Apprentice2Jesus

Ramblings of a Confessing Pentecostal

Archive for the category “Bibles”

Is He Indignant or Moved by Compassion?

I am a confessed translation junkie. As I read the Common English Bible and the NIV, I come across different ways certain phrases are turned.

Mark 1:41 is a good example. The leper comes to Christ and says, “If you are willing you can make me clean.”

The response is so interesting.

CEB:

41 Incensed,[a] Jesus reached out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do want to. Be clean.”

NIV:

41 Jesus was indignant.[a] He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”

ESV:

41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” (And no textual note. Probably because they know they are right.) Winking smile

The text note of the NET Bible indicates most manuscripts use the Greek word for “moved with compassion.”

Yet, some other texts would use the word for “indignation.” Those texts don’t seem to carry the “numbers” as the other manuscripts.

So… why did the CEB and the NIV go with a “minority” view on this point?

End of the Line

I have been part of the Common English Blog Tour for about two months now. They began the tour before Advent and I think today is the last day of cycle.

For over two months I have gone through the exercise of building devotional thoughts while reading the Common English Bible. I have also used the CEB a bit in the college classes I teach. From time to time I have used it in leading our adult Bible study on Wednesday night.

I have continued to have our public reading in our church use the NIV. I have used the NIV as my main text to prepare my sermons.

At the end of the day I truly enjoy both translations. There may be a day when “Human One” for “Son of Man” may finally settle in. Perhaps there may be a day when the translation team for the CEB may say, “You know what, it’s not worth this headache. Let’s switch it back.”

They probably won’t. Just like the NIV should do one or two editions with the Apocrypha, but they won’t.

I deeply appreciate the CEB team. When I have had questions on choice of wording on passages they have responded. Translation in a digital age is an interesting process. It could lead to much quicker translation turnaround (which the CEB has already shown to be true).

I think their marketing and their social networking is far superior to the NIV. I mean, I got a new CEB with apocrypha out of this deal! ;)

The CEB is probably the best translation for new believers, or those just not used to older language, like the KJV. In my adult Bible study, when I use the CEB, people will stop and listen. They will say, “Read that again! That was interesting!”

It does help freshen up our Bible reading.

While it is clearly more to the “dynamic equivalent” side, I like it far more than the New Living Translation. It is evident that translators didn’t just want modern idioms. They still wanted to communicate truth in a very clear way.

Moving forward I will probably stay with my NIV and the CEB. (I actually pulled out my TNIV with the Renaissance Leather cover again so I can have a Bible where I can jot notes from time to time.) But the CEB, in my opinion, should be considered by all believers as a viable translation for use in reading and study.

From Sorcerer to Magic Arts to Drug Users

The end of Revelation is one of my favorite places to camp. I honestly love the entire Book of Revelation if I can read through it without the voices in my head. (You know: Tim LaHaye, Jack VanImpe, Hal Lindsey, etc.)

In Rev. 22:15 I noticed different ways translations have tackled the Greek word pharmakos over the years. Last night I was reading the passage out of the Common English Bible, which is why I noticed.

In the ESV, which followed the King James, the word is “sorcerer.”

In the NIV it is “those who practice magic arts.”

In the CEB it is “the drug users and spell-casters.”

It is obviously a difficult word to translate, so newer translations are using phrases rather than trying to wrap it up in one word.

I think of the line out of the movie Super 8 where the kid is saying, “Drugs are bad. Very, very bad!” (You would have to know the scene for it to be funny, I guess.)

At any rate, yet another interesting phrase brought to you by the Common English Bible.

James 2:1 in the CEB and the NRSV

I looked at James 2:1 in the Common English Bible and found it to be interesting because the phrase “deny the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ” was not in the NIV or ESV. Is the connotation there? If we are showing favoritism, are we denying the faithfulness of Christ?

My brothers and sisters, when you show favoritism you deny the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has been resurrected in glory. (CEB)

The NRSV puts the verse into a question and comes closer to what the CEB did:

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? 

What IS clear in this verse is a believer can not hold faith in Christ AND favoritism at the same time. It is much like Jesus saying, “You can’t serve two masters.”

When that is the underlying statement, the CEB does make sense… while putting in a phrase that isn’t really there…

I will admit this is a place where I struggle with the dynamic equivalence idea of translation. However, I can see the point in drawing something out to make the underlying statement more clear. That is still part of the translation process.

 

Comparison of CEB on James 2:1

Here is James 2:1 in the CEB:

1 My brothers and sisters, when you show favoritism you deny the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has been resurrected in glory.

The NIV:

1 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.

The ESV:

1 My brothers,[a] show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

The CEB’s addition of the phrase “you deny the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ” sounds “right” in the context of the passage. However, is it CORRECT?

Any thoughts on this one?

Where is God’s Chest?

3 God’s lamp hadn’t gone out yet, and Samuel was lying down in the LORD’s temple, where God’s chest was. (1 Sam. 3:3, CEB)

It just begs a lot of questions… and images my mind shouldn’t conjure up when it comes to God.

I know “ark” may be archaic, but it HAS to be better than “chest.”

 

Latest News on the Common English Bible

The Common English Bible seems to keep rolling along.

“There’s a reason the Common English Bible is receiving such a positive and popular reception,” says Paul Franklin, PhD, associate publisher. “It’s probably the most literal Bible translation, built on common ground with academic rigor and denomination neutrality, which clearly communicates ancient sacred text in understandable 21st century English.”

I am still enjoying my journey through the CEB, even with the quirks.

It may still be too early to tell if this translation gains traction widely or the early sales are simply people trying it out (like me).

Common English Bible Sales

I am part of the Common English Bible Advent Blog Tour and have spent the last month reflecting on Advent using the Common English Bible.

This report is showing the Common English Bible is off to a strong start in sales. For all the great discussion we’ve been having on what we like and don’t like about the CEB, it IS a translation that is being talked about and purchased (at least initially).

CEB

The Common English Bible and the use of “Human One”

The “Human One” Explained from Common English Bible on Vimeo.

NIV 2011 Review

Here is a very thorough review of the NIV2011.

I have settled into the NIV2011 quite comfortably, along with enjoying the Common English Bible for the most part. It’s too bad this “controversy” over the NIV and ESV may never go away.

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