The Bible Langauge

Last week I was glancing through some books that were lying around in the church which, as a former librarian, is a favourite pastime of mine. The top one was a thin pamphlet, was called 'The Life of Christ Jesus in Bible Language'. Intrigued, and wondering just what a book written in Greek or perhaps Hebrew, was doing in an Anglican Church, I opened it to have a look at the title page. Apparently The Bible Language was the language of the King James Version of the bible. Who knew?

As I was pondering this, I was reminded of a reader of this blog saying to me a few months ago, that she enjoyed reading ‘Nudgings’ because it was down to earth and she could understand what was being said. That same day, a friend, while talking of her spiritual journey, spoke of a priest who had made a difference in her life, because he spoke in words that she could understand and that made sense to her. As these three events came together in my mind, I began to reflect that the lesson to be learnt from them was a simple one. The church tends to use ‘Bible Language in its liturgy, hymns and sermons. My friends seem to be saying that they prefer the common vernacular because it speaks to them and is easy to understand. This doesn’t seem like rocket science to me!

We have all heard the verse quoted from Matthew 5:33-37: 'Again. you have heard it said of those of ancient times, 'You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord." But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. And do not swear by your head for you cannot make one hair white or black. "Let your word be "Yes, Yes" or 'No, No"; anything more than this comes from the evil one". The meaning of this text that I am most familiar with is that we are people of our word. When we say either yes or no, that is what we mean. We are to be neither fence-sitters of prevaricators.

Looking at The Message Bible this is what you find when the translation is in the vernacular of today [emphasis mine]:“And don’t say anything you don’t mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ and never doing it, or saying, ‘God be with you,’ and not meaning it. You don’t make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong." Matthew 33-37

This agrees with what both my friends said so wisely, that when biblical teachings are talked about in the everyday language of our time, those hearing those teachings can both understand and relate to them more easily. For Biblical language to always be understood y those who hear it, it needs to be in the vernacular of the people. When we find the meaning is obscure or needs to be interpreted to us, then it is time to call for a new translation of that message.

The language used in the King James version is beautiful. It reads like poetry. And it is the language I always hear in my head, and probably always will, whenever I hear the Christmas story read aloud. But that does not mean it conveys the meaning of the Greek and Latin manuscripts being translated in the clearest manner. What translation of the Bible resonates with you?

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