This post was originally written in June 2017. index-topical-hb
This page is for collecting what are (in my opinion) places where the text of the World English Bible could be improved. I must say this for the World English Bible — in terms of contemporary (post- thee and thou) translations of the Bible into English, the World English Bible is the best one in the public domain (but now see this footnote[1]). However, more work is needed. There are also numerous places where the language is unnecessarily archaic — the WEB is a pretty lightly modernized version of the ASV — but I won’t bore you by exhaustively writing all those cases out. I’ll try to distinguish between minor awkwardnesses and things that make a difference for a reader’s ability to understand.
Genesis 13:1. Instead of reading “South,” it would be more accurate to say “Negev.”
Genesis 13:3. The same issue as in verse 1.
Genesis 13:11. The term “Plain of the Jordan” has a capital P here, although Plain is not capitalized in 10 or 12. One way or another, the inconsistency should be resolved — I recommend capitalization of all the references to the kikkar.
Genesis 15:7. The expression “Ur of the Chaldees” is quite archaic. It could be updated to “Ur of the Chaldeans,” or, even better, “Ur Kasdim,” as in Hebrew.
Exodus 1:12. The expression “were grieved because of” is based on an older English usage of the term. Something more like “loathed” or “dreaded” would better transmit the meaning in today’s language.
Genesis 44:5. Consider this odd mixture of casual and stilted English: Isn't this that from which my lord drinks, and by which he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.