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Clear, Cogent, and Wrong
I frequently hear support for a translation philosophy that is in favor of only changing the original “as much as necessary” or of keeping the formal structure of the original “as far as possible” (to...
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First Things First: Stress, Focus, and Biblical Hebrew Word Order
The importance of word order in Biblical Hebrew recently came up regarding Genesis 1:1, and in particular how we know that that verse answers the question “when?” Here’s some more information and some...
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Top Translation Traps: Mimicry
One of the most non-intuitive aspects of translation is that mimicry can lead the translator astray. For example, it stands to reason that an adverb at the beginning of Hebrew sentence should be...
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On Genesis 1:1
While most translations agree that the translation of Genesis 1:1 should read, “In the beginning…” the (Jewish) JPS translation offers instead, “When God began to create…” And the NLT and some others...
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What did God Really Create in the Beginning?
What did God create in the beginning? The usual answer is as obvious as it is wrong: “heaven and earth.” The problem is that the Hebrew for the first word here means “sky,” not “heaven.” In English,...
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