About this
Translation
First, what this version is not. It is not a radical new translation. It retains much of the style and language of older versions, and does not seek to improve where improvement is not needed. Nor is it another modern language version, of which there are quite enough on the market already. Modernisation for its own sake is avoided, as is the popular trend towards idiomatic or dynamic equivalence methods of translation.
It is essentially a non-scholarly version for the non-scholarly reader, intended primarily for devotional use, rather than analytical study. What is important is the text upon which is based, which is primarily that of the standard Greek Bible, as authorised by the Orthodox Church of Greece. It has two additions, which are found in the Slavonic Bible, also of Orthodox tradition, but are no longer found in the Greek. These are the Prayer of Manasseh and 3 Ezra. The Prayer of Manasseh is appended to the last chapter of 2 Chronicles as it is in the Slavonic; and 3 Ezra is placed at the end of the Old Testament as it is in the Slavonic, but before 4 Maccabees, which is not in the Slavonic but forms an appendix to the Old Testament in the Greek.
The objective before us is to produce an English Bible that will have all the richness and flavour of the traditional eastern text. The Greek text is taken as it stands, with no attempt to reconcile it with either the Masoretic text or any other version. Fidelity to the text is maintained as closely as possible, but good English sense is aimed at rather than pedantic literalism. Style is evolving as the project proceeds, and is frequently reviewed and corrected. It is hoped that the end result will accurately convey the true spirit and sense of the original; in good, readable, but not necessarily modern English, preserving the character and dignity of the ancient text, and retaining as much as possible of the original idiom, not just of the Greek, but of the underlying Hebrew original.
Differences between the Septuagint and Masoretic are of two kinds: those that result from variant readings in the original Hebrew, and those that result from the Greek translation. In the case of variant readings, the Greek text is followed consistently and exclusively. Differences due to translation are more subtle. Biblical Hebrew is quite limited in vocabulary, but rich in idiom. Vocabulary is limited, but words have a wide variety of shades of meaning. Greek is more clearly defined, having a more extensive vocabulary, as well as a larger range of tenses, moods, cases, etc., much of which in the Hebrew has to be understood from the context. The Greek translation will often shed light on the way the original text was understood and interpreted; so if the wording or syntax appears to have changed in translation, the Greek will still be followed. On the other hand, Greek often seems inadequate to express some of the most characteristic Hebrew idiom, much of which is lost in translation, so if the difference is purely idiomatic, the Hebrew idiom will be restored and reflected wherever possible.
After much consideration it has been decided, for the most part, to drop the thee/thou second person singular from the narrative, but to retain it in some poetic or liturgical sections, such as the Psalms. Similarly, the –eth endings of the third person singular are mostly dropped, but may occasionally be used in a poetic context. Names of persons and places, as they appear in the Greek, are on the whole unfamiliar to the English reader and can make awkward reading. Generally names are given in their Hebrew form if it is recognisable, but often the Greek name is completely different. Sometimes the result is a compromise, smoothed over for the sake of readability in English.
The order of books follows that of the Greek Bible, as do the arrangement and numbering of chapters and verses. Paragraphing is the same as that in the Greek, but with occasional modifications. Capitalisation follows normal English usage, but is on the whole quite restrained. Other features of the translation, its style, and presentation will be self-apparent to the reader.