Author: Wayne Leman

Linguist, Bible translation consultant, grandpa (of 16), sometimes a poet, incurable punster.

Does the Lord keep you?

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Numbers 6:24 is the beginning of one of the most beautiful benedictions in the Bible. Ministers often recite these verses as a blessing upon their congregations. The words have been set to music and I love to hear them sung.

But I don’t know what one of the most important words in this benediction means. It is the word “keep”. I know what “keep” means ordinarily, but not how it is used in Numbers 6:24, with minor variations worded as:

The Lord bless you and keep you (KJV, ASV, D-R, Lexham, NASB, NIV, NKJV, ESV, NCV, TM, CEB)

I do understand the following translations of Number 6:24:

May the Lord bless you and take care of you (GNT)

I pray that the Lord will bless and protect you (CEV)

May the Lord bless you and take good care of you.  (NIRV)

May the LORD bless you and guard you (REB)

The Lord will bless you and watch over you. (GW)

The LORD bless you and protect you (NET)

May the Lord bless you and protect you. (NLT)

May Yahweh bless you and protect you (HCSB)

May the LORD bless you and guard you. (ISV)

Now, because I have heard the traditional words of Numbers 6:24 all my life, I have assumed that I understood them. But when I have stopped to think about the words, I realize that “keep” doesn’t sound right to me as it is used in this verse. How about you?

Eugene Peterson learns how to translate the Bible

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Right now I am listening to a video interview with Eugene Peterson, translator of The Message version of the Bible. Peterson explains how he became a Bible translator. First he became a biblical language scholar. Then he discovered books recently published about how to translate the Bible. He read translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey, from Greek to English. He discovered the translation principles use by these translators. Finally, he began translating the Bible for his church congregation. Out of that experience came The Message. Peterson does not intend The Message to be a study Bible. But he intends it to help people understand the the message (!) of the Bible, expressed in contemporary English, applicable to their own lives.

You, too, can listen to this interview with Eugene Peterson:

http://www.qideas.org/practices/live/showing.aspx

You will need to register with your name, email address, and zip code before you can listen to the video. Actually, there are two videos, one on “Practicing Sabbath”, the other, the one I’m listening to, is titled “Immersed in Scripture.”

new multitask Bible app

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Have you ever found your attention wandering as your read your Bible or listen to it in audio form? Your brain is probably trying to multitask because you have so much on your mind in our busy world. The answer for reading the Bible with divided attention will soon be here, the RDWT Bible app produced by Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth Inc. With the RDWT Bible app, you will not only be able to read and listen to the Bible, but at the same time you will be able to take notes on what you are reading or hearing, or write down anything else that comes to your mind, all without missing anything from your Bible experience. Do you need to liven up your Bible experience? You can with the dramatized audio track or video track options which you can select as you are experiencing the Bible with RDWT. In fact, you can select both tracks at the same time for fuller multitasking as you experience the Bible. And if you need further sensory input as you experience the Bible, you can press the Other Video button on the RDWT and add an unrelated video track.

The RDWT app will play on any smart phone, electronic reader such as Kindle, as well as legacy computers.

Each of the best-selling English Bible versions will be available on the RDWT app. You may experience them individually, but your Bible experience will be greatly enhanced as you select additional versions to be experienced at the same time. On the app you will have a choice of synchronizing the same Bible reference for each version, or you can select the multitask version mode to experience different Bible passages at the same time.

The RDWT is currently being Beta tested. But the latest RDWT memo says they hope to launch this revolutionary new Bible product to the market by April 1, 2013. Until then, those who would like to get a taste of what Bible multitasking can be like can do so by checking out the new Google multitasking cursor function: https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/multitask.html.

Have a good first day of April, and keep Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth!

How Not to Do Bible Translation

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I’m an Alaskan. I have a special interest in Bible translation of Alaska Native languages. I just discovered a blog post titled “How Not to Do Bible Translation.” The post begins:

An Alaskan radio station is reporting on the dire reception of a new Tlingit (an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of America) encyclopedia.  “The problem is: The language in the book is not recognizable by contemporary scholars, or Native Tlingit speakers.” All in all, the story is absolutely baffling and provides a very clear negative example for Bible translators.

Drew, the blog author, continues with his conclusions on what the translator did wrong. It’s worth your read and worth comments, if you with to make them.

Background on this translation project is given on the website of the above-mentioned Alaskan radio station which reports on matters concerning the languages and cultures in Southeastern Alaska where Tlingit is spoken.