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Friday, August 29, 2008

New Testament: An Idiomatic Translation

This was published by Mellen Press in 2006. Translated by George A. Blair, it is a three volume set. Visit Blair's Page on Mellen Press for more information.



     Mellen Press's description: "This translation attempts several things: first, it tries to be faithful both to the Greek and the English languages, giving ordinary English for ordinary Greek words, avoiding “Biblical” jargon. Second, the English reflects the individual style and personality of Greek writers. Third, the documents appear in the order they were actually written, enabling the reader to follow the earliest development of Christian thought. Fourth, the little introductions reveal the psychological context of the documents, showing the motivation behind them. Finally, the introductions show how the documents reveal whether their religious dimension was attached to or grew out of the actual facts that happened historically."



     This certainly ranks high in cost: Each volume is $109.95 USD. At that price it will be hard to find a copy to examine. If anyone does have a chance I'd welcome a guest review!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Elohim Bridge New Testament

This is the most unusual link I've posted here yet. This is the Elohim Bridge New Testament. Be sure to read the FAQs page to get the fullness of this site. Then, visit products, PDF downloads for a copy of the New Testament. It appears to be a sacred name revision of the New King James Version, but I'm just now getting a look at it.


A scripture quote: "I know a man in The Anointed One who fourteen years ago, whether he was in his body I do not know, or whether he was out of his body I do not know, only Almighty YaHWeH knows. Such a one had the experience, of being brought up to the third level / inhabited planet of outer-space in that area of the heavens (2 Corinthians 2:2)."

"But He answered and said, "It is not good to take from the children's bread (manna) and throw it away, to the people from the Dog-star planet that have rejected Me in the past" (Matthew 15:26)."

Sunday, August 24, 2008

A History of the Scots Bible

Tulloch, Graham. A History of the Scots Bible: With Selected Texts. Aberdeen University Press, 1989. 184 pp. ISBN 0-08-037721-1.

     This book was a delightful read. Not only will it serve notice of several different Scots renditions of the Scriptures, but also provides samples of many. Tulloch goes beyond just providing a simple history and bibliography. He also shows the struggle of Scots to be more than just a "corruption" of English. (He mentions that Waddell stated Scots was "not a mere dialect... but a tongue cognate with English").

     This examination of Scots as a language unto itself was new for me. The author discusses the difference between a literary and spoken language appearing in print. He also shows how certain ways of a writing Scots either benefit or detract from its legitimacy as a separate cognate language. The way each Scots Bible contributed to that is discussed at length. Another interesting thread is the comparison of formal and colloquial language in the translations.

     Tulloch covers the Scots Bible revisers/translators from Murdoch Nisbet to William Lorimer and even the recent works by Jamie Stuart. He provides both an analysis of their texts and of their presentation of Scots. Many of the topics and ideas apply to Bible translation in general - not just Scots Bibles.

     I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the history of the Scots language, dialect Bibles or obviously Scots Bibles. It was a bit expensive. I was able to order a copy through a used book dealer on Amazon.com. Find this in a library and give it a read. Then, next time you're giving a Scripture reading you can read "Whan Jesus gaed back til the ither side o the loch, a grete thrang of folk gaithert aboot him" (Mark 5:21, Jamie Stuart's version).

     One work referred to often in this book is James A. H. Murray's The Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland. I was quite happy to find a copy on Google.

     Some of the Scots versions are available online as well:

The Script

This one was previously called "The Epic." The web site is still titled by that name. It is a rap production of the Book of John by Fred D. Lynch, III. Initially, I thought it was only a video product, but GodStyle Productions is announcing that Zondervan is going to publish this work, now called "The Script." It will be the book of John, a devotional and an audio CD. It was due to be released in September but is available from Amazon.com now.

A Sample: "1. As the master passed right on he saw a man standing there who was blind since the day he was born. 2. Gasping at the sight the discip's where quite surprised--empathizing & asking the Rabbi, "Why…it's got to be like that what did he do wrong, or are his parents paying for sinning cause blindness from birth that's strong--" (John 9:1-2).

Work is also underway on a similar production of Ecclesiastes. Lynch says it is written in "Spoken Word (which is a modern mixture of poetry and hip hop)."

Slang Bible?

There is an Australian Slang Bible portion on the web here. There is no mention of author, the contact page doesn't work and I can't compare it with "The Aussie Bible" by Kel Richards (his web site is here). Does anyone happen to know the story behind slangbible.com?

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Tyndale 1526 New Testament Facsimile!!!

It's beautiful! I just got word from Bill Chamberlin (author of The Catalogue of English Bible Translations) about a new color facsimile from Hendrickson Publishers. It retails at $49.95 for the hardback and $79.95 for the leather bound. Hendrickson has a PDF showing a few pages - check it out at their web site. It does sound small - 4.5 inches by 6.5 inches (print out a sample page at the actual size to see what it will be like). This is a facsimile of "one of only two complete copies from Peter Schoeffer’s 1526 printing, held in the British Library’s collection."

Monday, August 18, 2008

SMS Bible

It appears that there may be another SMS Bible "translation" made a few years ago. I found mention in an article on "This is True." I cannot find (yet) a full copy of the version anywhere. It was written by Matthew Campbell, who at the time it was written was a history student at York University. After re-reading the article it appears that only the Lord's prayer was done. But it does have a back translation!

This is different than the one done by the Australian Bible Society. The author of that one is Michael Rodrigues. It is adapted from the CEV. The Lord's prayer starts out "Our Father in heaven help us 2 honour ur name."

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The People's Proverbs Bible

This is a version of "Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Job and Esther in their entirety and selected chapters from every other books of the Bible. " The work is done by Milton Maye. A web site is available with more information and samples of the Bible.

A sample (taken from the website): "Who is your Shepherd? / Can he fill your heart? / The Lord is my Shepherd, / I shall not want. // He makes me to lie down in green pastures, / He leads me beside the still waters; / When I’m tattered and cold / And the world has taken a toll / He restores my soul" (Psalm 23:1-2).

Monday, August 11, 2008

Comparing Bible Translations

In the course of my study I am developing a keen interest in categorizing/analyzing Bible translations. I'm not ready to put up an essay on the subject yet, but I have found two websites that have given me excellent ideas and information on the subject. The first is Comparing Translations by Ronald J. Gordon. The other is Comparing Bible Translations on "Realms of Faith."

Covenant Edition

Alright - another puzzle for you. On a website that is now no longer online (www.accuratebibles.com) there was a Bible translation being made available. It was called the "Covenant Editon." It appears it was Dr. Ann Nyland's translation. My question is this: Is this the same as her "Source New Testament" or an older translation? Is the Source a revision of the Covenant? Anyone know the answer or how to get in touch with Dr. Nyland?

Saturday, August 9, 2008

NLT Study Bible sample

Many blogs are discussing (and reviewing) about their advance copies of the NLT study Bible. The rest of us can get a look at it on the NLT Study Bible website. There PDF downloads that include a sample of Genesis. Apparently, the Bible itself does say "second edition" though it is clearly an updated text (see a comparison in a post at This Lamp).

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Can You Help?

I am still working on the successor to the Bible Version Encyclopedia. I am researching some of the stickier questions now. Such as: differences in the 1944 edition of Joseph Smith's translation or Are William Irwin of the RSV and William Irwin of the NAB actually two different people? I have a list on my web site (click on "Research") or you can visit the questions page directly. I would greatly appreciate any help you might be able to give!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

The Good News of Mark's Gospel in Doric

I ran across this interesting version today while looking for some Scots Dialect versions of Scripture. It's available here in .JPG files. Doric is a dialect of North-East Scotland. I couldn't find a publish date - anyone know what it is?

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

The Wyse-sayins o Solomon: The Proverbs

This is a rendering of the Proverbs in Scots (a dialect of English spoken in Scotland). It was published in 1916 and is available free at Archive.org.

Translator's Reference Translation

This is a product of SIL International and is being created by Matthew Carlton. The SIL International website doesn't have any e-mail contacts I could find. Anyone know how to contact them? I would like to find out if this project will include the Old Testament and what source texts are being used. Please let me know if you can help! The books are listed here as well as other places.

Update: Some one was kind enough to forward my question to Matthew Carlton who sent me a message concerning this translation. The Old Testament is due to be started soon. Luke is done and awaiting publishing. This work is intended for people from all backgrounds "so it provides users with text critical information from the UBS Greek text, the Majority Text and Textus Receptus." It is also being translated into other languages such as Spanish, Indonesian, probably French and several others. This sounds like a great tool for translators! Can't wait to get a copy (I think I'll purchase the volume on John).

Monday, August 4, 2008

Keter Crown Bible

This was published by Feldheim in 2004. It is a Hebrew-English edition of the Tanach. Does anyone know what English text was used? Or was it a new translation? It is listed on Amazon.