The Good Book as good read
April 16, 2013 3:58 PM Subscribe
I am looking for recommendations for bibles in languages other than English, specifically for their literary qualities.
I speak three or four languages at a conversational level, and maybe a half-dozen more that I can read well enough to follow a text, especially if I know the text already. Although I am by no means a churchgoing sort of fellow, I am a student of language. I learned long ago that bibles are remarkably interesting for students of language, because they are (a) available in every language you care to name, (b) less freely translated than many texts, and (c) provide widely recognizable texts. Even if you have studied no Latin, you can probably recognize the meaning of
I speak three or four languages at a conversational level, and maybe a half-dozen more that I can read well enough to follow a text, especially if I know the text already. Although I am by no means a churchgoing sort of fellow, I am a student of language. I learned long ago that bibles are remarkably interesting for students of language, because they are (a) available in every language you care to name, (b) less freely translated than many texts, and (c) provide widely recognizable texts. Even if you have studied no Latin, you can probably recognize the meaning of
1 In principio creavit Deus cælum et terram.That said, there are many versions in many languages, and in my native English, the King James Version's magisterial rendering of Genesis 6:4 --
2 Terra autem erat inanis et vacua, et tenebræ erant super faciem abyssi: et spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas.
3 Dixitque Deus: Fiat lux. Et facta est lux.
There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.-- is a different world from, say, the Common English Versions' pallid
The children of the supernatural beings who had married these women became famous heroes and warriors. They were called Nephilim and lived on the earth at that time and even later.So I am looking for recommendations in French, German and Italian specifically, but am happy to entertain suggestions further afield (although once we get out of Indo-European languages, I am on ground too shaky to appreciate any finesse). In the languages you read, what makes for soaring, stirring scripture?
...except that I don't read it in Anglo-Saxon. Missed that last bit.
In any case, I'm partial to the Douay-Rheims translation. It will be similar in flavor to the KJV, but has the benefit (to a Catholic) of including what Protestant editions refer to as The Apocryphal books.
posted by jquinby at 4:06 PM on April 16, 2013
In any case, I'm partial to the Douay-Rheims translation. It will be similar in flavor to the KJV, but has the benefit (to a Catholic) of including what Protestant editions refer to as The Apocryphal books.
posted by jquinby at 4:06 PM on April 16, 2013
Sadly, I am a totally unable to appreciate the literary merits of the Bible in any language but English, so my advice should be taken as hearsay.
My understanding is that Martin Luther's German translation was if anything more influential on the development of the German language than the KJV for English. I have also heard it praised for its literary merits. Also, being essentially the work of one person, rather than a committee, I suspect it has more of an authorial voice.
Just my two cents, for what it's worth.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 4:34 PM on April 16, 2013 [2 favorites]
My understanding is that Martin Luther's German translation was if anything more influential on the development of the German language than the KJV for English. I have also heard it praised for its literary merits. Also, being essentially the work of one person, rather than a committee, I suspect it has more of an authorial voice.
Just my two cents, for what it's worth.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 4:34 PM on April 16, 2013 [2 favorites]
It can be pretty good in the original Hebrew.
posted by milestogo at 5:10 PM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by milestogo at 5:10 PM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Yes, the Luther Bible in German, which has a more recent version with updated orthography, but the language itself is still archaic. It is (I am told) beautiful and influential, but a little tough because the language is old-fashioned. (I don't read German but went to Protestant seminary with extensive quantities of Luther scholars.)
Conferenza Episcopale Italiana is the Catholic Church's Italian version that is the most-used Bible in Italy; it is scholarly and up-to-date, generally with extensive scholarly annotations and under constant revision to bring it up to date with new scholarship. I don't think it's soaring, per se, but it has a reasonably unified voice and captures much of the poetry in the Bible.
The Hebrew Bible is really beautiful in Hebrew, and there are only like 8,000 Hebrew vocabulary words used, close to 2,000 of them only once, so you don't need to learn all that many words. I really like this version of the Torah, which has Hebrew, English, and a quite modern commentary.
Reading the Gospel of Mark in Greek is really worthwhile because Mark's Greek is pretty awkward, so it's really starkly-written and he makes all his Greek words do as much work as possible. Even if you have to stumble through the Greek with a dictionary to hand, the starkness of the language really comes through in a way it doesn't in English.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:58 PM on April 16, 2013 [3 favorites]
Conferenza Episcopale Italiana is the Catholic Church's Italian version that is the most-used Bible in Italy; it is scholarly and up-to-date, generally with extensive scholarly annotations and under constant revision to bring it up to date with new scholarship. I don't think it's soaring, per se, but it has a reasonably unified voice and captures much of the poetry in the Bible.
The Hebrew Bible is really beautiful in Hebrew, and there are only like 8,000 Hebrew vocabulary words used, close to 2,000 of them only once, so you don't need to learn all that many words. I really like this version of the Torah, which has Hebrew, English, and a quite modern commentary.
Reading the Gospel of Mark in Greek is really worthwhile because Mark's Greek is pretty awkward, so it's really starkly-written and he makes all his Greek words do as much work as possible. Even if you have to stumble through the Greek with a dictionary to hand, the starkness of the language really comes through in a way it doesn't in English.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:58 PM on April 16, 2013 [3 favorites]
If you do decide to go for a Hebrew Bible, I am a big fan of the Stone Edition Tanach. It is very readable (in the English, anyway), and I have read excellent reviews on the Hebrew side.
posted by blurker at 7:01 PM on April 16, 2013
posted by blurker at 7:01 PM on April 16, 2013
Best answer: The Reina-Valera translation is basically the Spanish KJV: the translation was done in the same era, and it's had the same sort of cultural and literary influence. It's been revised repeatedly, and there's plenty of quibbling over which revision is superior — but the original version is still readable (though archaic-sounding) so why not go for that one?
Here's a few tasty lines to give you a sense of the style:
Here's a few tasty lines to give you a sense of the style:
Generación va, y generación viene: mas la tierra siempre permanece.posted by Now there are two. There are two _______. at 8:07 PM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
Y sale el sol, y pónese el sol, y con deseo vuelve á su lugar donde torna á nacer.
El viento tira hacia el mediodía, y rodea al norte; va girando de continuo, y á sus giros torna el viento de nuevo.
Los ríos todos van á la mar, y la mar no se hinche; al lugar de donde los ríos vinieron, allí tornan para correr de nuevo.
Todas las cosas andan en trabajo mas que el hombre pueda decir: ni los ojos viendo se hartan de ver, ni los oídos se hinchen de oir.
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posted by jquinby at 4:02 PM on April 16, 2013