Most Bible translations bend the text, making the rough bits more palatable to modern sensibilities. In this Old Testament translation, Goldingay invites readers to hear the strange accent of the Hebrew text unbaptized in pious religiosity. Translating consistently, word by word, this unique interpretation allows the sacred text to be read through fresh eyes.
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Most Bible translations bend the text, making the rough bits more palatable to modern sensibilities. In this Old Testament translation, Goldingay invites readers to hear the strange accent of the Hebrew text unbaptized in pious religiosity. Translating consistently, word by word, this unique interpretation allows the sacred text to be read through fresh eyes.
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Add this copy of The First Testament: a New Translation to cart. $26.47, good condition, Sold by Goodwill rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brooklyn Park, MN, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by IVP Academic.
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FINE in FINE jacket. 923pp. 8vo, Silver gilt stamped black cloth with silver place ribbon. Second printing. Exceedingly clean and sharp in like DJ. From the publisher: 'In The First Testament: A New Translation, John Goldingay interrupts our sleepy familiarity with the Old Testament. He sets our expectations off balance by inviting us to hear the strange accent of the Hebrew text. We encounter the sinewed cadences of the Hebrew Bible, its tics and its textures. Translating words consistently, word by word, allows us to hear resonances and see the subtle figures stitched into the textual carpet. In a day of white-bread renderings of the Bible, here is a nine-grain translation with no sugar or additives. In The First Testament the language of Zion comes to us unbaptized in pious religiosity. Familiar terms such as salvation, righteousness, and holiness are avoided. We cock our ears to listen more carefully, to catch the intonations and features we had not caught before...The First Testament is an invitation to read the sacred text through the eyes of one of the most accomplished Old Testament scholars in the English-speaking world today. With introductions to each book, it is an attractive translation for the classroom as much as for personal study and enjoyment.'.
OT John Goldingay has written a new translation on the Old Testament, what he calls the First Testament. His translation style is closer to word-by-word rather than sentence-by-sentence. If something is vague or unclear, it's because Goldingay has followed the Hebrew text. Some names are transliterated, others are translated. He tries to use the same Hebrew word to translate any one Hebrew word. This way, for example, you can see how the word "serve" shows up throughout Exodus without that Hebrew word being obscured by a different English word.
Sometimes Goldingay translates names (Nod = 'Drifting'). Other times he gives the Hebrew of someone's name and/or how it puns on a nearby word. In Genesis 9, Japhet is written as 'Yephet'. Goldingay translates 9:17 as, "May God extend [yapht] Yephet and may he dwell in Shem's tents" showing the pun on Japhet's name.
In some verses he translates one name but not another. In Genesis 12:8 he shows that 'Ha'ay' (=Ai) means 'The Ruin,' but not that 'Bet-el' (=Bethel) means 'House of God' (though he may explain this later on. Still, he normal gives the translation on the first occurrence).
Goldingay's section headings are pretty interesting, with some humorously getting the point of the passage across. Genesis 11: "Babel becomes Babble-on."
Some phrases remind me Hawaiian Pidgin translation of the NT, "Da Jesus Book." In Genesis 12.1-3, God will make Abraham to be a 'big nation' (instead of a great nation). In Numbers 14.18, Yahweh is not steadfast in love but 'big in commitment' (see also Num 14.12). The translation is fine, but why not leave 'great' as it was?
Goldingay doesn't use certain words like salvation, holiness, covenant, eternity, justice, and righteousness because he thinks these words don't correspond well with their Hebrew counterparts. What does he use instead of "righteous"? "Faithful," which has a different connotation to it. A righteous person is faithful, but a faithful person isn't necessarily righteous. Genesis 18:25a: "Far be it from you to do a thing like this, putting to death the faithful with the faithless, so the faithful and the faithless are the same."
Genesis 18:25b is clunky, "Isn't the one who exercises authority over the entire earth to exercise authority."
More examples are found on my blog.
Because the wording is so odd (being like Hebrew), you will read more slowly and carefully. Goldingay doesn't intend for his translation to overshadow any others. He admits there is no perfect translation. I think he succeeds in that. Goldingay is a moderately critical scholar, and I don't agree with all of his views, which do come out in his translation. If you pick this up, don't make this your main translation.
