Well as per our tradition my lovely wife purchased a Bible for me for Christmas. This time she picked up Rotherham's Emphasized Bible, which just happens to be the one I asked for. I can't explain the translation very well at this point but in the simplest terms Rotherham sought to bring the emphasis seen in the original languages on words and phrases to light clearly in an English translation.
I've found this is very helpful with passages in Proverbs. There is some skill required to interpret his symbology but so far I'm finding it reasonably easy to pick up.
3 comments:
Hey Kev, whaddaya think of your new bible now that you've had some more time to mesh with it? I'm not familiar with Rotherman's.
I'm mostly a NASB guy myself, but been using bible.org's NET bible lately since I like it's freedom of use.
Hi Stephen,
I'm really really really liking how Proverbs is rendered. But I've found getting to understand all the symbols is a bit of a feat. There's basically an encyclopedia of an introduction to this translation.
Brother Robb, has very similar thoughts. It's a good study tool, but a tough read.
The language is more exotic than either the KJV or the Darby could ever be accused of. Puzzling phrases such as "until futurity" make me stop and scratch my head fairly often. You can figure them out but the word choice doesn't always seem natural.
Of course his practice of rendering repeated phrases repeatedly really DOES make the text speak more clearly. Strange that.. but it does.
Kev
Nice, I do like reading really literal translations sometimes because, though awkward, you get a better feel for what was written, and how it was written. Oddly, like you say, such awkwardness really can help one understand.
I lived in Germany for three years and one of my German friends gave me a German bible. I used it for devotions for awhile. I was never 'fluent' in German so I had to really work at it to read it, it was awkward, but that awkwardness drove to me to consider each word more carefully than if I could just blow through it like I do in English. Perhaps the same idea applies here.
The main thing, of course, is to be in the Word, period! But it's a real blessing when some new tool can help a long time Christian read the Word with fresh eyes.
So, if I understand this right, it's tradition for your wife to get you a Bible each year for Christmas... what do you get for her?
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