And God Said: How Translations Conceal the Bible's Original Meaning (review)

Abstract

And God Said: How Translations Conceal Bible's Original Meaning, by Joel M. Hoffman. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2010. 256 pp. $25.99. A little learning, they say, is a dangerous thing. Joel Hoffman's background would seem to have lefthim with more than just a little learning, but a reading of his book And God Said demonstrates that he still falls well within danger area. It's too bad, because his topic is one that deserves a good book for a general readership; and Hoffman himself has a few worthwhile things to say. book is divided into two sections, each comprising about half book. first, Getting Started, consists of three chapters explaining why all previous translations of Bible are wrong, and demonstrating correct approach to Bible translation. second, Moving Forward, applies Hoffman's method to five biblical phrases or passages: b'chol levavcha u-v'chol nafshecha (Deut 6:5); YHWH ro'i (Ps 23:1); ahoti kallah (Song of Songs, passim); lo tirtzach and lo tahmod (in Ten Commandments of Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5); and almah (Isa 7:14). Part of book, Getting Started, is intended to prove inadequacy of all translation methods other than Hoffman's (which he does by demonstrating that pushed to extremes they all lead to absurdity) and to demonstrate his own approach. This is method of functional equivalence (p. 238)- though reader will not learn this phrase without reading Guide to Translations and Further Reading that appears in a significantly smaller type size as an appendix at back of book. In main text, explanation is more or less limited to one sentence saying that the goal is to understand not just vocabulary but also grammar of source ... and then try to do same thing in target language (p. 69) and a diagram, labeled Table I (it is only graphic feature in book), showing translation as a process of decoding function of phrase in source and encoding same function in target (p. 69). This technique, too, could be shown to lead to absurd results if carried to extremes. amazing thing about book is that Hoffman himself provides absurdities of his own method. Take, for example, the Lord is my from Psalm 23. Hoffman explains what is wrong with this translation: The problem is that shepherds, once common, are now rare (p. 126). Nowadays, a shepherd is meek, humble, powerless, and . . . not a part of mainstream society (p. 133), whereas in biblical times shepherds provided sustenance and were powerful, romantic, and common-none of which apply to shepherds today. So Hoffman tries out various other options: marine, fireman, lawyer, lumberjack, cowboy, pilot, doctor, nurse, veterinarian, zookeeper, farmer. …