Working for the Word - a Bible translation podcast

Isaiah 7:14 in the KJV reads: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” But then the RSV came out in 1952 and translated virgin as young woman. Without a doubt more has been written on the interpretation of this term than on any other verse in the Old Testament. The majority of modern scholars for the last century have asserted that the Hebrew word ‘alma refers merely to a young woman. Are they right, or are the KJV translators and church fathers correct that it means virgin, as the apostle Matthew implied in the first chapter of his gospel? Make sure to get your own copy of Dr. Rico's book here. For those who might want the French version, it's available here. my books | free Scripture prayer apps | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook

Since last time we talked about the book of Job, I wanted to touch on another translation issue in the book that many people haven’t heard of or thought about. This is found in 42:6, where Job is speaking to God after hearing his voice out of the whirlwind. If you’re reading the ESV it’ll sound like this: “therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” And then you’ll notice this little footnote on the word repent that says “or and am comforted.” These are wildly different translations, and the average Bible reader doesn’t have the tools to make any sense of it. So let’s talk about it.  עַל־כֵּ֭ן אֶמְאַ֣ס וְנִחַ֑מְתִּי עַל־עָפָ֥ר וָאֵֽפֶר׃ my books | free Scripture prayer apps | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook

When talking about Bible translation what often gets avoided or buried is all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes that isn’t ideal. Many people like to imagine that their Bible translation came to them through perfect, peaceful processes, via perfect, holy men of God without struggles or weaknesses. But that’s just not the case, and we need to be transparent and honest about these things. Christianity is not about putting on enough makeup to hide our blemishes, nor is it about rewriting history to make ourselves look better. We are all broken people through whom God is glorifying himself by saving us and slowly making us more like Jesus. It’s messy, and it’s not helpful to be in denial about that. Today we’re going to look at some of the difficult, strange, or even sad things that go on in the background of some of the translations we love. Definitely check out all of Jordan's article here. And you can get Peter Thuesen's book here. my books | free Scripture prayer apps | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook

When someone asks you to help check a translation, where do you start? What kinds of questions should you ask? This happened to me recently, so let’s talk about it. Also, it’s been a while since we dug deep into some actual checking issues that arise in real world situations, so let’s talk about some of the things I’ve been running into in Deuteronomy and 1 Samuel. my books | free Scripture prayer apps | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook

Since the time of the Reformation the word holiness among orthodox protestants has been understood mainly as purity and transcendence. Throughout this series we’ve seen that, on the contrary, holiness carries the core connotation of absolute devotion or consecration to God. And for God to be holy means that he is completely devoted to his people and his name. But today we want to address a couple objections and talk about how we can go forward from here with Bible translation. You can read my journal article on this topic here. my books | free Scripture prayer apps | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook

Why is God called holy three times in Isaiah 6? Why does the Holy Spirit have “holy” in his name instead of “loving” or “powerful”? We’re going to try to answer these questions and continue searching out a more biblical way of understanding the Hebrew root qadash, which is where our word “holy” in English comes from. Once again, we’re going to see that the core meaning of holiness has nothing to do with separation, but rather of meeting, belonging, and total devotion. Listen to the full lecture by Dr. Peter Gentry here. You can read my journal article on this topic here. my books | free Scripture prayer apps | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook

Last time we began an in-depth look at what it means for someone to be holy, and we saw how there has been a lot of confusion around the concept of holiness for centuries. Since a word’s meaning is the sum of its contexts, we’re going to continue looking at the broader contexts in Scripture that reveal that for God to be holy means that he is totally devoted to his people and his name.  Peter Gentry has written more along these lines in this recent publication. my books | free Scripture prayer apps | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook

The word holy is firmly embedded in our western consciousness with certain connotations. We think we know what it means, but most of us never stop to think where our idea of the meaning of holiness came from and whether it’s consistent. The standard understanding of God’s holiness is usually described as “separation”, “transcendence”, or “infinite purity.” But does it really mean that when we are talking about God? And how have people typically translated the word holy in other countries? We’re going to go deep together into answering these questions and more.  Book on Holiness by Costecalde. my books | free Scripture prayer apps | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook

God’s communication with humanity was intended from the beginning for “every nation, tribe, and language.” While all languages are equally competent in expressing the message of the Bible, each language has particular and sometimes unique capacities to communicate certain biblical messages in exceptionally enriching ways that other languages cannot. But where can the average person get a window into how other languages communicate God’s truth? Today we talk about Translation Insights and Perspectives (also known as TIPs), a free online resource at tips.translation.bible, which provides a growing collection of translation insights in the form of stories so they can be made available to everyone in the church as well as researchers and others. Thank you, Jost Zetzsche for making this possible! If you live in the US, Canada, or Europe, and want to win a hardcopy of any one of my books on my website hismagnificence.com, then this is your chance. All you have to do is leave a review of the podcast on iTunes (which you can still do even if you usually listen on Android or Spotify), and then email me here at andrewdcase@gmail.com. In the email just include the name you used to leave the review, and if you're willing, tell me about how you started listening to the podcast. If you're chosen in the drawing, I'll reach out to you and ask which book you'd like and mail it to you. my books | free Scripture prayer apps | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook

The Legacy Standard Bible is a new revision of the NASB that's in the works right now led by people from the Master's Seminary in California. When new English translations come out there tends to be a lot of different rhetoric and assumptions that get thrown around, and it's not always clear and helpful to the average person. So let's sit down together and join a roundtable discussion that the LSB translators had. Let's listen, and comment a bit. See the full discussion here. If you live in the US, Canada, or Europe, and want to win a hardcopy of any one of my books on my website hismagnificence.com, then this is your chance. All you have to do is leave a review of the podcast on iTunes (which you can still do even if you usually listen on Android or Spotify), and then email me here. In the email just include the name you used to leave the review, and if you're willing, tell me about how you started listening to the podcast. If you're chosen in the drawing, I'll reach out to you and ask which book you'd like and mail it to you.  my books | free Scripture prayer apps | music | Hebrew | academic articles | facebook