The Bible Translator: Volume 65, Issue 1

Stephen, in his defense recorded in Acts 7, mentions the fact that Moses’ parents hid him against the direct command of Pharaoh to kill the baby because they saw that he was “exceeding faire” (Acts 7.20, KJV). This paper discusses the origins of this novel understanding of the Greek text ἀστεῖος τῷ θεῷ (beautiful to God), which follows neither the traditional translations which were previous to the English Bible nor the various English versions which paved the way for the KJV. Rather, the translation reflects the use of the Elohim superlative of the KJV Old Testament. It is a clear example of the influence the KJV has had on subsequent English Bible translations, both in the cases of Bibles which obviously follow the KJV’s reading as well as those traditional revisions or translations which normally follow the language and style of the KJV but in this specific case do not. View Less

This article suggests that כלח is a compound word; the contraction of כֹּל + לֵחַ , “all vigor.” This meaning aptly applies to both occurrences of כלח, if in 30.2b one reads חֵילָמוֹ instead of עָלֵימוֹ. View Less

Daniel 10–12 is a historical apocalypse, a vision of the end-time that first describes events of the Hellenistic period before predicting events in the future. Daniel 11.22 describes the accession of Antiochus IV to the Seleucid throne in symbolic terms. A translation of the verse should reflect its meaning and context. View Less

This article offers a technical and text-critical interpretation of Mal 2.10-16. This text is textually and syntactically difficult because of the ambiguity of the Hebrew that leads to the complexity of various textual judgments. This complexity further leads to contrasting views of whether the “covenant” refers to marriage or not. This article thus gives a detailed technical commentary on Mal 2.10-16, arguing that the “covenant” refers to both marriage and the covenant of the fathers. View Less

Being one of the earliest Christian churches, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) collection of Scriptures is the largest, though without a clear-cut canon. Following its unique calendar, the EOTC published its first Amharic Bible ever for the Ethiopian millennium celebration in 2007. It was based on the Geʿez and the LXX versions, which resulted in a strong negative reaction from some believers in the Evangelical churches in Ethiopia. After a brief survey of the translation and transmission history of Scriptures in Ethiopia, the article discusses the process of the millennium translation, the reactions against it, and the outcomes of both the translation and its reactions. View Less

This article is an analysis of the imperative iathētō in Luke 7.7. It looks at the textual problems regarding the imperative and argues that the future iathēsetai is an attempt at harmonization with Matthew’s version. After making arguments regarding God’s commands and the theme of authority in the text, the author concludes that those translations which render iathētō in the future or permissive senses do not do justice to the force of the imperative. The author suggests the translation, “but say a word and my servant must be healed,” similar to the NET translation. View Less

For eleven hundred years the Western church made the Bible available only in a Latin translation. Prior to this, however, there had been extensive Bible translating activity on three continents. With the sixteenth-century Reformation, the Reformers again made translation into the vernacular a priority, resulting in translations in various European languages. As the nations of Europe raced to colonize the rest of the world, especially in the nineteenth century, Protestant missionary activity among the peoples being colonized saw a third wave of Bible translation into their languages. Bible translation is one of the most effective mission tools. View Less

It has been argued that speakers who are fluent in a vernacular and language of wider communication (LWC) will inevitably understand the Scriptures better in their “heart language.” I designed an experiment to determine the validity of that argument, using comprehension checks of seven passages in the New Testament that are difficult to comprehend. Preliminary results suggest that bilingual speakers performed better during checking sessions conducted in the LWC than they did while using the receptor language (RL), but their ability to identify key themes in either language was equivalent. While the experiment calls into question the validity of the “heart-language argument,” I conclude that there are several other more compelling reasons for producing vernacular Bible translations. View Less