Better Bibles Blog: July 2006

facing another translation issue

A few minutes ago I walked over to my wife and placed my face right up against hers. (We both enjoyed that!) I then asked her what I had done. She told me I had put my cheek next to hers and she was right. I added, "I could also say, 'I set my face against you.'" My wife is very biblically literate and immediately recognized that what I had said was funny. Let's see why.

In Lev. 26:17 the Hebrew text is literally translated as:

I will set my face against you

Rashi, the famous Jewish commentator, noted that the Hebrew for setting one's face against someone is an idiom. The specific kind of idiom used in the Hebrew text is a synecdoche, where a part of something represents its whole. In this case, the face, part of a person, represents the entire person.

Several English versions have chosen to translate the Hebrew idiom literally to English, including KJV, RSV, NASB, NRSV, ESV, REB, NET, NIV, and TNIV.

Other English versions translate the meaning of the original idiom as a whole, rather than the individual words of the idiom, including:

I will turn against you (TEV, NLT, HCSB)
I will turn from you (CEV)
I will be against you (NCV)
I will condemn you (GW)

Interestingly, in this case, the HCSB, often a fairly literal translation, renders the meaning of the Hebrew idiom, as a whole, rather than the meaning of its individual words.

In your opinion, which of the two sets of translations listed above more accurately and clearly communicates the meaning of the Hebrew idiom to the widest number of English speakers?

those which translate the idiom literally
those which translate the overall meaning of the idiom

Bible Deists

I have just posted to my own blog about "Bible deists", as described in the book Surprised by the Voice of God by Dr Jack Deere. Readers of this blog may recognise the relevance to recent discussions here of some of what I have written, especially:

sometimes this supposedly superior knowledge of the Bible is in fact very superficial, of the fundamentalist kind in which verses are wrenched out of context. Even where lip service is paid to Hebrew and Greek it is clear that the interpretation is in fact dependent on a misleading English translation.

Modes of Communication: 1 Cor. 6:20

My wife and I are visiting one of our daughters and her family now, far from our home in Washington State. We attended church with them this morning. One of the verses projected onto the screen during the pastor's message was this one:

For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Cor. 6:20, NKJV)

Try this: read that verse wording aloud, or, better yet, have someone else read it aloud to you. Focus on the last three words. Based only on what you hear, not on what you read, what meaning or meanings do you get from the last three words?

Did you hear an ambiguity in those words? If you did (and not everyone will), the fact that you did calls for Bible versions not only to be translated so that they read well on paper, but also so that they sound good when read aloud.

Suzanne has just completed her series here on modes of communication. She has addressed issues relating to written vs. oral communication. There is direct relevance to Bible translation.

I am increasing in my appreciation for the Bible read aloud, including as part of a liturgy. I like to listen to Bible versions which have been translated with both modes of communication in mind, visual (written words on a page) and oral. As many of you probably know, the earliest copies of Bible books were often read aloud. There was no printing press nor paper, so there was no inexpensive way to mass produce books. Copies of biblical books were often scarce, so they would be read aloud to benefit more than just the reader.

I think that much of the Hebrew Bible was written specifically to be read aloud. The text has many beautiful oral features, including alliteration, assonance, euphony, repetition, and word plays. It is difficult to reproduce some of the oral features in translation but some translators have tried, including Fox and Alter.

Some English Bible translation committees today are intentionally paying attention to how their translation will sound when it is read aloud, as well as how it will sound to the mind when people read it to themselves silently. I commend such translations. I consider them better Bibles.

Most English versions translated during the past several recent decades do not have the potential ambiguity I spotted in the wording of 1 Cor. 6:20 this morning, because the Greek underlying the translation "and in your spirt, which are God's" are not found in the oldest manuscripts of the Greek New Testament. If I were translating from the Greek textual base used in the KJV and NKJV I would reword the last three words to "which belong to God" to avoid the ambiguity which, when read aloud, can communicate the meaning that our bodies and spirits are gods.

Modes of Communication IV

So often when I conclude a segment of study I find myself confronted with a new set of questions. In this short series on communication, I come away with the desire to reflect on this particular concept,

The teaching relationship of an author to a reader is much more like the one-to-one kind of teaching that Priscilla and Aquila did when they explained the way of God more accurately to Apollos in Acts 18:26. In fact, with a book the element of direct personal interaction is almost entirely absent.I am trying to formulate a way of considering whether oral communication is more 'direct' than written, and how this interacts with notions of authority. I would have expected that a written teaching would be invested with more authority than an orally presented teaching. I hope to think further about the role of the spoken versus the written word throughout the Bible and what the implications are for how we handle the text. Readings and reflections on the Hebrew word dabar, and the Greek word logos, will provide a foundation for my thinking.

I am also glad that links have been provided to writings by W. Grudem which provide some insight into his thinking on gender, since he took the initiative to draft the Guidelines for Translation of Gender Related Language in Scripture. These guidelines reflect his presuppositions, that there are differences between men and women, not only

It is clear that Grudem believes in differences between men and women in prominence, order, leadership and representation, and he along with Sproul, Dobson, Piper and a few others participated in the drafting of the Colorado Springs Guidelines with the express purpose of influencing English language Bible translations to reflect this viewpoint.

On a certain level what is most interesting for me is the interaction perceived by Grudem between the axis of 'directive (spoken) communication' through to 'non-directive (written) communication'; and his belief that the Bible teaches that men should have more prominence and representation than women. He infers from this that men may have a written and spoken public ministry, and women may only have a written public ministry.

Grudem writes that when reading

a Bible commentary written by a woman for example it is as if the author were talking privately to me explaining her interpretation of the Bible. ... Reading a book by a woman author is much like having a private conversaton with a woman author. So, in fact, Grudem equates writing with the private domain, rather than the public. One difficulty with this is that men who write Bible commentaries generally have tenured positions teaching theology, and he denies women this privilege. For men theological writing may be an extension of the spoken, a result of classwork or sermons, or a public conversation; for women theological writing must either be a primary product, the outcome of a private conversation, or of a conversation with women only.

Books by W. Grudem:
The Gender Neutral Bible Controversy (My page numbers are from the TNIV and the GNBC)
Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth
Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

TNIV video

Yesterday I watched, for the first time, a video about Bible translation and the TNIV. I found it well made and interesting. There were several clips from various members of the CBT (Committee on Bible Translation) which translated the TNIV. A few specific examples of revisions made to the TNIV were discussed. I'm guessing that even people who do not like the TNIV would find much to like in this video, especially the background information about how Bible translation is done, which is quite similar from one English Bible translation project to another.

For some reason I was not able to view the video using Windows Media Player. When I tried to do so, I got strange characters on my screen (not CBT characters!), and my Internet browser froze up. But everything worked fine when I accessed the Real Media version of the video. I think you pretty much need a high speed Internet connection to view this video.

Modes of Communication III

In Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth, Grudem outlines restrictions on the roles women may fill in the church. If I analyse this list in terms of the mode of communication it gives me certain insights.

(Explanation: I have put
four examples of writing activities here on the list because
the author of a book has some kind of teaching authority,
but it is different from the teaching authority over the
assembled congregation that Paul prohibits in 1 Tim. 2. The
teaching relationship of an author to a reader is much more
like the one-to-one kind of teaching that Priscilla and Aquila
did when they explained the way of God more accurately to
Apollos in Acts 18:26. In fact, with a book the element of
direct personal interaction is almost entirely absent.
Moreover, the book comes not only from the author but also
with input from the editors and publisher.)

(Explanation: I have put this here on the list because I see
this task as essentially a combination of evangelism and
teaching about the Bible as literature, mainly to non-
Christians. Even though there may be Christians in some
classes, the professor has no church-authorized authority or
doctrinal endorsement, as there would be with a Bible
teacher in a church or a professor in a Christian college or
seminary.)

Grudem draws the line between item 10 and 11, with this caution,

I do not think it would be wrong for a woman to be a Bible teacher in a high school Sunday School class. However, many churches may well think it preferable for a man to teach a high school Sunday School class, because of the modeling of male leadership in the church that these young adults will grow to appreciate and in fact to imitate.So, if we understand that the line may be at #12, it becomes clear that speaking is considered more authoritative than writing. Writing a book on theology or doctrine is acceptable for complementarian women, but teaching the same material to adult Christian males is not.

I have been doing a lot of reflecting lately on whether the spoken or written word of God is more authoritative. God spoke the ten commandments to Moses, and they were written down. The sermon on the mount was first spoken and then written. But is this division between the two modes of communication part of the way God views a message? Is it different in his perspective? Is the written less authoritative?

My personal feelings are this. I am probably able to express myself in writing better and to more people than if I were speaking. However, if I knew a woman who was well equipped to teach in a seminary, I would never say to her, you must not teach an adult male Christian truth, but I may write as I like on the internet.

And yet, woman do this. They write theology and they know men are reading it, and then they say, "but a woman may not teach." What assumptions they make! Do they not know that in the traditional role a woman may not write, she may only translate a work written by a man?

How quickly they forget George Elliot. When she translated Feuerbach’s Essence of Christianity from German into English, she signed her own name, Mary Ann Evans; but when she wrote original novels, she signed a pen name, a man's name. Complementarian women today sign their own names, they write their own theology, and they claim that they owe little to the feminists of the 18th century. They do most certainly forget George Elliot and what she gained for women!

At the end of his article, Grudem writes,

I know I speak for the entire membership of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood when I say that it is our sincere desire to “open the doors wide” to all the areas of ministry in the church that God intends for women to have.

And I, too, as a woman would like to reach out and open a door wide for other Christian women, to teach where I write, to speak where I type, to lead and influence and encourage and serve. Isn't freedom given to us to serve others? Isn't strength given to protect liberty?

Note: The article found in this journal (pdf format) is a chapter from Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth. The material used in this post was taken from this article.

church Bibles

Of the myriad of English Bible versions which have ever been produced, only a few have risen to the level where they would be considered church Bibles. By a church Bible I mean a Bible which is used as the pulpit and/or pew Bible in a relatively high percentage of churches.

The KJV is the first church Bible that many of us who relate to this blog are familiar with. There were, of course, church Bibles before the KJV but only a small percentage of people today are familiar with them. Among them were the Wycliffe Bible, Great Bible, Geneva Bible, Bishops' Bible, and Douay-Rheims (a Catholic version). The Tyndale New Testament was influential; Tyndale was executed before he or his followers could complete the Old Testament. Many of the Tyndale wordings were retained in the KJV.

Since the KJV's publication in 1611, the following have attained to the status of being widely used church Bibles, at least in the U.S.:

RSV
NASB
NIV
NRSV
NAB (a Catholic version)
The Holy Scriptures (1917 JPS, Jewish translation)
Tanakh (1985 JPS Jewish translation)

The ASV may have been used as a church Bible, but I think it was mostly used for personal Bible study.

The NWT, of course, is the Bible version most widely used in services of Jehovah's Witnesses, although Jehovah's Witnesses often study other Bible versions. The ESV is being adopted by some individual congregations as their church Bible. Perhaps some denominations [one candidate would be the Presbyterian Church (PCA)] will encourage use of the ESV as their church Bible. The HCSB is probably used as a church Bible in some Southern Baptist churches.

I am not so familiar with which versions have been treated as church Bibles in the U.K. Perhaps Peter Kirk or others could comment. I know that candidates for U.K. church Bibles would be the English Revised Version (1881), the NEB, and its successor the REB.

Mode of Communication II

On his own blog, Peter has completed his series on exegesis and the The Scholarly and Fundamentalist Approaches to the Bible. It is well worth reading. (I have just finished writing my own post in a rather half hearted way and all I can say is that I wish Peter's series were here, and my post were in the Antarctic where it deserves to be.)

I had intended to write about how the difference between speaking and writing contributes to Grudem's theories about the role of women in the church in Evangelical Feminism and Bibilical Truth. This is considered a scholarly book by Al Mohler and is recommended by many complementarians. I believe that at 864 pages long, it might be Grudem's longest book.

However, as is often the case, I stopped along the way and read again one of Grudem's earlier chapters. This is where he compares three different kinds of beliefs. The effeminate left (egalitarianism), the complementarian middle, and the violent right. Grudem writes on page 54 that egalitarians are characterized by:

With reference to the complementarian middle, on page 55 Grudem writes,

No data, no footnotes, no 'I wonder if egalitarians feel that way about themselves', no illustrations of masculine looking egalitarian women, no Kinsey report percentages. Without in any way writing about how I feel personally when I read this kind of book, I will do a quick communication commentary.

This reminds me of the Marlborough man ad and the kind of advertising which makes people think that if they use a certain product, it will make them more attractive to the opposite sex. If you smoke this cigarette you will be more masculine and attractive to women. If you use this perfume, or lipstick, you will attract more men. I think that the same thing is going on here. Grudem is saying, if you become a complementarian you will be more attractive to the opposite sex.

I have read blog reviews of this book by some complementarian women and one of them writes, "It is readable, enjoyable, and usable." What can I say? The table I quoted sets the tone, if you are a complementarian man or woman, you are sexy and attractive, if you are an egalitarian you are probably not.

I really was going to try and make this post funny and entertaining, and write a little more, but somewhere along the line I just didn't find it funny any more. I will try to critique another section of Grudem's book tomorrow.

Good Night.

common language translations

In a comment to my previous post I referred to the technical term "common language" translation. That term deserves a bit of explanation since I do not know how widely it is used among the wider public. Here it how it is described on a website sponsored by the American Bible Society:

Today’s English Version really emerged from the coalescence of several related, yet divergent, developments in the early 1960’s. A group of mid-twentieth century translators, connected with the American Bible Society and United Bible Societies, had been heavily influenced by, and in fact helped shape the direction of, contemporary linguistic theory. They strove to produce versions which remained more sensitive to the need of receptor audiences than many transitional works. Influential methodological contributions, including Eugene A. Nida’s Bible Translating (1947) and William Wonderly’s Bible Translations for Popular Use (1968) stressed a new approach to translations, summarized in the phrase "dynamic equivalence.” Nida, who began his career with the American Bible Society in 1944 and assumed principal responsibility for the Translations Department in 1946, has defined “dynamic equivalence” as a way to “stimulate in the new reader essentially the same reaction to the text as the original author wished to produce in his “first and immediate readers.” Bible translators hoped to produce versions in a “common language,” which Nida defined as “the language common to both the professor and the janitor, the business executive and the gardener, the socialite and the waiter.” They worked toward defining the level of language which constituted an “overlap area” between literary discourse and ordinary, day-to-day usage.

Translators utilizing the principal of “dynamic equivalence” had been at work in Latin America since the 1940’s, attempting to construct a version for new literates, bilingual Indians, people with a limited knowledge of Spanish, and formally educated residents who desired a more “readable” version. Simplified selections from the Gospels appeared in 1947, the Gospel of Luke in preliminary form was published in 1954, and New Testament portions were translated subsequently. The unanticipated popular acclaim accorded these portions, especially in the more cosmopolitan urban centers, testified to the desire for “common language” Scriptures by large segments of the reading public. Work in the region continued, and in May 1966, the Bible Societies of Latin America completed the Version Popular, the first complete New Testament published in a “common” linguistic level in any language.

The TEV (GNT) and CEV are two English Bible versions written in "common language" English. Both were produced by the American Bible Society which is a member of the United Bible Societies which has sponsored translations of several common language translations around the world, including Versión Popular (Dios Llega al Hombre) in Spanish, and translations in Swedish, Korean, and many other languages.

Often, more highly educated speakers of English, especially those well acquainted with English literature from the past several centuries, prefer a Bible translation that is written in a higher register of English than "common language" translations. But both the TEV and CEV have helped millions of English speakers around the world, including native English speakers and ESL (English as a Second Language) speakers, understand the biblical message.

A single kind of Bible translation typically does not appeal to all possible translation audiences. We are, indeed, rich in the English speaking world for having so many difference kinds of English versions to choose from.

A Complementarian Agenda in TNIV?

Yes, you read this title correctly! While many have complained that TNIV has an egalitarian agenda and a feminist bias, I have found evidence in it of a complementarian agenda against women's leadership in the church! Read on...

The New International Version (NIV) is notorious for using the word "man" in its translation when the original Greek or Hebrew has no noun, only an adjective or an indefinite pronoun. For example, in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 NIV reads "If a man will not work, he shall not eat", where the only Greek word translated as "man" is the indefinite (and entirely gender generic) pronoun tis "anyone". Now I don't think the NIV translators intended that this should be understood as referring to men rather than women, an exegesis which cannot be defended from the Greek text, for they commonly use "man" and "he" in a gender generic sense. Nevertheless, it is not surprising that many readers have misunderstood this as applying only to men and not to women.

A major aim of the changes made in Today's New International Version (TNIV) was to avoid the danger of such misunderstandings. I don't think anyone can complain about TNIV's rendering of 2 Thessalonians 3:10: "Anyone who is unwilling to work shall not eat." This is after all closer to KJV's "if any would not work, neither should he eat", and it avoids any possible misunderstanding that this applies only to males.

However, TNIV does not always make such changes. For example, in Titus 1:6 TNIV has "a man whose children believe", in this phrase identical to NIV. But there is no word here to be translated "man"; the Greek is tekna ekhōn pista, literally "having believing children", or perhaps the KJV rendering "having faithful children".

How do the TNIV translators justify their version? They cannot do so on the basis that the NIV translators might have done, that "man" is to be understood in its gender generic sense. It seems clear that the TNIV translators are trying to insert into the text here a teaching that elders must be male, at a point where this cannot in any way be justified by the Greek. (I assume that they have not simply kept the NIV rendering by an oversight!)

So how can they justify this? Well, it is true that the word anēr "man, husband" appears in the immediately preceding phrase, translated "the husband of but one wife" in NIV and "faithful to his wife" in TNIV, but in this context the meaning clearly more like "husband" than "man". It is clear that the TNIV translators disagree with my exegesis of this phrase as not intended to restrict eldership to males. Apparently they judge that Paul was assuming that the elders that Titus would appoint were male. Maybe he was. But the point he was making here was surely not that elders must be male, rather that they must be faithful in marriage. The TNIV translators have no business changing what may have been Paul's culturally based assumption into an apparently explicit teaching that the elder must be a man, male.

So here we have the TNIV, which has been called "the feminist edition" by JI Packer and according to Peter Jones "represents an 'ideologically egalitarian' agenda" (both as reported by Michael Marlowe), specifically teaching the complementarian position on women elders in a place where this is not justified by the Greek text. If there is any agenda here, it is not feminist or egalitarian, but towards complementarianism.

his inheritance in/among the saints

Eph. 1:18 is one of the more difficult verses in one of the most difficult chapters of the Bible to translate. A number of English versions end this verse with the wording "his (glorious) inheritance in the saints" (KJV, RSV, NASB, NIV, NET, ESV) or "his (glorious) inheritance among the saints" (NRSV, ISV, HCSB).

So far I have been unable to figure out what is meant by either of these wordings. Although the words and syntax are English, I suspect that the semantic collocational restrictions upon the words are not. Let's see if the problem is just mine or that of these translation wordings.

If we have the phrase translated as "his inheritance" (from the Greek tes kleronomias autou) with the noun "inheritance" modified by a possessive pronoun, as it is here by "his", my understanding of English is that the two words refer to something which a male has inherited. Perhaps the referent of "his" is God. But I do not know what God would inherit, unless perhaps we would view believers as a kind of inheritance that God receives, perhaps due to the death of Christ.

As a side note, the prepositional phrase "in the saints" would almost never be used in normal, natural English. I don't think it would be used in this context of inheritance. The preposition "among" sounds slightly better in this context to me, but I still do not know what it would mean for God to have an inheritance among the saints.

Perhaps Paul was referring in this verse to what saints have inherited from God. If that is the case, then I do not think that it would be accurate to refer to "his inheritance" where "his" refers to God. I might be wrong, but I don't think that is how possession works in English with the word "inheritance." If we want to refer to something someone has willed or bequeathed to someone or a group of people, I think we would not use the wording "his inheritance." Maybe I am mistaken and there may be English speakers who can speak of "his inheritance" where inheritance could refer either to what someone has bequeathed or to what someone has inherited, so I'm raising questions here to see if anyone else can get some sensible meaning from the wording "his inheritance in/among the saints."

There are English versions which have "unpacked" the semantic relationships of the tight Greek of this verse and translated that meaning to wordings which make sense to me. These include:

glorious is the share he offers you among his people in their inheritance (REB)
glorious are the blessings God has promised his holy people (NCV)
the wonderful blessings he promises his people (TEV)
the glorious blessings that will be yours together with all of God's people (CEV)
the glorious wealth that God's people will inherit (GW)
glorious inheritance he has given to his people (NLT)

Notice that each of these six versions follows the same exegesis, namely, that God has promised (or willed to) his people (saints) something glorious, not that God is the one who has inherited a glorious blessing. I wonder if it is this meaning that the translators of the wording "his inheritance in/among the saints" intend to communicate. If so, am I right in thinking that the phrase "his inheritance" should not be used to refer to something which God is giving or bequeathing to saints? Rather, it is "their inheritance" as the REB states.

UPDATE: Isn't Internet communication great (at times, anyway)?! Following is a response I received from one of the Bible translation committees concerning my preceding post:

Scholarly opinion differs. The N.T. members of ----- convinced the Committee that Andrew Lincoln (WORD: Ephesians) probably has it right when he writes: Here the riches of glory are linked particularly to God's inheritance among his people. Many commentators have assumed that the writer is thinking of the believers' inheritance. But whereas 1:14 talked about that...and believers obtaining their inheritance coincided with God's taking complete possession of his people and thereby his glory being praised, here in 1:18 the talk is of..."his inheritance," God's inheritance, which focuses not so much on what he gives his people as on the other side of the thought of 1:14, his possession of his people. In the OT God's inheritance is frequently used as a synonym for his people, Israel (cf. Deut. 4:20; 9:26,29; 2Sam 21:3; 1Kgs 8:51,53; 2Kgs 21:14; Pss 28:9; 33:12; 68:9; 78:62,71; 94:14; 106:5,40; Isa 19:25; 476; 63:17; Jer 10:16; 51:19). Here his inheritance involves the people of God from both Jesus and Gentiles, for it is..."among the saints." (p. 59)

Ephesians [here] uses similar words to those in Col 1:12 but with a different relationship among them and in a difficult (sic: "different"?) context. Here it is God's inheritance which is in view and his inheritance consists of the believers who now constitute his people (cf. also Abbott, 30; Gaugler, 69; Houden, 275; Ernst, 288; Mitton, 68-69). ... A reference to believers as a whole does best justice to the inheritance in 1:18 being God's and not believers', to the emphasis in the euology on the people of God as his possession, to the other hagioi references in Ephesians...and to the focus in this leltter on the Church and glory in the Church.... This part of the writer's petition, then, is that the readers might appreciate the wonder, the glory of what God has done in entering into possession of his people...and the immense privilege it is to be among these saints. (P. 60)

So, there we have an explanation for the rendering I have been unable to understand. Those who translated the Bible versions which use that rendering intended the meaning to be that it is God who inherits something. From this I have learned an exegetical option for Eph. 1:18 which I had not previously known. I hope you have enjoyed this field trip.

translation checking

Every Bible translation (or translation of any text, for that matter) should be carefully checked before it is published. Checking should take place regardless of the exegetical expertise of its translators or whether the translation is being done for a major national language, such as French, Swahili, Mandarin, English, or Hindi, or for a previously bibleless people group.

Translation checking should involve careful examination of at least two parameters:

Accuracy
Naturalness

Even if a team of highly trained exegetes, such as biblical scholars with doctorates in biblical languages and exegesis, has produced a translation, that translation should still receive an exegetical check by some group of well-trained exegetes who did not participate in the translation itself. Such independence helps create objectivity for an exegetical check.

A critically important aspect of translation checking which has often not been done for national language translations (such as English) is checking for linguistic naturalness. Here it is absolutely essential that a team of highly qualified native speakers/writers of the language, independent of the original translation team, perform a check for lingustic naturalness of every sentence in the translation. These individuals should be recognized by their speech community as outstanding in terms of their ability to spot translation wordings which are not native to the translation language. Typically they will be recognized as good orators or authors. They will constantly be asking of the translation: "Do we actually say (or write) it this way in our language?" If the answer is "no," they can be empowered to revise the translation until it is written in a manner that all speakers of the language recognize as being of high quality, ideally sounding like it was written originally in the target language. Or the process may call for them to note each wording which the checkers felt was unnatural and send the translation back to the translation team to revise. In any case, the process of translation, checking, and revision continues in a cyclical feedback fashion until a translation passes all appropriate checks. The goal would always be that the translation have the same propositional and rhetorical meanings, to the extant that it is humanly possible, as those intended by the original biblical authors.

Translation checking should take place on any translation of the Bible, regardless of which translation approach was used to produce it. There is a range of translation acceptability possible within the varieties of registers and reading levels which translation teams can used. So various translation approaches can be used to produce differing translations which reflect these desired literary levels. There is no one single "correct" translation for any single biblical text sentence. Different Bible versions will reflect differences desired for different audiences, such as those who might desire a more formal sounding Bible for liturgical use and others who might desire a less formal Bible version for use with unchurched individuals or children. But each version should still undergo a rigorous translation checking process, to try to bring each version up to the best level of exegetical and linguistic quality as possible.

The world has yet to see an English translation of the Bible which has undergone a meticulous checking process of the kind called for in this post. When such a translation is produced or when a current translation is revised with such checking, we will have better Bibles, ones which are not only accurate but pleasant to read because they sound good to millions of native English speakers.

Modes of Communication I

There are some issues that I have wanted to bring up for a long time. They refer specifically to the mode of communication, both the emission and the reception of a message. For example, is the text recorded by voice or in print. Another contrast would be whether a person needed an alternate medium due to being hearing impaired or blind. This discussion of the medium of communication fascinates me.

In another discourse, Peter has started a series of posts on The Scholarly and Fundamentalist Approaches to the Bible, in response to a post by Al Mohler who explains his journey from egalitarianism to complementarianism. I thought that I would participate in this discussion by explaining a part of, a few steps, in my own journey from complementarianism to egalitarianism.

Mohler writes,

CBMW

I have to admit that reading John Piper's Vision of Biblical complementarity provoked the first major intellectual step that I took from a traditional outlook on women in the church towards egalitarianism. (Although that is a term I have only recently used, or seen used about me. I do not declare myself in church, but am the usual quiet parishioner. )

I cannot deal with all that Piper writes, but I would like to highlight a couple of details. Forgive me if this is not exhaustive. Piper writes specifically about men and women in the secular workplace and so this ethic must be intended to apply to me and the working relationships, teamwork and supervisory roles that I have had with male colleagues. (Fortunately those relationships were all essentially uncomplicated and smooth because biblical manhood and womanhood simply did not enter into it.) Piper writes,

To the degree that a woman's influence over man is personal and directive it will generally offend a man's good, God-given sense of responsibility and leadership, and thus controvert God's created order. Piper provides many illustrations, a woman should not be a drill sergeant or a baseball umpire, a man should not be a secretary for a woman, and so on. But the principle is this. A woman may direct if it is non-personal, in some way at a distance. A woman may be an architect, for example. And conversely, a woman may be personal, a colleague or supervisor but in that case she is to influence with 'petition' and 'persuasion'. (Actually my administrator would have thrown up his hands in dispair if I had taken this to heart. Although he is a traditional Christian himself, at work, I had better just do my job!)

Then further along in the chapter, Piper provides a list of biblically appropriate ministry roles. It is important to reiterate that Piper does not believe that a woman should lead or minister to an adult male.

So it was with dismay that I read the top items on Piper's list of acceptable ministries for women, "hearing impaired, blind, lame." At first, I wasn't sure of what I was reading. Yes, I have a career built on work with the learning disabled. However, I understand it as part of my role of teaching 'children'. There are 'children' who are vision and hearing impaired, or physically disabled. They are not fundamentally different from other children and do not belong in another category. But does Piper really mean that a woman may minister to even adult males, if they are any of the above. The list suggests this since it includes drug users and alcoholics. What determines a person's category in Piper's economy? I invite alternate interpretation.

I wish to share two experiences, stories of people who have touched me deeply.

The first one is Colin. He was the support worker for a severely disabled child in a class I was working in. He handled the child well and was at all times an asset to the class in general. He intended, as many support workers do, to continue his education and become a teacher. He was an artist, an athlete, and attractive man with a beautiful blond wife. Towards the end of the year in which I was his supervisor, just before he left the school, we were talking. He turned and looked at me with focused attention as he always did and said, "I particularly enjoy talking to you, Suzanne." I really had no answer, so he continued, "I am deaf and I find you easy to lipread!" (Yes, you are supposed to laugh.)

The point is that I had no idea he was hearing impaired and I cannot in any way understand what that has to do with his masculinity. How does this shift him from one of Piper's categories to the other?

The other experience is my recent work with a hearing impaired child who was thought by many to be mentally handicapped. It is only through intense advocacy that I was able to get an assessment and increased services for this student. The benefits and consequences have been immense. This child is exceptional and truly intellectually gifted in many ways.

So, yes, I would like to take a stand that I am egalitarian in ethic, that a vision or hearing impaired man or child, or physically disabled, stands in the same relation to me as any other human. It was through this piece of Piper's writing, recommended apparently by Al Mohler, (although with the opposite intent) that I gained an ability to articulate my belief in the equal giftedness and suitability, to lead and teach and minister, of those who have difficulties and disabilities to overcome.

I believe that regardless of whether a person, a man or woman, is lipreading or signing or reading braille or writing and communicating in some other way, they have the gifts that God that gave them and we should all recognise and respect this potential.

While I know where I stand on these issues, I am not sure that I have read Piper and Grudem correctly. However, in honour of Al Mohler's recommendation, I am trying to interact honestly with a text which is foundational to complementarianism and according to him, 'scholarly literature.'

I want to continue in a later post to consider whether the difference in written or spoken communcation is significant. Later, it may be possible to see if there are lessons to be learned from this about modes of communication and Bible translation.

TNIV at Bible Gateway

Today's New International Version (TNIV) is now available as one of the many online Bible versions at Bible Gateway. This version has been added in the last week or so. I put in a request for it to be added on 27th June. On 11th July received a reply that it would be added in about a week. I am pleased to report that this did in fact happen. Thank you to all at Bible Gateway for being responsive to this request from a user - which was actually prompted not by anything to do with this blog but by the developers of the shortly to be unveiled new version of my own church's website.

Hebraica

Hebrew blogs have been brought to my attention lately. There are many and they all display incredible resources and maintain a pretty tight focus. They show discipline and humour. I am humbled when I read Hebrew blogs. This list is by no means exhaustive and in many cases the sidebars will lead the reader on to more Hebrew blogs that I do not mention here. Happy bloghopping!

English Hebraica even has an odd little piece about Canada
Lesser of Two Evils best sidebar I have seen yet
Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective one of a kind
Biblicalia Hosting the Biblical Studies Carnival for August
Daily Hebrew going steady all of July
Evangelical Textual Criticism gets more fascinating every day
Codex blogspot on tattoes
Biblical Studies uploading some serious articles

This is just a place to begin. Enjoy.

Global Recordings

Yesterday Wayne brought up this very interesting problem from a Bible translation conference.

How do you give translated scripture to one tribal group that has been split for 30 years over two spelling systems for writing their language? Answer: Try non-print approaches, audio and video recordings of the translation. There is no spelling to be seen.Peter then responded in the comment section with a description of a Roman/Cyrillic spelling system split and this practical caution,

But I would be worried if this dispute over spelling became the primary grounds for choosing an entirely non-print approach. Very true. However, I am going to take a wild guess and suggest that there are certain other differences in the two situations Wayne and Peter are describing and that there may well be primary grounds for recommending a non-print approach in the situation Wayne described.

In the case of the Roman/Cyrillic split, there are two established writing systems each used for languages of wider communication and belonging to a complete historic literary tradition. The transfer from one to the other was probably legislated at some time by the state (I am guessing) and people have been educated primarily in one or the other, depending on their age.

In the North American situation, each system probably has local use, and is not a part of a long-standing literary tradition. The written traditions exist, and need to be honoured. The recommendation to print in both systems is valid, and now plausible. However, the move towards a non-print medium may well be dependent on other factors.

I have personally sat in on conferences where an indigenous North American language is used for oral communication and all notes and agendas are in English. Often there is a real spliit between literacy in the language of wider communication, French, English or Spanish, and a thriving minority oral language culture.

In this case, the reason for choosing non-print approaches to the scriptures is dependent on a communication bias that acts against first language literacy, but is strongly dependent on first language oral communication for face-to-face, radio, and phone communication. The telephone and radio have often replaced to a certain extent minority language literacy vehicles like newspapers and letters. *

This phenomenon is well-recognized around the world and was part of the impetus for the work of Gospel Recordings, now called Global Recordings. This work was started by Joy Ridderhof who developed a very simple technology for playing recorded portions of the Bible without electricity for those areas of the world where indigenous first language literacy was not well established.

Joy Ridderhof, founder of Gospel Recordings, proved the answer. With a tangible impact in over 4,000 people groups and a ministry that has remained on the leading edge of mission strategy for half a century, there is no doubting that God has done a marvelous thing through His humble daughter.

Mission Frontiers

This work has recently been featured in a Television program called The Tailenders
(HT Justin Taylor)

The debut of The Tailenders is July 25, and by clicking where it says check local listings I was able to find that this film will be aired at 10:00 pm. on August 3 on KCTS, Seattle. Perfect!

The website will also

feature interviews with filmmaker Adele Horne as well as with Larry Eskridge, the associate director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals, and Dr. Peter Ladefoged, one of the world’s foremost experts on endangered and disappearing languages. Our companion website also links to other websites and resources on evangelism and endangered languages. A book about Ridderhof''s story for young readers is here.

*The internet is not available as yet in the vast majority of these literacies. That alone should tell us something about the future of these systems. I don't mean that the codepoints don't exist, in most cases they do. However, this is just the first step in the many stages of development. Have you ever wondered how many major scripts Google actually works for. Quite a lot, but not quite as many as are advertised.

PS: I think it was the Ladefoged reference that really caught my eye. One of my favourite textbooks!

Note: This has been updated to correct a wrong link.

from our Bible translation conference

My wife and I are attending a Bible translation conference in North Carolina. Here are a few headlines from the conference so far.

1. How do you give translated scripture to one tribal group that has been split for 30 years over two spelling systems for writing their language? Answer: Try non-print approaches, audio and video recordings of the translation. There is no spelling to be seen.

2. One man at the conference is in a race with God. He has already translated the New Testament into his mother tongue, a distinct dialect of a European language spoken by a religious group in the U.S. The New Testament was published several years ago. Thousands of copies have been sold, and are being used. He has made good progress in the Old Testament where he has translated from Genesis to partway through Jeremiah. He is in his 80s. Oh, he didn't start this translation until late in life because he first helped translate a New Testament for an aboriginal group in Australia. He doesn't know if he will finish translation of the Old Testament before he dies, but he is trying.

3. One group says they don't need a translation in their language because, they say, their language is dying and everyone understands English. When asked what language they and their children speak at home they answer that it is their own language. Which language do you think is their heart language? Which language do you think the Bible speaks in best to their hearts and minds? What do you do when you have the resources to help them translate the Bible into their own language, but they do not want a translation?

I hope there will be other headlines that stand out which I can blog about before our conference ends next week.

Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible

My compatriot, Tyler Williams, of Edmonton, Alberta, started a series on Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible on Codex Blogspot in June. Here are the first five posts in the series and there are more to come. Post number 5 also assembles links to the previous posts. It is all well worth reading and is a great example of quality academic writing in a blog.

Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible - An Introduction (TCHB 1)

Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible Resources (TCHB 2)

Hebrew Witnesses to the Text of the Old Testament (TCHB 3)

Early Versions of the Hebrew Bible (TCHB 4)

Codex Sinaiticus: A Profile (TCHB 5)

My own interests have been shifting in the direction of the Old Testament recently. Last month a former acquaintance called me up and asked, you are interested in Bible translation, no? I assented cautiously. Last time I answered yes to a question about translation I ended up in a very awkward situation. It is better to demur when asked something like that!

However, he only wanted to give me The David Story by Robert Alter. Since then I have been reading through the Five Books of Moses by Alter as well and am enjoying it very much.

Here are a few of the internet resources which I have assembled to enrich the experience. They relate to Tyler's fourth post, Early Versions of the Hebrew Bible. This list is not exhaustive, or even discerning, it is just a little of this and that. If you wish to add any links to this list of resources for early versions of the OT please do. For those who would like instructions on how to post a link in the comment section, try this.

1. Septuagint

Greek Septuagint at Zhubert

New English Translation of the Septuagint

2. Aramaic Targums

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and Targum Onkelos in English

Aramaic English Standard Version

3. Syriac Peshitta

Lamsa Translation is available here

4. Latin Vulgate

Jerome

Clement

Other

Judaica Electronic Texts

Prague Bible with Commentary by Rashi

Summer reading anyone? Also, I appeal again to those who would like to see their blog featured here.

ἐπιτιμάω - Part V

Since we have worked through all the synonyms of ἐπιτιμάω which have to do with telling people what to do and what not to do, it is time to turn to the question of how to speak sharply to people, i.e., the thing that the core meaning of the English word rebuke emphasizes. For telling people things they don’t want to hear, Louw & Nida list the words, ἐπιπλήσσω, ὀνειδίζω, ἐμβριμάομαι, νουθετέω,and ἐλέγχω (See Rebuke 33.417-422). ἐλέγχω is an interesting enough word that I will dedicate a post to it alone; in the rest of this post I will address the other four words.

I should make it clear at the outset that I disagree with the interpretation that all these verbs have the emotionally negative component that is implicit in the gloss ‘rebuke’. I believe that some of them are neutral. The neutral ones are, I believe, misread because they occur in contexts where the communication has a negative effect on the hearers. As has been my practice throughout this series, I will look at the words one by one.

Let me dispense with ἐπιπλήσσω first. It is a hapax legomenon in the NT. In classical Greek it meant something like ‘to criticize (harshly)’. (LSJ say ‘chastise’ esp. with words.) But there are plenty of words in the NT that mean ‘criticize’ (ανακρινω, διακρινομαι, ανταποκρινομαι, and μωμαομαι). The context of the one verse in which it appears (I Tim. 5:1) gives a clue to the NT meaning. (As is my custom, the translations are the GNB and the suggestions are revised from the basic GNB translation.)

1Tim. 5:1

1 πρεσβυτερω μη επιπληξης αλλα παρακαλει ως πατερα νεωτερους ως αδελφους

1 Do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as if he were your father. Treat the younger men as your brothers,

Better: 1 Do not speak harshly to an older man, but appeal to him as if he were your father. Treat the younger men as your brothers,

Here ἐπιπλήσσω seems to focus on the severity of the speech act, not its content. This makes all the more sense if the metaphor of striking (πληγ-) is still active in NT times. I think this is likely the case. πλήσσω occurs with a literal reading in Rev. 8:21.

Even though ἐπιπλήσσω occurs only once in the NT, its appearance is important, because if ἐπιπλήσσω focuses on speaking harshly, then it is significant that the writers of the NT DO NOT use ἐπιπλήσσω much. I’ll have more to say about that in a later post.

Now let us turn to the next word which clearly represents speaking harshly to someone, ὀνειδίζω. LSJ use the word reproach a lot in their definition of the various words related to ὀνειδίζω. They also cite the early modern English idiom cast in one’s teeth. What’s missing in their definition is that ὀνειδίζω is something you do face to face with the person you ὀνειδίζεις. It occurs nine times.

Clearly face-to-face (4)

Matt. 27:44

44 το δ αυτο και οι λησται οι συσταυρωθεντες συν αυτω ωνειδιζον αυτον

44 Even the bandits who had been crucified with him insulted him in the same way.

Mark 15:32

32 ο χριστος ο βασιλευς ισραηλ καταβατω νυν απο του σταυρου ινα ιδωμεν και πιστευσωμεν και οι συνεσταυρωμενοι συν αυτω ωνειδιζον αυτον

32 Let us see the Messiah, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him!" And the two who were crucified with Jesus insulted him also.

Mark 16:14

14 υστερον ανακειμενοις αυτοις τοις ενδεκα εφανερωθη και ωνειδισεν την απιστιαν αυτων και σκληροκαρδιαν οτι τοις θεασαμενοις αυτον εγηγερμενον ουκ επιστευσαν

14 Last of all, Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating. He scolded them, because they did not have faith and because they were too stubborn to believe those who had seen him alive.

Rom. 15:3

3 και γαρ ο χριστος ουχ εαυτω ηρεσεν αλλα καθως γεγραπται οι ονειδισμοι των ονειδιζοντων σε επεπεσαν επ εμε

3 For Christ did not please himself. Instead, as the scripture says, "The insults which are hurled at you have fallen on me."

Ambiguous, but probably face-to-face (5)

Matt. 5:11

11 μακαριοι εστε οταν ονειδισωσιν υμας και διωξωσιν και ειπωσιν παν πονηρον καθ υμων ψευδομενοι ενεκεν εμου

11 "Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers.

Matt. 11:20

20 τοτε ηρξατο ονειδιζειν τας πολεις εν αις εγενοντο αι πλεισται δυναμεις αυτου οτι ου μετενοησαν

20 The people in the towns where Jesus had performed most of his miracles did not turn from their sins, so he reproached those towns.

Luke 6:22

22 μακαριοι εστε οταν μισησωσιν υμας οι ανθρωποι και οταν αφορισωσιν υμας και ονειδισωσιν και εκβαλωσιν το ονομα υμων ως πονηρον ενεκα του υιου του ανθρωπου

22 "Happy are you when people hate you, reject you, insult you, and say that you are evil, all because of the Son of Man!

Jam. 1:5

5 ει δε τις υμων λειπεται σοφιας αιτειτω παρα του διδοντος θεου πασιν απλως και μη ονειδιζοντος και δοθησεται αυτω

5 But if any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; because God gives generously and graciously to all. (lit. not scolding)

1Pe. 4:14

14 ει ονειδιζεσθε εν ονοματι χριστου μακαριοι οτι το της δοξης και το του θεου πνευμα εφ υμας αναπαυεται

14 Happy are you if you are insulted because you are Christ's followers; this means that the glorious Spirit, the Spirit of God, is resting on you.

The range of English words that imply face-to-face interaction of this sort include: scold, bawl out, dress down, reprimand, tell off, yell at, etc. and, with further implications about the content of the communication, humiliate, taunt, and belittle, among others. Words that are typically, but not necessarily, face-to-face include insult, revile, put down, berate, deride. ὀνειδίζω seems to have both these senses, one which is about the unpleasantness of the communication as a whole, as in Mark 16:14, and the other of which is implies that the thing said is nasty, as in Matt. 5:11.

Mark 16:14

14 υστερον ανακειμενοις αυτοις τοις ενδεκα εφανερωθη και ωνειδισεν την απιστιαν αυτων και σκληροκαρδιαν οτι τοις θεασαμενοις αυτον εγηγερμενον ουκ επιστευσαν

14 Last of all, Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating. He scolded them, because they did not have faith and because they were too stubborn to believe those who had seen him alive.

Better: 14 Last of all, Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating. He bawled them out, because they did not have faith and because they were too stubborn to believe those who had seen him alive.

Matt. 5:11

11 μακαριοι εστε οταν ονειδισωσιν υμας και διωξωσιν και ειπωσιν παν πονηρον καθ υμων ψευδομενοι ενεκεν εμου

11 "Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers.

Or perhaps: 11 "Happy are you when people belittle you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers.

In glossing Mark 16:14, bawl out seems better than scold to me, because scolding seems to be prototypically between a parent (or someone in loco parentis) and a child. What adults with appropriate authority do is bawl out their underlings or maybe dress them down. Yell at is a general word. It works between social equals, but it could be used here. (Bringing up the point that some people will object that Jesus wasn’t like that. But that’s a matter for a later post.) Reprimand doesn’t work because it implies an official act. It’s what bosses do to their employees or military officers do to their subordinates to put the misdeed on record.

Next we come to ἐμβριμάομαι. This is an interesting word. In classical Greek it referred to forceful exhaling of animals, i.e., ‘snort’, based on a root that means ‘roar’. It could refer to indignation. Think of it as ‘harumph’. It’s used in this sense in the NT.

Mark 14:5

5 ηδυνατο γαρ τουτο το μυρον πραθηναι επανω δηναριων τριακοσιων και δοθηναι τοις πτωχοις και ενεβριμωντο αυτη

5 It could have been sold for more than three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor!" And they criticized her harshly.

Better: 5 “It could have been sold for more than three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor!” They were indignant with her.

And more generally it can be used to indicate the forcefulness of a speech act.

Matt. 9:30

30 και ηνεωχθησαν αυτων οι οφθαλμοι και ενεβριμηθη αυτοις ο ιησους λεγων ορατε μηδεις γινωσκετω

30 and their sight was restored. Jesus spoke sternly to them, "Don't tell this to anyone!"

Better: 30 and their sight was restored. Jesus told them in no uncertain terms, "Don't tell this to anyone!"

But ἐμβριμάομαι seems never to have completely lost the sense that it had to do with how one expels air. Unless you think of it in this way, it is a complete mystery as to why John can use it to convey that a person has been deeply affected by the situation. I’d argue that it actually means ‘he sighed’.

John 11:33

33 ιησους ουν ως ειδεν αυτην κλαιουσαν και τους συνελθοντας αυτη ιουδαιους κλαιοντας ενεβριμησατο τω πνευματι και εταραξεν εαυτον

33 Jesus saw her weeping, and he saw how the people with her were weeping also; his heart was touched, and he was deeply moved.

Better: 33 Jesus saw her weeping, and he saw how the people with her were weeping also; he sighed deeply and was moved to his very core.

Notice that if you read ἐμβριμάομαι this way, this verse is not redundant.

Now let us turn to the last word for this post, νουθετέω. I’ll argue that νουθετέω is not inherently negative. Etymologically νουθετέω means ‘put [something] in someone’s mind’ or in the English idiom ‘put someone in mind of’. From there it comes to mean ‘warn, admonish’ which is how it is commonly used in Classical Greek. The semantic shift would be: ‘give someone information’ > ‘give someone information for a reason’ > ‘give someone information that they need to take into account’ > ‘give someone information that they need to take into account or something bad will happen’. LSJ also cite places where it means ‘give someone information that they need to take into account’. Their gloss is ‘advise concerning’.

In the NT νουθετέω occurs six times in contexts where it seems more to have to do with teaching than with warning or advising. Two of the eight times it occurs, it is explicitly about teaching, as shown by the fact it is conjoined with διδασκω.

Col. 1:28

28 ον ημεις καταγγελλομεν νουθετουντες παντα ανθρωπον και διδασκοντες παντα ανθρωπον εν παση σοφια ινα παραστησωμεν παντα ανθρωπον τελειον εν χριστω

28 So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature individual in union with Christ.

Better: 28 So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we instruct and teach them in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature individual in union with Christ.

Col. 3:16

16 ο λογος του χριστου ενοικειτω εν υμιν πλουσιως εν παση σοφια διδασκοντες και νουθετουντες εαυτους ψαλμοις υμνοις ωδαις πνευματικαις εν τη χαριτι αδοντες εν ταις καρδιαις υμων τω θεω

16 Christ's message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct one another with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts.

The other four times it occurs where the context suggests teaching or instruction rather than warning are as follows: (N.B., all of these cases are translated accordingly in the GNB.)

Acts 20:31

31 διο γρηγορειτε μνημονευοντες οτι τριετιαν νυκτα και ημεραν ουκ επαυσαμην μετα δακρυων νουθετων ενα εκαστον

31 Watch, then, and remember that with many tears, day and night, I taught every one of you for three years.

Rom. 15:14

14 πεπεισμαι δε αδελφοι μου και αυτος εγω περι υμων οτι και αυτοι μεστοι εστε αγαθωσυνης πεπληρωμενοι πασης της γνωσεως δυναμενοι και αλληλους νουθετειν

14 My friends: I myself feel sure that you are full of goodness, that you have all knowledge, and that you are able to teach one another.

1 Cor. 4:14

14 ουκ εντρεπων υμας γραφω ταυτα αλλ ως τεκνα μου αγαπητα νουθετων

14 I write this to you, not because I want to make you feel ashamed, but to instruct you as my own dear children.

1Th. 5:12

12 ερωτωμεν δε υμας αδελφοι ειδεναι τους κοπιωντας εν υμιν και προισταμενους υμων εν κυριω και νουθετουντας υμας

12 We beg you, our friends, to pay proper respect to those who work among you, who guide and instruct you in the Christian life.

Note that in this last verse, 1Th. 5:12, Paul also uses νουθετέω conjoined with a verb, προισταμαι, in the same general semantic sphere as teaching, again suggesting a reading of teaching rather than warning.

The remaining two instances are translated ‘warn’ in the GNB.

1Th. 5:14

14 παρακαλουμεν δε υμας αδελφοι νουθετειτε τους ατακτους παραμυθεισθε τους ολιγοψυχους αντεχεσθε των ασθενων μακροθυμειτε προς παντας

14 We urge you, our friends, to warn the idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

2Th. 3:15

15 και μη ως εχθρον ηγεισθε αλλα νουθετειτε ως αδελφον

15 But do not treat them as enemies; instead, warn them as believers.

But either of these contexts would make equally good sense rendered as teach, if the particular kind of teaching were focused on proper behavior rather than on head knowledge. (This is also the conclusion of L&N, footnote pg. 414.) Such an interpretation would make perfect sense for the conjunction of νουθετέω with διδασκω, as Paul uses it in Colossians. Teach the doctrines of the faith (διδασκω) and their practical application (νουθετέω). However, to track this down completely, a full analysis of all the verbs of teaching (διδασκω, παιδευω, κατηχεω, σωφρονιζω, εντρεφω, et al.) would be necessary, but that is too far afield for a study of ἐπιτιμάω.

Appendix

ἐμβριμάομαι

Matt. 9:30

30 και ηνεωχθησαν αυτων οι οφθαλμοι και ενεβριμηθη αυτοις ο ιησους λεγων ορατε μηδεις γινωσκετω

30 and their sight was restored. Jesus spoke sternly to them, "Don't tell this to anyone!"

Mark 1:43

43 και εμβριμησαμενος αυτω ευθυς εξεβαλεν αυτον

43 Then Jesus spoke sternly to him and sent him away at once,

Mark 14:5

5 ηδυνατο γαρ τουτο το μυρον πραθηναι επανω δηναριων τριακοσιων και δοθηναι τοις πτωχοις και ενεβριμωντο αυτη

5 It could have been sold for more than three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor!" And they criticized her harshly.

John 11:33

33 ιησους ουν ως ειδεν αυτην κλαιουσαν και τους συνελθοντας αυτη ιουδαιους κλαιοντας ενεβριμησατο τω πνευματι και εταραξεν εαυτον

33 Jesus saw her weeping, and he saw how the people with her were weeping also; his heart was touched, and he was deeply moved.

John 11:38

38 ιησους ουν παλιν εμβριμωμενος εν εαυτω ερχεται εις το μνημειον ην δε σπηλαιον και λιθος επεκειτο επ αυτω

38 Deeply moved once more, Jesus went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone placed at the entrance.

ἐπιπλήσσω

1Tim. 5:1

1 πρεσβυτερω μη επιπληξης αλλα παρακαλει ως πατερα νεωτερους ως αδελφους

1 Do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as if he were your father. Treat the younger men as your brothers,

ὀνειδέζω

Matt. 5:11

11 μακαριοι εστε οταν ονειδισωσιν υμας και διωξωσιν και ειπωσιν παν πονηρον καθ υμων ψευδομενοι ενεκεν εμου

11 "Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers.

Matt. 11:20

20 τοτε ηρξατο ονειδιζειν τας πολεις εν αις εγενοντο αι πλεισται δυναμεις αυτου οτι ου μετενοησαν

20 The people in the towns where Jesus had performed most of his miracles did not turn from their sins, so he reproached those towns.

Matt. 27:44

44 το δ αυτο και οι λησται οι συσταυρωθεντες συν αυτω ωνειδιζον αυτον

44 Even the bandits who had been crucified with him insulted him in the same way.

Mark 15:32

32 ο χριστος ο βασιλευς ισραηλ καταβατω νυν απο του σταυρου ινα ιδωμεν και πιστευσωμεν και οι συνεσταυρωμενοι συν αυτω ωνειδιζον αυτον

32 Let us see the Messiah, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him!" And the two who were crucified with Jesus insulted him also.

Mark 16:14

14 υστερον ανακειμενοις αυτοις τοις ενδεκα εφανερωθη και ωνειδισεν την απιστιαν αυτων και σκληροκαρδιαν οτι τοις θεασαμενοις αυτον εγηγερμενον ουκ επιστευσαν

14 Last of all, Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating. He scolded them, because they did not have faith and because they were too stubborn to believe those who had seen him alive.

Luke 6:22

22 μακαριοι εστε οταν μισησωσιν υμας οι ανθρωποι και οταν αφορισωσιν υμας και ονειδισωσιν και εκβαλωσιν το ονομα υμων ως πονηρον ενεκα του υιου του ανθρωπου

22 "Happy are you when people hate you, reject you, insult you, and say that you are evil, all because of the Son of Man!

Rom. 15:3

3 και γαρ ο χριστος ουχ εαυτω ηρεσεν αλλα καθως γεγραπται οι ονειδισμοι των ονειδιζοντων σε επεπεσαν επ εμε

3 For Christ did not please himself. Instead, as the scripture says, "The insults which are hurled at you have fallen on me."

Jam. 1:5

5 ει δε τις υμων λειπεται σοφιας αιτειτω παρα του διδοντος θεου πασιν απλως και μη ονειδιζοντος και δοθησεται αυτω

5 But if any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; because God gives generously and graciously to all.

1Pe. 4:14

14 ει ονειδιζεσθε εν ονοματι χριστου μακαριοι οτι το της δοξης και το του θεου πνευμα εφ υμας αναπαυεται

14 Happy are you if you are insulted because you are Christ's followers; this means that the glorious Spirit, the Spirit of God, is resting on you.

νουθετέω

Acts 20:31

31 διο γρηγορειτε μνημονευοντες οτι τριετιαν νυκτα και ημεραν ουκ επαυσαμην μετα δακρυων νουθετων ενα εκαστον

31 Watch, then, and remember that with many tears, day and night, I taught every one of you for three years.

Rom. 15:14

14 πεπεισμαι δε αδελφοι μου και αυτος εγω περι υμων οτι και αυτοι μεστοι εστε αγαθωσυνης πεπληρωμενοι πασης | της | [της] | γνωσεως δυναμενοι και αλληλους νουθετειν

14 My friends: I myself feel sure that you are full of goodness, that you have all knowledge, and that you are able to teach one another.

1 Cor. 4:14

14 ουκ εντρεπων υμας γραφω ταυτα αλλ ως τεκνα μου αγαπητα νουθετων

14 I write this to you, not because I want to make you feel ashamed, but to instruct you as my own dear children.

Col. 1:28

28 ον ημεις καταγγελλομεν νουθετουντες παντα ανθρωπον και διδασκοντες παντα ανθρωπον εν παση σοφια ινα παραστησωμεν παντα ανθρωπον τελειον εν χριστω

28 So we preach Christ to everyone. With all possible wisdom we warn and teach them in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature individual in union with Christ.

Col. 3:16

16 ο λογος του χριστου ενοικειτω εν υμιν πλουσιως εν παση σοφια διδασκοντες και νουθετουντες εαυτους ψαλμοις υμνοις ωδαις πνευματικαις εν | | [τη] | χαριτι αδοντες εν ταις καρδιαις υμων τω θεω

16 Christ's message in all its richness must live in your hearts. Teach and instruct one another with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your hearts.

1Th. 5:12

12 ερωτωμεν δε υμας αδελφοι ειδεναι τους κοπιωντας εν υμιν και προισταμενους υμων εν κυριω και νουθετουντας υμας

12 We beg you, our friends, to pay proper respect to those who work among you, who guide and instruct you in the Christian life.

1Th. 5:14

14 παρακαλουμεν δε υμας αδελφοι νουθετειτε τους ατακτους παραμυθεισθε τους ολιγοψυχους αντεχεσθε των ασθενων μακροθυμειτε προς παντας

14 We urge you, our friends, to warn the idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

2Th. 3:15

15 και μη ως εχθρον ηγεισθε αλλα νουθετειτε ως αδελφον

15 But do not treat them as enemies; instead, warn them as believers.

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