This post was created in August 2017. Navigate to the scripture index: index-passages.
19 July 2022 -- I've since abandoned this specific project, and am working on something a bit different. This page remains for anyone who might find it interesting.
I am, in a piecemeal fashion which I might never finish, creating translations of individual chapters in the Hebrew Bible. If I finish all 929 chapters, perhaps I’ll have created something new. I’m releasing the translation itself into the public domain, while I’m retaining the notes as my own copyrighted property.
Below the fold is a basic description of the project, and at the bottom section a list of all the chapters done so far. Eventually I’d like to have a collection of supplementary materials on translation philosophy and methodology.
A Brief Introduction
Anything written before 1923 is in the public domain, and not subject to copyright law. Where it seems appropriate, I will borrow wording, sometimes without citing every instance, from translations made before 1923. For works since 1923, they are often copyrighted, unless the author explicitly releases them. I would like to make my own modest contribution to the production of uncopyrighted contemporary Bible translations. Where I make reference to copyrighted sources, I will make sure to footnote those uses. Where I am aware of different possible translation options, I try to extensively footnote the reasoning behind the various possibilities.
So far, the only notable project that I am aware of in this direction is the World English Bible, which suffers from a number of problems. Mostly, it is a lightly updated revision of the American Standard Version, and often does not explain various translation decisions. It suffers from a variety of inconsistencies in tone, uses non-standard punctuation often, and is produced in an explicitly Christian fashion by a missionary who believes that God talks to him. The philosophical underpinnings of my translation project are more in line with critical scholarship as it has been conducted for the last two hundred years or so. For an introduction to the WEB, see here. I will use wording from it when it seems appropriate, but this is a very different sort of project.
The eventual goal of this project, though I will probably never fully get there, is for this translation to reflect, in every verse, the majority position within mainstream biblical scholarship. Where there are significant differences within biblical scholarship, I’ll try to footnote them. However, in creating the first drafts for this project, I will not consult contemporary biblical scholars on every verse.
I start by creating my own translation from the Masoretic Text, and then as I go along I’ll footnote places where there are difficulty or things of interest. Alternatively, for some chapters I might just start with a public domain translation (like the RV), and look carefully at the Hebrew while adapting the text to my own purposes. I won’t consciously ever go against the majority of biblical scholarship in the translation itself, although I’m sure it will happen inadvertently many times.
I have no illusions about replacing the major scholarly translations like the NRSV and NJPS. By all means, rely on them more than you rely on my anonymous online efforts. And by all means rely on real scholarly commentaries more than on this website. But if you ever want to be able to quote an unlimited amount of some translation, and modify it for your own uses, without worrying about legal repercussions, this project is here for you. I see something missing among online Bible resources, and in my free time I chip away at the task of producing something to fill that lack.
Links
So far, draft translations are available for various chapters of Genesis: ch. 7. ch. 8, ch. 13, ch. 14, ch. 15, ch. 16, ch. 17, ch. 18 and notes, ch. 19 and notes, ch. 20 and notes, ch. 21 and notes. I've also drafted Exodus 1, Psalm 1, and Psalm 2. I have no guarantees or forecasts about when, or whether, I’ll get the rest done.