What I'm trying to do

What I'm trying to do here is take a new version of the Bible and look at scipture afresh. Let the letters or books themselves and the words really hit me. I am too comfortable and familiar with the NIV. I know it off by heart and back to front so it has lost its capacity to shock me with something I haven't seen before because it's like I can see around the corner. I know what's coming.

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So I have chosen the CEV. It's clear & fresh and people are praising it to the rafters; churches are even choosing it for their pew Bible. So I am going to have a look. And first impressions, at 5.30am, is that it does read rather well and that the text is really making me think again.

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But the question is, is the new stuff revelatory just because they have translated the words out of their meaning or have I been truly shocked out of my stupor?

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Take Gal 4:19 for example. In the Greek, Paul talks about being in labour pains until Christ is formed in them. A powerful metaphor connected with strong images of bringing new birth and a mysterious insight into one aspect of the apostolic role. Totally missing in the CEV: "My children, I am in terrible pain until Christ may be seen living in you." If they miss as powerful a metaphor as that because it doesn't translate well, what else might be missing? That said, in the same verse the CEV really captures a sense of Paul's bafflement with the Galatians, almost as if he really is at a loss to know how to deal with them: "You really have me puzzled." Delicious.

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I wonder whether that very verse will end up being my overall impression or whether the loss in exactness will be more than offset by the gains in understanding by the freshness of the text.

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Let the games begin.

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