Punctuation

In a world of dwindling sentence length and complex sentence structures, the semi-colon has fallen on hard times. It is too bad. It has the ability to stop the reader ever so slightly, and indicate that while there is some sequence of thought (much like a comma), there is also a stop (but of less strength than a period).

Case in point is Romans 9:4. Paul is expressing his deep desire for the salvation of the Jewish nation. In reciting their privileges he says, “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises” (ESV). It reads as a sequence, a series of privileges given to the Jewish nation.

But note the TNIV translation and the effect of a semi-colon. “… the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.” The semi-colon marks the national “adoption” as a primary privilege, and extending from that adoption they receive glory, covenants, etc. Whether you agree with the interpretation or not, you can see the value of punctuation in translation, albeit a nuanced value in this case.

I've been musing on the role of punctuation in translation, and last week we looked at the dash in Romans 3:25. In v 27 there is an excellent illustration of another effective use of punctuation: quotation marks.

Paul has been talking about righteousness coming not through law but through faith. He writes, "Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the 'law' that requires faith" (TNIV). Notice the second use of law is in quotation marks. What's going on?

Even dynamic translation theory sees the value in what is called "concordance." (The terms change for "dynamic." Currently it is called "functional equivalence.") Concordance is the practice of using the same English word for the same Greek word throughout a passage.

Concordance is not always possible. No one English word has the same range of meaning as one Greek word; and when the meaning of a single Greek word varies within the passage, dynamic translations alter the English. Combine this with the fact that English style generally views the consistent use of the same word as poor style, it is common to find paragraphs where the same Greek word is translated by several different English words. This is not bad translation. If you accept the dynamic translation philosophy, it is good translation as it translates meaning and not words.