NetBible

Oops – Did I really say that?

OK, I’ll admit it. I have found a verse which at first blush is translated better in the NIV than in the NET Bible.

(Did I really just say this publicly? Yes, and I’ll explain why in a moment.) 

OK, I’ll admit it. I have found a verse which at first blush is translated better in the NIV than in the NET Bible.

(Did I really just say this publicly? Yes, and I’ll explain why in a moment.) 

Matthew 10:41 in the NET Bible reads as follows, “Whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. Whoever receives a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.” (There’s a similar phrasing in v. 42, but we’ll keep our focus just on this one verse for now. Plus I don’t think I could bear to say that there are two verses which are better in the NIV!) Compare this to the NIV translation: “Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.”

You can see the difference pretty quickly. Our translation in the NET Bible is a fairly literal translation, while the NIV is a more dynamic translation. From an English standpoint, the latter communicates more clearly the meaning of the phrase “in the name of,” which essentially focused on the status of the one under consideration.

Why is this important? 

Because no translation is perfect, and we admit that about the NET Bible.

Because every translation could stand to be improved, and we are actively working to improve our original work. 

In short, I don’t think the NET Bible should be your only Bible, but I do hope it is your primary one. 

One Comment

  • Michael Carson

    Actually, the NIV no longer reads that way…

    Believe it or not, the new 2011 updated version of the NIV text no longer has that rendering of Matthew 10:41. Instead, it reads as follows:

     

    "Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward." (NIV, 2011)

     

    I recently picked up a copy of this new, updated edition of the NIV. It has many changes in it in comparison to the 1984 edition. For some reason, the text seems to have a more "rigid" feel to it when I read it (much like the ESV when I first read it, which gave me the sensation of sandpaper being scraped across my teeth!).

     

    An example of one huge change that I think the traditional Christian community will not like, and will probably cause them to turn away from the updated NIV, is when they read John 3:16–which is no longer translated as being a direct quote of Jesus, but rather the narrator's (the author of the book of John) own words. I personally do not take offense at this change, and have known about it for quite some time now by reading other scholarly translations, such as the NRSV, which have footnotes explaining the fact that there are many interpreters who believe that the quotation ends with verse 15 instead of 21.

     

    I appreciate the fact that the translators of the NET and other Bibles, like the NIV, continually work at updating the text of the Bible based off of new discoveries and textual criticism. While the changes may not fit in with the more traditional versions of the Bible that so many people have grown up to love and cherish, it is necessary for Biblical scholarship to advance. Isn't there a prophecy in the book of Daniel where the angel of the Lord tells him that "knowledge" would increase near the end of the age? That would include knowledge about God's written Word, too, right? I hope that the majority of Christians can come to the point where they are comfortable and open minded towards modern translations and revisions of the Bible.

     

    Anyways, in the time being, keep up the good work, brother.

     

    -Michael