Lesson 3 | Peeling Back the English
How Bible Translation Works
Later in this lesson, we will face the question of why Bible translations differ. But before we can do so, we must lay down a couple of important precepts that are key to understanding the challenge. They go like this:
All language is ambiguous to some degree.
Different languages are ambiguous in different ways.
Therefore, translation work is hard.
All language is ambiguous to some degree.
Is this really so? Certainly, language can be ambiguous when someone does not know how to express himself well. If my son asks, “Are you ready?” without any sort of context, there is no way for me to know what he means. Ready for what?
But good communication, like we find in the Bible, is surely different, isn’t it? Yes and no.
5 When no bush of the field [exactly which plants does this include?] was yet in the land [which land?] and no small plant of the field [again, which plant species are meant and which are not?] had yet sprung up—for the LORD God [Father, Son, or Spirit?] had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man [no male? or no human?] to work the ground… Genesis 2:5 ESV
25 When the tempest passes [does “passes” mean “while it is underway” or “after it is gone”?], the wicked is no more [dead? insignificant in society because his property is gone?], but the righteous [person? angel? sailor?] is established [by whom?] forever. Proverbs 10:25 ESV
5 Put to death [what particular actions does Paul mean by this?] therefore what is earthly in you [is "you" a singular person or a bunch of people? who?]: sexual immorality [what is and is not included in this?], impurity [sexual? dietary? ceremonial? something else?], passion [of all sorts?], evil desire [for what particular things?], and covetousness, which is idolatry. Colossians 3:5 ESV
14 And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen [who is that?], the faithful [faithful to what/whom?] and true witness [testifying to what?], the beginning of God’s creation [does that mean that this person was also created?]. Revelation 3:14 ESV
These verses do not have a degree of ambiguity because they were poorly stated, but for other reasons. In some cases, there is purposeful ambiguity. “Put to death” is probably one of these since there is more than one single action that Paul expects us to take. Other times, the ambiguity is cleared up by the context. The “Amen” obviously refers to Jesus when you start reading from Revelation 1:17-18 and on through chapter three. Still, other instances simply are subject to the natural ambiguity of language such as “small plant of the field.”
The difficulty with Bible translation lies in the fact that the ambiguity of words and sentence structure differs between languages.
Years ago, I was living in China and was struck by this point in a comical way. A friend of mine was telling me a story about his uncle and got stuck. See, in Chinese, there are distinct words for your father’s elder brother, your father’s younger brother, your mother’s elder brother, and your mother’s younger brother. As we were speaking in English, my friend couldn’t just reference his “uncle” and move on to the story because it felt to him like he wasn’t being clear. He needed to awkwardly stop and explain that it was his mother’s elder brother. Suffice it to say, I didn’t care about that detail!
On the other hand, it really bothered me while living in Israel that there is no easy way to distinguish between french fries and potato chips. Israelis couldn’t care less.
Ambiguity of Terms
This ambiguity can exist in the words we used. For example, the word translated “land” in Genesis 2:5 above can mean either Earth or land. Every time this word appears in the Old Testament, the translator must pick one or the other—he/she cannot choose both!
Or take “angel” in Revelation 3:14. The Greek behind this word also means “messenger” and there is a real debate about which is intended in Revelation 2-3.
Ambiguity of Grammar
Even more tricky is the reality that grammatical structure can be ambiguous. And, again, how it is ambiguous differs between languages!
Colossians 3:5 above presents us with an example where there is ambiguity in English that does not exist in Greek. Reading this verse in English, it is not grammatically apparent what is being called idolatry. Is it the entire list or just covetousness? However, in Greek, the grammatical gender of “which” makes clear that it is specifically the covetousness that is in view.
Now check out Proverbs 10:25. The ESV says, “the righteous is established forever.” But the structure in biblical Hebrew is not so definite. It is possible that the righteous person himself is actually being called an everlasting foundation (see the NET2, KJV), or being said to have an everlasting foundation (see the NASB). In this verse, a (purposeful?) ambiguity lies in the original language that cannot be maintained in English. Again, the translator needs to make a choice.