THE COMPLETE COMMON ENGLISH BIBLE, Old Testament, Apocrypha, and New Testament, is now searchable on thier website. And I'm really enjoying dipping into sections of the CEB previously unavailable. Here is a sample with comparisons from other solid and recognized translations.
PROVERBS 16:32 (CEB):
Better to be patient than a warrior,
and better to have self-control than to capture a city.
PROVERBS 16:32 (NLT):
Better to be patient than powerful;
better to have self-control than to conquer a city.
PROVERBS 16:32 (NIV):
Better a patient person than a warrior,
one with self-control than one who takes a city.
PROVERBS 16:32 (ESV):
Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
PROVERBS 16:32 (NRSV):
One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
and one whose temper is controlled than one who captures a city.
Here is another passage -- which happens to be the Moravian Daily Text for today.
PSALM 141:3 (CEB):
Set a guard over my mouth, LORD ;
keep close watch over the door that is my lips.
PSALM 141:3 (NLT):
Take control of what I say, O Lord,
and guard my lips.
PSALM 141:3 (NIV):
Set a guard over my mouth, LORD;
keep watch over the door of my lips.
PSALM 141:3 (ESV):
Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips!
PSALM 141:3 (NRSV):
Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord;
keep watch over the door of my lips.
The CEB, like all translations, has its quirks but I think it shines most of the time and proves that it can play with the big boys.
2 comments:
One of our professors was giving away some books. I took a CEB New Testament.
I reading through the preface, I couldn't help but wonder--as more people seem to be wondering these days--why another translation?
It seems like all translation prefaces mention something about the King James tradition and the "need" for a translation in modern English. Every new translation is "fresh" and "accurate" and "readable" and so on.
What do all these translation committees think of all the other translations? Every one of them seems to claim essentially the same thing.
It's a sincere question that really came to mind as I perused this new translation. We already have the NLT, HCSB, ESV, and the TNIV/NIV 2011 revisions, plus other looser translations and quality older translations--what does the CEB translation have to offer that isn't found in one of the myriad others?
I think the readability is better than anything else out there -- except the NLT. But unfortunately the NLT uses a lot of American idiom -- sometimes over-translating things.
The rendering of "ho huios tou anthrōpou" as "the Human One" in the CEB is insightful.
And something which no one has really addressed in the reviews I've read, is that the manuscript and textual basis of this translation is fairly broad and is the most up-to-date.
For me personally, given my short attention span, fresh translations always seem to capture my imagination and help me re-engage with the message.
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