I
read the book of Ruth and part of the book of Romans. Ruth is my
favorite, and Romans is Paul's first letter in the cannon order. I also
read the preface and introductory comments to find out more about the
New Life Bible specifically.
The language was easy to
read, as intended by the translators. The New Life Bible uses one word
for the same word in Hebrew or Greek throughout all the occurrences of
that particular word, and they only used 850 words for the entire
vocabulary.
So, if the word corn were in the Bible, then every place
the original sources used corn in their language these translators would
use corn. I chose corn as it is a New World vegetable and not found
originally in the Middle East.
Also, the translators used a word for
word method of translating, which gives a literal translation of each
word, rather than a dynamic equivalency, which interprets the intended
meaning of puns and other verbal tricks and gives the idea of the
meaning rather than the exact word meanings.
By choosing the
words as they did and limiting the vocabulary, they have made a Bible
that would be great for new readers that are either children or adults
whose original language is English, readers for whom English is a non
original and new language, and in the mission field throughout the world
where ever English would be taught.
This all brought a freshness to the
book of Ruth. Even though I have read it many times, I found new
questions to ponder just because of the different words used. I prefer
the word for word translation used because it allows the reader to
figure out what is the meaning of the phrases and puns on their own.
I liked all that I read of the book.
I gave it 4/5 stars. :)
I got my copy from the publisher through the NetGalley review program in exchange for my honest opinion.
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