IT’S NOT HERESY. It’s Bible study. I’m prepping to lead my Sunday morning Bible study group in doing something they’ve never done before.
Bible translation.
For the better part of an hour I’m going to turn them into a team of Bible translators.
I’m going to pick just a few verses in the Bible and I’m going to have us work together on translating the verses into the kind of English we talk.
The Bible in our own words. No scholarly stuff.
I’m hoping to get a big screen TV in the classroom. Then I’ll call up the verses in five Bible translations on BibleGateway.com so the group can see how the scholars have translated the verses. Then I’ll let them brainstorm others ways to express the same idea.
Below are three passages I’m toying with using.
See what you think. And if you’ve got a minute or two, pick out one and let me know how you would put it in your own words.
I’ll let you read each passage from the New International Version, compared to how I might put it in Steve’s Bible Translation.
NIV:
A gentle answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Steve’s Bible Translation:
A soft-spoken answer can defuse an explosive soul,
But a loudmouth will push their button.
NIV:
Discipline your children, for in that there is hope;
do not be a willing party to their death.
Steve’s Bible Translation:
Correct your children while they’re still young.
Let it slide and it’ll soon be too late to do anything
but watch them make tragic choices.
NIV:
Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.
Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of one’s house for love,
it would be utterly scorned.
Steve’s Bible Translation:
Hold me close.
Close enough that I can feel your heart and you can feel mine.
Two hearts beating as one couple.
Keep me close.
Like a necklace always near your heart.
Like a ring always near your touch.
There is nothing stronger than my love for you.
Death will not kill it.
The grave will not hide it.
Love is the essence of a flame.
A fire that will never die.
Oceans will not quench it.
All the souls, wealthy and poor, who have ever lived
Or will ever live
Could not afford the price I put
On the love I have for you.
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