JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

The following sample of interesting translations gives a
flavor of the whole: in Isa. 22:5, NIV echoes the Hebrew assonance
of “mehumah, mevusah, mevukhah,” with “a day of tumult
and trampling and terror.” For “vanity of vanities” NIV
renders Ecc. 1:2: “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”
Acceptance. The NIV has the largest first printing ever
for an English Bible. After 4 weeks, 1.2 million copies were
sold. These singular sales have continued, and according to
the best estimates, they captured some 20–25% of the market
in the 1980s, and in the 1990s became the most popular in the
U.S. outside of KJV. In spite of its great commercial success,
the NIV continues to be criticized for its theological position
in translating.
Other Protestant Translations. Two recent works maintain
that they have gone to great pains to create a more literal translation
of the Bible. The English Standard Version (2001) aims at
being “essentially faithful” to the text, hewing to “the structure
and meaning of the original.” In fact it is a finely honed version
in the tradition of KJV and RSV, with care taken to consult the
original languages, and includes a helpful set of notes. Yet it
retains “without form and void” in Gen. 1:2, and “sin offering”
in Lev. 4:3, to cite a few instances in which traditional English
renderings are retained at the expense of both the form
and meaning of the Hebrew. The Holman Christian Standard
Bible (2004) advertises itself as a cross between dynamic and
formal equivalence, coining the term “optimal equivalence”
to indicate that it begins with literal understanding and then
crafts a readable translation. Produced under Southern Baptist
auspices, it does not attempt to introduce modern concepts
of gender correctness or to simplify the language (the
editors emphasize how the translation retains “rich terms like
‘propitiation’…and ‘sanctification’”). Its advertising slogan is
“Nothing Could Be Closer to the Truth.”
Recent examples of freer translation, i.e., paraphrase,
have enjoyed widespread circulation. In this regard, the 1990s
saw a return to the legacy of The Living Bible and TEV. Like
other similar works, The New Century Bible (1993), which
stemmed from the 1986 International Children’s Bible, looked
for clarity as its chief goal. Thus its version of Gen. 3:17 reads,
“So I will put a curse on the ground, and you will have to work
very hard for your food.” The Contemporary English Version
(1995), designed to be comprehensible by both children and
non-native speakers of English, also utilizes colloquial ease,
as in Gen. 29:5–6: “‘Do you know Laban, son of Nahor?’ ‘Yes,”
they replied. ‘How is he?’ he asked. ‘He’s fine,’ they replied.”
A trenchant example of paraphrastic variation can be found
in considering I Sam. 20:20, which the Living Bible actually
renders as “You son of a bitch!” whereas the 1996 New Living
Translation uses “You stupid son of a whore” – with the note
“Heb. You son of a perverse and rebellious woman.” Thus in
this kind of translation, the variations, and possibilities, are
endless. In yet another attempt at a contemporary language
Bible, in 1993 retired minister Eugene Peterson published his
bible
fourth and final volume of The Message, which renders the
Bible “not in refined language that appeals to our aspirations
after the best but a rough and earthy language that captures
God’s presence and action when we least expect it.” This version,
clearly born of pulpit experience, seems best suited for
the Prophets and the Psalms; his English rhetoric is vivid and
colloquial, often verging on the “hip.” As an example, Peterson
renders the opening of Psalm 1 as “How well God must like
you – / you don’t hang out at Sin Saloon, / you don’t slink along
Dead-End Road, / you don’t go to Smart-Mouth College.”
New Jewish Version [= NJV] (1985). History. The Jewish Publication
Society Bible [= JPS] of 1917 was only a slight modification
of the KJV. The JPS kept the vocabulary and Tudor
grammar of the Authorized Version [= The Revised Version
(of the KJV) of 1885]. Many of the readings of the Authorized
version had been made with the help of David Kimḥi’s commentary.
This Bible, however, was unsatisfactory, and the idea
of a new translation was proposed in 1955.
The NJV translation would be completely independent of
the KJV and be a rendering in a modern English. In addition,
there would be an erudite use of Semitic languages (Akkadian,
Aramaic, Syriac, Ugaritic) and of the medieval Jewish scholars
(Abraham Ibn Ezra, Kimḥi, Rashbam [Samuel ben Meir],
Rashi, and Saadiah). The publication came out in separate
volumes over 20 years: The Torah (1962 revised in 1967), The
Five Megilloth and Jonah (1969); The Book of Isaiah (1973); The
Book of Psalms (1972); The Book of Jeremiah (1974); Nevi’im
[= The Prophets] (1978); Job (1980); and The Writings (1982).
A one-volume edition was finally published, Tanakh: The
Holy Scriptures (1985); a dual-language edition, with Hebrew
text from BHS, appeared finally in 1999. The three branches
of American Judaism, Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform,
were all represented on the translation committees. For the
Torah and Nevi’im: Harry M. Orlinsky (Hebrew Union College),
editor-in-chief, who had served on the RSV and NRSV
Old Testament committees; H.L. Ginsberg (Jewish Theological
Seminary); Ephraim A. Speiser (U. of Pennsylvania); Max
Arzt (Jewish Theological Seminary); Bernard J. Bamberger
(West End Synagogue, N.Y. City); Harry Freedman (Yeshivah
University); Solomon Grayzel (editor of the Jewish Publication
Society). For the Kethubim: Moshe Greenberg (Hebrew
University); Jonas C. Greenfield (Hebrew University); Nahum
M. Sarna (Brandeis University); Rabbi Saul Leeman
(Conservative); Rabbi Martin S. Rozenburg (Reform); Rabbi
David Shapiro (Orthodox); Chaim Potok (Editor of the Jewish
Publication Society). Over the years the NJV has appeared
in a number of formats and settings, eventually coming to
occupy a place of prominence in the Jewish community outside
of Orthodoxy. It serves as the English text for the Reform
Movement’s UAHC Commentary of W.G. Plaut (1981,
rev. 2005, with additional revisions to Exodus-Deuteronomy;
Genesis was newly translated by Chaim Stern), the Conservative
Movement’s Etz Ḥayim Torah/Haftarot volume (2001), the
JPS Commentary series (1989– ), and The Jewish Study Bible
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 621