An Inside Look At Bible Translation
Ever wonder what it would be like to be part of a Bible translation committee? Or, what the discussions look like as teams of scholars wrestle with difficult texts and issues?
Justin Taylor has posted this 4-minute video of the ESV translation committee wrestling with the issue of how to translate Hebrew and Greek words that could be rendered “slave” or “servant” or “bondservant.”
You can see how essentially literal translation gets complicated by cultural and historical settings and considerations. “Slave” in one era meant something different in another era. Meaning and connotations are not static, and understanding the Bible properly requires at least two things:
1. Knowing how the original author used the word and what they intended; and
2. Being aware of how the contemporary audience hears the word and what meanings they freight it with.
2. Being aware of how the contemporary audience hears the word and what meanings they freight it with.
So, reading the Bible well becomes a task not just in reading the words, but also of reading the contexts. Reading the bible well requires not that we read culture (singular) but cultures (plural). Moreover, reading the Bible well means allowing the Bible to read the reader, exposing our assumptions and the predispositions we bring to the text. Makes me want to read the Bible and to be read by the Bible!
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