New English Bible
Encyclopedia
The New English Bible is a translation of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

 into modern English directly from the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts (and from Latin for 2 Esdras
2 Esdras
2 Esdras or Latin Esdras is the name of an apocalyptic book in many English versions of the Bible . Its authorship is ascribed to Ezra. It is reckoned among the Apocrypha by many Protestant churches. Although Second Esdras exists in its complete form only in Latin, it was originally written in...

 in the Apocrypha
Apocrypha
The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....

). The New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

 was published in 1961. The Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

 (along with the Apocrypha) was published in 1970.

It was significantly revised and published in 1989 as the Revised English Bible
Revised English Bible
The Revised English Bible is a 1989 English language translation of the Bible and updates the New English Bible, of 1970. As with its predecessor, it is published by the publishing houses of both Oxford University and Cambridge University....

.

Background

Near the time when the copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...

 to the English Revised Version was due to expire (1935), the Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

 and the Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...

, who were the current English Revised Version copyright holders, began investigations to determine whether a modern revision of the English Revised Version text was necessary. In May 1946 G. S. Hendry, along with the Presbytery of Stirling
Stirling
Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...

 and Dunblane
Dunblane
Dunblane is a small cathedral city and former burgh north of Stirling in the Stirling council area of Scotland. The town is situated off the A9 road, on the way north to Perth. Its main landmark is Dunblane Cathedral and the Allan Water runs through the town centre, with the Cathedral and the High...

 produced a notice, which was presented to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....

, indicating that the work of translating should be undertaken in order to produce a Bible with thoroughly "modern English." After the work of delegation was finished, a general conference was held in October 1946 where it was determined that a completely fresh translation should be undertaken rather than a revision as originally suggested by the University Presses of Oxford and Cambridge.

Translation

In due time, three committees of translators and one committee
Committee
A committee is a type of small deliberative assembly that is usually intended to remain subordinate to another, larger deliberative assembly—which when organized so that action on committee requires a vote by all its entitled members, is called the "Committee of the Whole"...

 of literary advisers were enlisted and charged with the task of producing the New English Bible. Each of the three translation committees was responsible for a different section of the Bible. These three sections consisted of the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

, the Apocrypha
Apocrypha
The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....

, and the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

.

The work of translating was typically undertaken in this fashion: A member, or members, of one of the committees would produce a draft of a book, or books, of the Bible (typically from the section in which they were assigned) and submit the draft to the section committee. Occasionally a scholar outside the committee would be invited to participate in this phase of the translation process and was asked to submit a draft of the book or books with which he or she had renowned experience. This draft was then distributed among the members of the appropriate committee. Members of the committee would then meet and discuss the translation choices made in the draft. The draft that resulted from this meeting of the concerned committee was then sent to the committee of literary advisers, who would revise the draft in co-operation with the translators. When a consensus on the draft was reached, the final draft would be sent on to the Joint Committee, which was head over the four sub-committees.

For the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

 the translators primarily made use of the Masoretic Text
Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...

 as presented by Rudolf Kittel
Rudolf Kittel
Rudolf Kittel was a German Old Testament scholar.Kittel studied at Tübingen University. He became Professor of Old Testament at Breslau and Leipzig...

 in his 3rd Edition of the Biblia Hebraica (1937). In addition to the Masoretic Text
Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...

, the translators also made use of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Dead Sea scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...

, the Samaritan Pentateuch
Samaritan Pentateuch
The Samaritan Pentateuch, sometimes called Samaritan Torah, , is a version of the Hebrew language Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, used by the Samaritans....

, the Greek Septuagint, the Aramaic Targums, and the Syriac Peshitta
Peshitta
The Peshitta is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition.The Old Testament of the Peshitta was translated into Syriac from the Hebrew, probably in the 2nd century AD...

.

For the Apocrypha
Apocrypha
The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....

 the translators made the decision to follow The Old Testament in Greek according to the Septuagint, edited by H. B. Swete. Also, the translators made use of the Codex Sinaiticus
Codex Sinaiticus
Codex Sinaiticus is one of the four great uncial codices, an ancient, handwritten copy of the Greek Bible. It is an Alexandrian text-type manuscript written in the 4th century in uncial letters on parchment. Current scholarship considers the Codex Sinaiticus to be one of the best Greek texts of...

 (for the Book of Tobit
Book of Tobit
The Book of Tobit is a book of scripture that is part of the Catholic and Orthodox biblical canon, pronounced canonical by the Council of Carthage of 397 and confirmed for Roman Catholics by the Council of Trent...

), Theodotion
Theodotion
Theodotion was a Hellenistic Jewish scholar,, perhaps working in Ephesus who in ca. AD 150 translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek. Whether he was revising the Septuagint, or was working from Hebrew manuscripts that represented a parallel tradition that has not survived, is debated...

's translation of the Apocrypha
Apocrypha
The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....

 (for The Song of the Three, Daniel and Susanna, and Daniel, Bel and the Snake (sometimes referred to as the Dragon)), Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209 (for Sirach), Codex 248 (also for Sirach), and R. L. Bensly's Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 text The Fourth Book of Ezra for 2 Esdras.

For the New Testament the New English Bible Translators relied on a large body of texts including early Greek New Testament manuscripts, early translations rendered in other languages (those aside from Greek), and the quotations of early Christian writers and speakers. The text adhered to by the translators of the New English Bible can be found in The Greek New Testament, edited by R. V. G. Tasker and published by the University Presses of Oxford and Cambridge (1964).

Form

The translators of the New English Bible chose to render their translation using a principle of translation called dynamic equivalence (also referred to as functional equivalence or thought-for-thought translation). C. H. Dodd
C. H. Dodd
Charles Harold Dodd was a Welsh New Testament scholar and influential Protestant theologian.He is known for promoting "realized eschatology", the belief that Jesus' references to the kingdom of God meant a present reality rather than a future apocalypse.-Life:Dodd was born in Wrexham,...

, Vice-Chairman and Director of the Joint Committee, commented that the translators "...conceived our task to be that of understanding the original as precisely as we could... and then saying again in our own native idiom what we believed the author to be saying in his."

This method of translation is in contrast to the traditional translations of the Authorized Version (King James Version), English Revised Version, American Standard Version
American Standard Version
The Revised Version, Standard American Edition of the Bible, more commonly known as the American Standard Version , is a version of the Bible that was released in 1901...

, Revised Standard Version
Revised Standard Version
The Revised Standard Version is an English translation of the Bible published in the mid-20th century. It traces its history to William Tyndale's New Testament translation of 1525. The RSV is an authorized revision of the American Standard Version of 1901...

, and others, which place an emphasis on word-for-word correspondence between the source and target language. C. H. Dodd
C. H. Dodd
Charles Harold Dodd was a Welsh New Testament scholar and influential Protestant theologian.He is known for promoting "realized eschatology", the belief that Jesus' references to the kingdom of God meant a present reality rather than a future apocalypse.-Life:Dodd was born in Wrexham,...

 goes on to summarize the translation of the New English Bible as "...free, it may be, rather than literal, but a faithful translation nevertheless, so far as we could compass it."

As a result, the New English Bible is necessarily more paraphrastic
Paraphrase
Paraphrase is restatement of a text or passages, using other words. The term "paraphrase" derives via the Latin "paraphrasis" from the Greek , meaning "additional manner of expression". The act of paraphrasing is also called "paraphrasis."...

 at times in order to render the thoughts of the original author into modern English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

.

Considerations and concerns

The New English Bible was produced primarily by British and European scholarship (for example, Whitsuntide is rendered in 1 Corinthians 16:8 rather than Pentecost
Pentecost
Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...

). However, directly following the Second World War the English of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 began to be influenced by foreign idiom
Idiom
Idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made...

, especially that of the Americans. For this reason, passages found in the New English Bible could be understood by a large body of English speaking individuals.

In relation to the issue of gender neutral language, or gender-accuracy, the New English Bible was produced before a time when there was any awareness that this was going to become an issue. So it rendered pronouns (among other things) using the traditional literary method followed by many previous translations in which the generic use of "he" is both typical and assumed. However, using this literary method has become increasingly unpopular, and a revision of the New English Bible, aptly titled the Revised English Bible
Revised English Bible
The Revised English Bible is a 1989 English language translation of the Bible and updates the New English Bible, of 1970. As with its predecessor, it is published by the publishing houses of both Oxford University and Cambridge University....

, was undertaken. Among the goals for this revision were rendering the text of the New English Bible gender-accurate, as well as fixing errors of transposition
Transposition (logic)
In the methods of deductive reasoning in classical logic, transposition is the rule of inference that permits one to infer from the truth of "A implies B" the truth of "Not-B implies not-A", and conversely. Its symbolic expression is:...

 and interpretation that many felt to be present in the text.

Summary

Because of its scholarly translators, the New English Bible has been considered one of the more important translations of the Bible to be produced following the Second World War. F. F. Bruce
F. F. Bruce
Frederick Fyvie Bruce was a Biblical scholar and one of the founders of the modern evangelical understanding of the Bible...

, then Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis in the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

, declared that "To the sponsors and translators of the New English Bible the English speaking world owes an immense debt. They have given us a version which is contemporary in idiom, up-to-date in scholarship, attractive, and at times exciting in content..." However, T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...

 comments that the New English Bible "astonishes in its combination of the vulgar, the trivial and the pedantic."

Controversial passages of the New English Bible

  • In Psalm 22:16, the New English Bible renders the familiar passage traditionally translated "... have pierced my hands and feet..." as "... hacked off my hands and my feet..."
  • In Genesis 1:1-2, the New English Bible renders the passage using “a mighty wind” rather than the familiar, and traditional, choice of “the Spirit of God”.
  • In Isaiah 9:6, the New English Bible translators chose a rendering that is both interpretative and non-traditional.
  • In Nahum 1:12-14, the New English Bible transposes two verses and renders the promise of God interpretively.
  • In Matthew 5:3, the New English Bible interprets the first Beatitude, traditionally (and literally) rendered "Blessed are the poor in spirit", as "how blessed are those who know their need of God."
  • In Acts 20:7, the New English Bible renders the phrase literally meaning “first day of the week” as “Saturday night”.
  • In 2 Tim 3:16, the New English Bible renders the verse traditionally translated as "All scripture is given by the inspiration of God" as "all inspired scripture is given...".

Contributors to and sponsors of the New English Bible

  • Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland
  • British and Foreign Bible Society
    British and Foreign Bible Society
    The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply as Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world....

  • Church of England
    Church of England
    The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

  • Church of Scotland
    Church of Scotland
    The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....

  • The Congregational Church in England and Wales
  • Council of Churches for Wales
  • Irish Council of Churches
  • The London Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends
    Religious Society of Friends
    The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...

  • The Methodist Church of Great Britain
    Methodist Church of Great Britain
    The Methodist Church of Great Britain is the largest Wesleyan Methodist body in the United Kingdom, with congregations across Great Britain . It is the United Kingdom's fourth largest Christian denomination, with around 300,000 members and 6,000 churches...

  • The National Bible Society of Scotland
  • The Presbyterian Church of England

Old Testament Committee

Professor W. D. McHardy, Professor B. J. Roberts, Professor A. R. Johnson, Professor J. A. Emerton, Dr. C. A.Simpson, Professor Sir Godfrey Driver (Convener), L. H. Brockington, Dr. N. H. Snaith, Professor N. W. Porteous, Professor H. H. Rowley, C. H. Dodd
C. H. Dodd
Charles Harold Dodd was a Welsh New Testament scholar and influential Protestant theologian.He is known for promoting "realized eschatology", the belief that Jesus' references to the kingdom of God meant a present reality rather than a future apocalypse.-Life:Dodd was born in Wrexham,...

 (ex officio), and P. P. Allen (Secretary).

Apocrypha Committee

Professor W. D. McHardy (Convener), Professor W. Barclay, Professor W. H. Cadman, Dr. G. B. Caird
G. B. Caird
George Bradford Caird , D.Phil., D.D., FBA, was a British churchman, theologian, humanitarian, and biblical scholar...

, Professor C. F. D. Moule
C. F. D. Moule
Charles Francis Digby Moule CBE FBA , known to his friends as Charlie but professionally by his initials C. F. D. Moule, was an Anglican priest and theologian...

, Professor J. R. Porter, G. M. Styler.

New Testament Committee

Professor C. H. Dodd
C. H. Dodd
Charles Harold Dodd was a Welsh New Testament scholar and influential Protestant theologian.He is known for promoting "realized eschatology", the belief that Jesus' references to the kingdom of God meant a present reality rather than a future apocalypse.-Life:Dodd was born in Wrexham,...

 (Convener), Dr. G. S. Duncan, Dr. W. F. Howard, Professor G. D. Kilpatrick, Professor T. W. Manson, Professor C. F. D. Moule
C. F. D. Moule
Charles Francis Digby Moule CBE FBA , known to his friends as Charlie but professionally by his initials C. F. D. Moule, was an Anglican priest and theologian...

, J. A. T. Robinson, G. M. Styler, Professor R. V. G. Tasker.

Literary Committee

Professor Sir Roger Mynors
Roger Mynors
Sir Roger Aubrey Baskerville Mynors was a British academic and classical scholar.Mynors was educated at Summer Fields School, Oxford and won a scholarship to Eton. He was Newcastle Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford. At Eton and Balliol, he was a friend of Cyril Connolly. He was Hertford and...

, Professor Basil Willey
Basil Willey
Basil Willey was a professor of English literature at Cambridge University and a prolific author of well-written and scholarly works on English literature and intellectual history....

, Sir Arthur Norrington
Arthur Lionel Pugh Norrington
Sir Arthur Lionel Pugh Norrington , was a publisher, President of Trinity College, Oxford, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, and originator of the Norrington Table.-Life:...

, Anne Ridler, Canon Adam Fox, Dr. John Carey, and the Conveners of the Translation Panels.

Scholarly Associates

Professor G. W. Anderson, Principal Matthew Black
Matthew Black
Matthew Black Matthew Black Matthew Black (Kilmarnock (3 September 1908 - 2 October 1994) was a Scottish biblical scholar. He was the first editor of New Testament Studies. Black joined the team of Kurt Aland, Bruce Metzger, and Allen Wikgren to work on the UBS Greek New Testament....

, Professor J. Y. Campbell, J. A. F. Gregg, H. St J. Hart, Professor F. S. Marsh, Professor John Mauchline, Dr. H. G. Meecham, Professor C. R. North, Professor O. S. Rankin, Dr. Nigel Turner.

External links

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