"I don't say that it is easy to bring out the general sense of a Biblical passage. Sometimes, for example, in the
Prophets, you have to give up, and admit that these passages may have been intelligible to the people they were
written for, but certainly aren't to us. But in St.Paul's epistles, for example, or in the Book of Job, it is quite clear that
there is a thread of argument running all through, though it is very far indeed from lying on the surface. To present
your material so that this thread of argument becomes apparent is no easy matter; but you have got to do it if the
Bible is to be read as a book, and not merely studied as a lesson." -
Trials of a Translator
1 comment:
This is a good passage for any translator to have in front of them about their work. To keep the translator from being a traitor, the translator has to keep the message of the text in front of them at all times as they work their way through the difficult maze of conveying the words and ideas formulated in one language to another, across the span of time, culture and worldview.
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