Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 06/01/2005 22:49, Bill Rea wrote:

> ...
>
> With a paraphrase the contract is -- if you were writing this
> today how would you put it.
>
>  
Well, what do you mean by this? Are you referring to contextual 
adaptations, like the infamous Cotton Patch Bible which transposed the 
New Testament to the southern USA? The Message and the Living Bible do a 
bit of this, not much. If you are simply referring to using modern and 
perhaps colloquial language, then that is what DE does, that is if the 
DE is intended to be in modern language rather than a pseudo-KJV church 
language.
...

> Instead of Leman's system of classification I suggest a better way
> is to provide some measure of how well a version delivers on its
> implied contract with the reader. ...

The problem is, what is the implied contract? It is not simply "literal 
or DE or paraphrase".

> ... I own copies of the NASB, TEV,
> and the NIV and I would say the NASB and TEV have delivered very
> well on their contracts with the reader. In my opinion the NIV doesn't
> do as good a job. However, if a person says ``I want a version which
> is reasonably literal but when the going gets tough I want the translators
> to help me out'' then the NIV could be a good choice. On my spectrum it
> sits in an area where it's incorporated too much DE and paraphrasing
> to be considered a true word-for-word translation, but not enough
> to make it a true DE version either. Given its popularity either
> that is what people actually want or it is what others have told them
> they need.
>
>  
In other words, it delivers rather well on its implied contract which is 
to offer something less literal than NASB but closer to the original 
than TEV. And this success is measured by its popularity. Of course 
popularity does not imply accuracy, but it does imply that it is 
successfully meeting a need, and it can only do that by delivering on 
its implied contract.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/



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