Translating the Bible into English brings its own dangers: you can make enemies.
The first major translator, William Tyndale, put 'love' instead of 'charity', 'favour' instead of 'grace', 'seniors' instead of 'priests' for presbyteroi. Was he being heretical or merely preferring a plain English term to ecclesiastical jargon? In any case he was garrotted and burnt at the stake for his pains.
More recently, Pope Francis has been accused of deepening division within the Church by encouraging a change in the translation of the Lord's Prayer.
The most deeply divisive issue is inclusive language. It must be made clear that the message of the Bible is addressed to women as well as men. Paul steps out of line with the practice of the time by prescribing not only obedience of wives to husbands but also the self-sacrificing love of husbands to wives.
Modern official pronouncements express this equality by stating that 'every candidate should bring their CV'. So should Paul's letters be explicitly addressed to 'brothers and sisters'? Were the sisters as well as the brothers addressed by Peter at the 'full meeting of the disciples' which elected the Seven Deacons?
And what happens if a sister offends you?
Should we translate it as: 'If a brother or sister does something wrong, have it out with him or her alone. If he or she listens to you, you have won back your brother or sister'?
This is surely too fussy.
In such cases, the NRSV solves the linguistic problem by slipping in a neutral noun, 'a believer' or 'a member of the church' instead of 'him or her', but this narrows the field quite illegitimately. Usually the linguistic problem can be solved by substituting plural for singular ('those who want to save their souls'), but to many this generalisation seems to devalue both human individual responsibility and divine care for individuals.
Another difficulty can be finding the right word for a biblical concept. In 1516 Luther wrote, 'I did not love, yes, I hated the just God who punishes sinners.'
The Hebrew noun 'zedakah' and its Greek equivalent 'dikaiosune' are most obviously translated 'justice'. But divine justice is quite different from human justice, for we can pray, 'In your justice, Lord, forgive me my sins.'
A human judge justly punishes faults, while God's justice consists in fidelity to the divine promises, for God is a 'God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in faithful love and constancy' (Exodus 34.6).
One solution was to translate it by two words, 'saving justice'. The gospel is God's power to save, 'for in it is revealed the saving justice of God' (Romans 1.17) – a key verse in Romans.
A further difficulty is that human beings can also be 'just', but human justice is a gift from God; it corresponds to divine justice and consists in clinging to the justice of God in faith. A better solution is to take a little-used word, 'righteous', to express both human and divine qualities; but then should we go so far as to say that Abraham was 'righteoused' ('justified') by faith?
A little zoological research brings light about animals. Traditionally Jesus tells messengers to 'Go and tell that fox, Herod...' (Luke 13.32), but there are no foxes in Israel, and the corresponding scavenger (for which the same Greek word is used) is the jackal. 'Go and tell that jackal, Herod...' really puts Herod in his place!
On the other hand the charming, timid little rodent, sometimes translated 'rabbit' or 'coney' has no white tail and is better presented as a 'rock-rabbit' which takes refuge in the crags (Psalm 104.18). In the thickets of the Jordan valley it is now joined by a 'buffalo' rather than the 'wild-ox' of Psalm 93.
Bible translation raises lots of questions, not all of which have easy answers. It is the task of each generation to reflect, discuss and pray over God's Word to us, and so come to understand it to the best of our ability.
The Rev Henry Wansbrough OSB is a monk of Ampleforth Abbey, Yorkshire, and a renowned biblical scholar. He is the translator and General Editor of both the Revised New Jerusalem Bible and New Jerusalem Bible (1985) translations. Fr Henry is Cathedral Prior of Durham (2004–present), Magister Scholarum of the English Benedictine Congregation (2001–2009), Chairman of the Trustees of the Catholic Biblical Association (1996–2004), and Emeritus Member of the Faculty of Theology in the University of Oxford (1990–2004). He has lectured widely in Australia, Africa, many countries in Europe and in the United States, and has published more than 20 books.
The Revised New Jerusalem Bible (Darton, Longman and Todd, £39.99) is available from www.dltbibles.com and all good book retailers.
