when the text is close in form to the original and comprehensible in English at the same time. I've already written IBS and Zondervan and have told them my feelings on the TNIV. It will be interesting if I get a response. Blessings to you, Makarios |