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Course 5 · Lesson 7.2

Types of translation differences: text, grammar, word meaning and style

11 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 5 outline

Module 1: What the Languages Are and What This Course Can Do

  1. The languages of the Bible: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek
  2. What an introduction can and cannot do: no fluency, and why
  3. Biblical Hebrew in brief: history, script and sound
  4. Koine Greek in brief: history, script and sound

Module 2: Hebrew Fundamentals

  1. The Hebrew alphabet, reading right to left, and the vowel points
  2. Roots, nouns, gender, number and the construct chain
  3. Hebrew verbs: perfect, imperfect and the seven stems in outline
  4. A core Hebrew vocabulary and how to learn it

Module 3: Greek Fundamentals

  1. The Greek alphabet, accents and breathing marks
  2. Nouns, cases and the definite article
  3. Greek verbs: tense, aspect, voice and mood in outline
  4. A core Greek vocabulary and how to learn it

Module 4: The Texts: Masoretic, Septuagint and New Testament Manuscripts

  1. The Masoretic Text and the codices that preserve it
  2. The Septuagint and where translators consult it
  3. Greek New Testament manuscripts and printed editions
  4. How variants are recorded in footnotes and critical editions

Module 5: How Translations Are Made

  1. Formal and dynamic equivalence, and the middle positions
  2. Who translates: committees, churches and traditions of translation
  3. Hard cases: idioms, word play, gender and untranslatable words
  4. Reading a translation’s preface to learn its principles

Module 6: Tools for the Reader

  1. Interlinear Bibles: what they show and what they hide
  2. Lexicons and concordances: how to read an entry
  3. How to do a word study, step by step
  4. Common word study errors and how to avoid them

Module 7: Evaluating Translation Differences

  1. Locating the Hebrew or Greek words behind a verse
  2. Types of translation differences: text, grammar, word meaning and style
  3. A worked example from the Old Testament
  4. A worked example from the New Testament
  5. Knowing your limits, and when to ask a specialist

All courses

Program / Course 5: Biblical Languages / Lesson 7.2

What you will learn

  • Sort a difference between translations into one of four types: text, grammar, word meaning or style.
  • Give a standard example of each type.
  • Say what evidence would help decide each type.
  • Recognize when a difference belongs to more than one type.

The big idea

Two English translations of the same verse can differ for four main reasons. They may follow different texts, which is a textual difference. They may read the grammar differently. They may give a word different senses. Or they may simply phrase the same meaning in different English, which is a matter of style. Sorting differences into these four types is the central skill of this module, because each type calls for a different kind of evidence and a different kind of caution.

Key terms

Textual difference
A difference that arises because the translators followed different readings in the Hebrew or Greek manuscripts.
Grammatical difference
A difference that arises because the grammar allows more than one reading, such as a genitive that may be subjective or objective.
Lexical difference
A difference in the sense given to a word. Also called a difference of word meaning.
Stylistic difference
A difference in English wording that does not reflect a difference in the sense of the original.
Punctuation
Marks that divide a text into sentences and clauses. The earliest Greek manuscripts have little or none, so editors and translators supply it.
Ambiguity
A feature of a text that allows more than one reasonable reading.

Background

When a student places five translations of a verse side by side, the differences can seem bewildering. Some are slight, and some seem to change the meaning. The way to calm the confusion is to ask what kind of difference each is. The answer tells what to look up next and how much weight to give the difference.

The four types are not perfectly separate. A difference of grammar may also be a difference of word meaning, and style may follow from a decision about grammar. Even so, they provide a working scheme. The assignment of this course uses it, and the examples that follow are standard ones, chosen because the evidence is widely discussed.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Differences of text

A textual difference arises when the Hebrew or Greek manuscripts themselves read differently, and translators follow different readings. Mark 16:9 to 20, the longer ending of Mark, is absent from the two oldest nearly complete Greek Bibles. Translations differ in whether they print it in the text, in brackets or in a note. Psalm 22:16 in the Hebrew Masoretic Text has a word that many read as like a lion, while the Septuagint and some other witnesses have a verb meaning they pierced or dug. The King James Version has they pierced my hands and my feet. Some modern translations follow the Hebrew text and render it differently, and others follow the ancient versions. A Dead Sea Scrolls fragment is cited by many scholars as supporting a verb reading, though its own reading is discussed.

To decide such a difference, a student looks at the footnotes and the apparatus of a critical edition, and at the discussion in a commentary on the text. The question is which reading is earliest and best attested.

Step 2: Differences of grammar

A grammatical difference arises when the same words allow more than one construction. In Romans 3:22 the phrase pistis Iesou Christou, with a genitive, can be rendered faith in Jesus Christ or the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. In Romans 9:5 the earliest Greek manuscripts had no punctuation, and the placement of a stop changes the sense. One punctuation makes the verse say that Christ, who is over all, is God blessed for ever. Another ends the sentence about Christ and begins a new one that praises God. Translations differ in text and in the margin. In Genesis 1:1 the Hebrew word bereshit can be read as in the beginning or as when God began, depending on whether it is in the absolute or the construct state.

To decide such a difference, one looks at the wider argument of the passage, at similar constructions elsewhere in the same author, and at the discussion in a good commentary. Often the grammar alone does not settle the matter.

Step 3: Differences of word meaning

A lexical difference arises when a word has more than one sense, or an uncertain one. In Isaiah 7:14 the Hebrew almah means a young woman of marriageable age. The Septuagint renders it with parthenos, a Greek word usually meaning virgin, and Matthew 1:23 quotes the Greek. Some translations print young woman and others virgin. In Matthew 6:11 the Greek word epiousios, which the King James Version renders daily, is found nowhere else in surviving Greek of the time that is certainly independent of this prayer. It is usually said to be very rare, and translators have offered daily, necessary and for the coming day. The word is hard because the evidence is so slight.

To decide such a difference, one uses lexicons, concordances, the Septuagint and other ancient evidence. For a rare word, the honest conclusion may be that the meaning is uncertain.

Step 4: Differences of style

Many differences are only in the choice of English. One translation says Thou shalt not kill, another You shall not murder, another Do not murder. The first two differences between thou and you, and between shalt and shall, are matters of the age of the English. The choice of kill or murder, however, involves a decision about the Hebrew verb ratsach, whose range is debated, and so passes from style into word meaning. Many other differences really are style: the order of clauses, the choice between a long sentence and two short ones, the use of contractions.

A student can usually recognize style by seeing that the translations agree on what the original says while using different words. Where a difference does not change the content, it can be left without further study.

Step 5: Mixed cases and a procedure

Real differences often mix types. A decision about a text may require a decision about grammar. A choice of word may follow from a view of the context. Sort first, then note when a difference seems to be of more than one type. A short procedure helps: place the translations side by side, mark each difference, ask whether the sources agree, then ask whether the grammar allows both readings, then ask whether a word has more than one sense, and only then treat the remainder as style.

  1. Do the translations follow the same Hebrew or Greek text?
  2. Does the grammar allow more than one reading?
  3. Does any key word have more than one sense, or an uncertain one?
  4. Are the remaining differences only in English style?
  5. Which type does each difference belong to, and could it belong to two?
  6. What evidence would settle it, and do I have access to that evidence?

Examples

A textual difference

Translations of Mark 16:9 to 20 differ in how they print the passage. The difference arises from the manuscripts and not from the translators’ view of the English. The student looks at the footnotes and at the manuscripts they cite.

A grammatical difference

Translations of Romans 3:22 differ between faith in Jesus Christ and the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. The Greek words are the same in both. The difference is in how the genitive is read.

A lexical difference

Translations of Isaiah 7:14 differ between young woman and virgin. The text is the same in the Hebrew, and the difference lies in the sense given to almah, with the Septuagint’s parthenos as a factor.

Different perspectives

Catholic

Catholic translators explain such differences in notes and hold that the interpretation of difficult texts is aided by the tradition of the Church. On Isaiah 7:14, the Catholic tradition has long read the prophecy in the light of Matthew 1:23.

Orthodox

Orthodox tradition receives the Septuagint reading virgin in Isaiah 7:14 as part of the church’s text, and reads Romans 9:5 as a statement of the divinity of Christ. Orthodox scholars also recognize the questions of text and grammar.

Protestant

Protestant translations divide on Isaiah 7:14, Romans 3:22 and Psalm 22:16, according to their principles. Protestant commentaries set out the arguments on each side, and the debates are lively.

Jewish

Jewish translations typically read almah as young woman and read Psalm 22:16 according to the Masoretic Text. Jewish commentators explain these choices from the Hebrew, and do not accept the Christian reading of Isaiah 7:14 as a prophecy of Jesus.

Scholarly

Scholars of all traditions use the four categories or similar ones. They differ on particular cases, and they acknowledge that some differences cannot be settled on the evidence available.

Why it matters

Sorting differences by type turns confusion into a plan. It tells a student which tool to reach for, and it shows which differences are important and which are not. It also makes it possible to discuss disagreements fairly, since people on different sides may agree on the type of the difference while disagreeing on the answer.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Every difference between translations is a disagreement about doctrine.

Correction: Many are style, and many others concern text or word meaning in ways that do not bear on doctrine. Some matter to doctrine, but the types must be sorted first.

Misunderstanding: Where translations differ, one of them must be wrong.

Correction: Often the original allows both readings, or the difference lies only in the English. Translators have different reasons, and each reading may be defended.

Misunderstanding: The oldest reading is the one translators should always follow.

Correction: Age is one criterion among others. Translators weigh quality, spread and the readings that best explain the others.

Misunderstanding: A difference that I cannot resolve means that the text is unreliable.

Correction: It means that the evidence does not settle the matter. That is a normal condition for ancient texts, and it concerns a small number of passages.

Knowledge check

Name the four types of translation difference.

Differences of text, where translators follow different manuscript readings. Differences of grammar, where the construction allows more than one reading. Differences of word meaning, where a word has more than one sense. And differences of style, where the English phrasing varies but the sense is the same. Many real cases mix types.

Why is Romans 3:22 a grammatical difference?

The Greek phrase pistis Iesou Christou has a genitive that can be objective, faith in Jesus Christ, or subjective, the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. The words are identical in both readings, so the difference lies in how the construction is read. The wider argument of Paul is used to decide, and translations divide.

Why is Matthew 6:11 hard to translate?

The Greek word epiousios is very rare, and little independent evidence of its use survives. Translators have offered daily, necessary and for the coming day. The honest conclusion is that its meaning is uncertain, and the difference between translations reflects that uncertainty.

What is a sensible order for sorting a difference?

First ask whether the translators followed different texts. Then whether the grammar allows both readings. Then whether a word has more than one sense. Only after those questions should the remainder be treated as style. If a difference fits more than one type, note this and treat each aspect separately.

Think it through

  1. Which type of difference do you find easiest to judge, and which hardest?
  2. How would you explain a difference of grammar to a friend who reads only English?
  3. Why might it be wise to leave a difference unresolved?
  4. How could two people on opposite sides of a debate agree on the type of a difference?

Independent assignment

Sorting twelve differences

In your own notebook, write 400 to 600 words, with a table. Choose three passages from this lesson, such as Psalm 22:16, Romans 3:22 and Matthew 6:11. Copy each from four translations. List four differences for each passage, twelve in all, and sort them by type. For each, name the evidence that would help decide it. Mark any that fit more than one type. Do not send this to anyone.

Further study