Troublesome Topic: Here’s What an Exclusively Word-for-Word Translation Looks Like Part 1

Many Christians have an idea of translation work that can be described as building bridges across a linguistic river to a culture on the other side. Each word is a bridge carrying meaning, and a paragraph is a series of bridges that together convey a set of meanings.

Many people assume that a truly literal / “word-for-word” translation would consist of bridges that go straight across the river. Therefore a literal / word-for-word translation should be better than any other, right?

Well, actual translation work is not that simple.

In reality the bridges of an actual translation end up going across that linguistic river at many varied angles; they cross each other and even twist and turn. It is not clean and simple.  More often than you think the verses of a word-for-word translation would be unintelligible.

If you wrote a letter to someone in a foreign country and wanted it translated into their language, you would want a meaning-for-meaning translation that is as close to the wording of your letter as possible while prioritizing the meaning. You would not want a word-for-word translation that places one-word equivalencies above intended meaning of the sentence or paragraph.

There are several challenges for Bible translators:

Words left out (this is very common)

Words with several meanings

Usage add even more meanings

Basic meaning differs from usage

Self-opposing statements

Words Used In Ways that Don’t Fit Their Basic Meaning

For this example I will go with the most extreme form of word-for-word translating. Some people who want a word-for-word translation have in mind the least amount of interpretation by the translator and the fewest choices possible on the part of the translator. They say, “Don’t do the interpreting for me; give me the raw material (what it actually says) and I will build the intended meaning of the passage myself.”

Below I will show you the same verse 6 times, starting with the option that is the least clear but the most literal, word-for-word rendition and working toward the option that has the greatest clarity but is furthest from the original.

The underlined words are those that were altered or added compared to the version prior to that one. I will explain specific words after we walk through these six versions.   Are you ready?

ISAIAH 11:6

1. Yellow will dwell with dominator

and filtered and cutter will lie down 

Around and covered and beater united

and little shaker will drive them

2. A dangerous yellow thing will live with the one who dominates by butting;

the stained one and the one that cuts grass will lie down;

the one that frisks around, the one covered in a mane and the one that beats itself with its wings, ____ in unity.

And a small child shall lead them.

3. A ferocious yellow canid will live with the one who dominates by butting with horns;

the one that is splotched and the one that cuts grass short will lie down;

the one that frisks around, the one covered in a mane and the one that is too fat to fly even if it beats itself with its wings ____ in unity.

And a small child shall lead them.

4. A ferocious yellow canid will live peaceably with the one who dominates by butting with horns;

the one that is spotted and the one that cuts grass short will lie down;

the untrained one that frisks around, the one beginning to be covered in a mane and the one that is too fat like an ostrich, ____ in unity.

And a small child shall lead them.

5. A yellow wolf will be inactive and not be aggressive with a young ram;

the leopard and the young goat will lie down together; 

the year-old, untrained ox calf , the juvenile lion, and the fat calf [will lie down] in unity. 

And a small child shall lead them.

6. A ferocious predator will live in fear of the defenseless prey;

the untrustworthy and the helpless will trust each other completely; 

the weak and untrained, as well as those that are pampered with special care, will be comfortable around the wild and dangerous. 

That which is insignificant will lead them all.

I will show you the fist slide again and explain a few things.

First, notice how many things are left out and must be inserted to complete the meaning.

Yellow will dwell with dominator

Yellow is from a root word meaning yellow, but all lexica say “wolf” because it was used of something yellow and dangerous, specifically a wolf, hyena or jackal. The African wolf and Arabian wolf are both yellowish instead of gray.

Dominator – The word that means “to dominate” was used of juvenile ram. Most sacrifices were a sheep at its most valuable age – a juvenile ram, not a cute little lamb.

and filtered and cutter will lie down

Filtered – here the picture is that of a woman filtering something by letting it sift through a cloth and drip, with the drips causing stains, or splotches. It was applied to an animal to the leopard because of its markings.

Cutter – there are many things that cut, or eat grass, but this came to be used of a goat which cuts grass down low. All of that is implied from one word, “cutter”.

around and covered and flapper united

around – this is something that runs or frisks around, possibly a yearling calf. Another characteristic was that it was untrained, thus it was used of a yearling calf, or a juvenile, untrained ox.

Covered – there is another word for lion (used in the next verse) which means  to pierce. This word came to be used of a young lion that just beginning to be covered with a mane.

Beater is from a root word that can mean “to rebel, to whip, to beat, to be filthy, to lift up self.” Here “beater” is a word picture of an ostrich, which is a word picture of a fattened calf, which is a word picture of something pampered with an easy life. (This is one of 7 ways they could refer to a fattened calf.)

And little shaker will drive them

Shaker – a human being who has not yet learned to respond to danger in a mature way, but rather shakes in fear. Thus it meant a child.

GENESIS 11:3

Let us  whiten whites” is kind of like saying, “Let’s make white stuff out of white stuff” or ”Let’s make something white out of something white.” Context must indicate what kind of white stuff is being used and what the final product will be, although we can be sure it will be white.   In this passage the context is clearly that of making bricks. Therefore, as it is used here, the clause means “Let us brick bricks.” This verse also says that they had “white for stone”, understood to mean “they used bricks instead of stones:.

A Few More Quick Examples

In Daniel 9:4 we are told that he was “throwing”, but not told what he was throwing, that is left out.  The next step would be to add that he was “throwing down” something, but what? Can you guess what “throw down” means? People highly familiar with Hebrew phrases know that he was “throwing down his sins,” because, in contexts like this one, that word came to be used of “confession”. In Daniel 9:20 he uses the full phrase “I was throwing down my sins.” All the translations render all such instances with a form of “confess” which is correct and proper, but it is not a word-for-word translation in the strictest sense of the word. It communicates the thought, which is a different than the actual word used. In other contexts, the same word “throw” means to “praise.” It comes from the idea of thrusting out the hand or hands, as when throwing a stone, or when raising hands in praise. The word “throw” comes from a root word meaning “hand.”

You may have heard that the Greek word for repent actually means “to turn around.” None of the translations say it that way, they all go from what it actually says to what we all agree that it means – to repent.

To pray in Greek is “to exchange toward” but it is always rendered “pray”. It is proper to do so, but it is not a word-for-word rendition, it is a thought for thought rendition. Thus even the supposed literal translations engage in thought for thought renderings more often than most people realize – as they should.

All three of these are symbolism, where the meaning intended sounds very different from the word itself. Most of the time, symbolism was not interpreted by the translators, but left as symbolism, however, these three cases were so common and important that the translators decided to tell us what the symbol was pointing to.