Translation

I get asked this question a lot. Which Greek text should I buy?

I have stayed away from gender issues in translation so far in this blog, but maybe it is time to at least broach the topic.

One of the literary devices that is difficult to bring into English is puns, a play on words. Rarely will the target language be able to replicate the nuances of this construction.

Here is a neat little puzzle. The five thousand have been fed (Mt14:13-21; Mark 6:3-44), Jesus remains behind to dismiss the crowd and sends the disciples across the lake to Gennesaret.

The NIV translates Matt 7:13-14 as follows. “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

Good translation is not merely the ability to apply all the appropriate rules of grammar to a passage but the ability to go behind the words and learn from the context what the writer actually means by what he says.

One of the subtle clues Greek gives to its readers is how it views a series of words. For example, Jesus says to the Samaritan woman at the well, that an hour is coming and now is when true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth.