Translation vs. commentary

To: b-greek@virginia.edu
Subject: Translation vs. commentary
From: Leo Percer <PERCERL@baylor.edu>
Date: Wed, 04 May 1994 14:58:39 -0500 (CDT)

Vincent:

Zondervan Publishing beat you to this idea.  They put out in 1993 a Bible 
that includes in the left margin the NRSV, the text of UBS4 in the middle, 
and the NIV in the right column.  Now, if I understood you're approach 
correctly, perhaps we should substitute the old American Standard for the 
NRSV (how's that for a "literal" translation?) and the TEV for the NIV (or, 
of course, you could keep the NIV as a DE representative).  The addition of 
the Greek text makes this book a helpful study tool for specialists also 
(unfortunately, there was no comparative Hebrew Bible of which I am aware).  
Personally, I think that your idea is a good one, but aren't there a good 
number of "parallel" translations on the market (I know that I own two 
different parallel Bibles: the Comparative Study Bible, which includes the NIV, 
NASB, KJV, and the Amplified Bible, and another whose title I cannot 
recall, but it contains the Living Bible, KJV, RSV, and something called 
"the Modern Language Bible.").  Anyway, perhaps someone should pursue the 
possibility further for such a parallel translation/commentary/paraphrase!

Leo Percer
Baylor University
PERCERL@BAYLOR.EDU


By the way, the title of Zondervan's book is _The Greek New Testament: UBS4 
with NRSV and NIV_, John Kohlenberger III editor, foreword by Bruce M. 
Metzger, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993.