Crumbs from the Table

The church where I currently serve as pastor uses the ESV translation of the Bible. This translation has many merits, but over the time I have been at the church again and again I have noticed how "clunky" it is.  The ESV translation of the Bible is not a new translation of the Bible, but rather a revision of an existing translation, namely the RSV. The existing word order of the RSV appears to have been retained, meaning that when you read it, the translation sounds rather stilted.  Here is an example (Mark 5:35): Original RSV: "While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler’s house some who said..." Current ESV: "While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said..." (in this case the ESV has used the RSV version unchanged) ESV rearranged based on word order in 2025 English: "While he was still speaking, some people came from the ruler's house who said..." In 2025 English, it is unnatural to order the ...

This year (2025) marks the 500 anniversary of the translation of the Bible into English by William Tyndale.  There were translations of the Bible from Hebrew/Greek into other languages from the earliest centuries of the Christian church. The first languages to "get" translations were Syriac (the area stretching eastwards from Antioch), Latin (Rome and western Europe) and Coptic (Egypt). Later, in the centuries from the 300s to 500s, translations were also made into Gothic, Armenian, Georgian and Ge'ez (Ethiopia) languages.   There had been translations of the Bible into English before Tyndale. The Venerable Bede, a leading monk living at Jarrow from the late 600s, undertook a translation of John's gospel into English. Also, King Alfred (849-899) translated the first five books of the Old Testament into English. Later, in 1384, Reformer John Wycliffe and his followers completed a translation into English from the Latin (Vulgate). However, the institutional church durin...

God has given us his written word in Hebrew and Greek (plus a little bit of Aramaic in the book of Daniel).  In order for God's word to be accessible to those who speak other languages, since Biblical times God's word has been translated into other languages.  At the time of Nehemiah, the Levites "gave the meaning" of the Scriptures. This would probably have involved oral translation (interpreting) into the Aramaic language people used for everyday speech. Jesus himself, when quoted in the gospels, spoke Aramaic and quotes the Scripture in that language. Likewise, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the believers and enabled them to declare the wonders of God in the languages of those present.  There is also a longstanding history of written translation (as opposed to oral translation). The best-known translation of the Old Testament is called the Septuagint, a translation into Greek commissioned by Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–247 BCE). There were als...