Hot on the heels of the Letter of Paul to the Romans is a translation I've been working on for quite a bit longer. The Book of Genesis is one of my favourite books, and one that I keep coming back to over and over. Further, I feel that I've come to understand it better after researching a lot of the archaeological data that we have. There are a lot of misconceptions among professional archaeologists and biblical scholars about the true history in the book of Genesis, and this translation tries to set the record straight by attempting to translate the Hebrew into an English that is understandable, but also very true to both Hebrew and Roman Catholicism.
Often names are given to translation strategies such as "dynamic equivalence" and "formal equivalence." Having spent a lot of time translating the bible, I feel that neither of these really translate the bible as God desires. Rather, the parts that God wishes to be left "as they are" (as in Formal equivalence) should be left as they are, but the parts that God wishes to be translated into language that is understandable to modern readers should be rendered as such. In particular, highly symbolic words or concepts need to be preserved, whereas Hebrew figures of speech that mean something in particular today should be translated so they are understandable (in particular for euphemisms). Still, I endeavoured as much as possible to preserve the interesting turn of phrase of the original Hebrew, in which there is so much character and meaning.
It is also often said that eisegesis is wrong (putting your own agenda into a piece), whereas exegesis (trying to read the author's agenda out of a piece) should be the goal in reading or translation. However, I also disagree with this. If the author's agenda is in accord with God's Will (as in Paul's in the letter of the Romans), it should be preserved. In the same way, if the translator or reader's agenda is in accord with God's Will (such as desiring to communicate exactly what God desires to say to us), then it should also be preserved. So the only agenda that matters is God's agenda, and that should be preserved in the text, added if it is necessary, and no outside agendas (particularly political or those of heretics) be allowed.
So in my opinion, the ideal translation strategy is to do just as St. Jerome did with the vulgate many hundreds of years ago; translate every passage just as God desires it to be translated. I think this means thoroughly understanding the original culture and in particular language (which is easier now because of the advanced bible tools we have at our disposal), yet still preserving as perfectly as possible the original text and meaning, while trying to let the text explain matters that may be confusing, and clarifying confusing or difficult passages as well as they can be. Overall, however, to illuminate that every matter detailed in the bible and every passage is the true history of God's people, and that we, the ancestors of the heroes of the bible should be aware of the truth, since it is always being contradicted by others. I hope to do this to bring as many others into God's kingdom as is possible. You can find the translation along with the two others currently posted in the translation section.
May our God and the father of our Lord Jesus Christ be praised and glorified in unity with the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.
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