Readings from The REB

I just picked up my Revised English Bible on Saturday . I had ordered it a couple of weeks ago . It came out in 1989 . It is a more conservative revision of the NEB . It still is not an Evangelically acceptable translation though . I have my reservations about a number of texts . At times it reads quite well and is as sound as can be , it all depends .

I thought I would list some Brit-speak verses from Proverbs .

6:11,12 -- and poverty will come on you like a footpad , want will assail you like a hardened ruffian . A scoundrel and knave is one who goes around with crooked talk .

7:7 -- and I saw among the simpletons , among the young men there I noticed a lad devoid of all sense .

11:6 -- Uprightness saves the righteous , but the perfidious are trapped by their own lies .

12:9 -- It is better to be modest and earn one's living than to play the grandee on an empty stomach .

17:1 -- Better a dry crust and amity with it than a feast in a house full of strife .

24:23 -- More sayings of the wise : Partiality in dispensing justice is invidious .

30:32 -- If you are churlish and arrogant and given to scheming , hold your tongue .

 

Since you are going to be banned are you just trying to do your worst now Sinkingfast ?

 

According to a leading William Tyndale authority the REB is written in the kind of style of a modern WT. It does take liberties at times though . I will devote some space in the near future posting verses that are not so well done . But there is a lot to commend this translation overall . It is not totally in Brit-speak . Sometimes the renderings are pithy and refreshing . It won't be my new study Bible however . I will soon list some verses that I think are put across in a good way -- in a clear , orthodox manner . I believe that it is good to have a variety of translations to compare with one another . AND , to check with solid Bible commentaries or written sermons on a given text .

 

It would be a shame to write off this entire translation because of some wrong renderings at times . But since I was asked to post some examples of what I think are some incorrect wordings , here goes .

2 Timothy 3:16 -- All inspired scripture has its use for teaching the truth and refuting error , for reformation of manners and disapline in right living .

1 John 4:4 -- Children , you belong to God's family , and you have the mastery over these false prophets , because God who inspires you is greater than the one who inspires the world .

Revelation 3:5 -- Anyone who is victorious will be robed in white like them , and I shall never strike his name off the roll of the living ; in the presence of my Father and his angels I shall acknowledge him as mine .

Also , in the book of Proverbs the word "clever" is used most of the time instead of the word "wise" . I think clever has the wrong connotation .

But I just got this Bible 5 days ago . Give me some more time to list some other examples of both wrong and better renderings .

 

I had mentioned that in Rev.3:5 the REB said "roll of the living" which is not nearly as good as "the book of life" . Well , in Revelation 13:8, 17:8 , 20:15, and 21:27 it uses the words "book of life" .

Here are some good passages in counterdistinction to my last post .

2 Peter 3:16 -- He does the same in all his letters , wherever he speaks about this , though they contain some obscure passages , which the ignorant and unstable misinterpret to their own ruin , as they do the other Scriptures .

[ Well , misinterpret may be a little weak. ]

2 Peter 1:16 -- It was not on tales , however cleverly concocted , that we relied when we told you about the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming ; rather with our own eyes we had witnessed his majesty.

2 Peter 1:19 -- All this confirms for us the message of the prophets , to which you will do well to attend ; it will go on shining like a lamp in a murky place , until day breaks and the morning star rises to illuminate your minds .

Hebrews 4:12 -- By this time you ought to be teachers , but instead you need someone to teach you the ABC of God's oracles over again . It comes to this : you need milk instead of solid food .

 

Some more good ones .

Colossians 2:16-19 -- Allow no one ,therefore , to take you to task about what you eat or drink , or over the observance of festival , new moon , or sabbath . These are no more than a shadow of what was to come ; the reality is Christ's . You are not to be disqualified by the decision of people who go in for self-mortification and angel worship and access to some visionary world . Such people , bursting with the futile conceit of worldly minds , lose hold upon the head ; yet it is from the head that the whole body , with all its joints and ligaments , has its needs supplied , and thus knit together grows according to God's design .

Colossians 2:8 -- Be on your guard ; let no one capture your minds with hollow and delusive speculations , based on traditions of human teaching and centered on the elemental spirits of the universe and not on Christ .