Wanted to give you a quick head’s up about a promotion that Logos Bible Software is doing. For a limited time they are giving away a free Cornerstone Commentary – no strings! They will be publishing the entire series eventually (it’s not complete yet, these things take time. You try getting a bunch of scholars to get their work turned in at the same time – it’s not like we can give them an assignment for their term papers. Well, maybe it is and this is completely breaking down but be that as it may – it takes time).

Logos will be bundling the commentaries together into a couple of groups. Currently they are in pre-pub for a set of 9.

Also, don’t miss their new blog here. Also, don’t forget that they are producing a version of the NLT Study Bible that you can order here or find at your local Christian bookstore.

By the way, I finally have the deluxe editions of the SB on my desk and I gotta say they look great. Now I have to figure out which one I want. I am dying to talk about it more, but I will leave that to Sean and his Seminar on the Study Bible TONIGHT. I have seen him explain it and work through a couple of passages on several occasions now and he will not disappoint. I can’t not say anything though. I am not a study Bible guy usually. Give me a text Bible, a good Concordance, like say this one, a couple of commentaries for the book or books I am reading (how do you do Mr. subliminal in a blog? – cough*Cornerstone*cough – his keyboard muttered in a different font) and maybe a backgrounds book. That being said, I want this Bible. I probably won’t carry it to church because 1) it’s big, no two ways about it, and 2) it would be too distracting during the sermon and while I am pretty good friends with the pastor of my church I don’t think he would be too appreciative. I can be pretty discrete though . . .

Labels: Cornerstone Commentary, Logos, NLT, NLT Study Bible

As many of our readers are already aware, the NLT has undergone some changes over the years. The NLT was released in 1996 as a new translation, but it underwent a significant revision in 2004, often referred to as the NLT Second Edition (NLTse). In 2007, some further revisions were introduced, but this update was not nearly as comprehensive as the 2004 edition.

The latest randomly-chosen winners of the Hardcover NLT Study Bibles are: Steven R. Robertson, Scripture Zealot, jbwiebe, Seraph, Rich Shields, Elvin, h bar, Alicia, Ron, blackreformingkid, and eloratan. (Eloratan, if you're reading this, please email me your name and postal address). Congratulations!

In the past there was a tradition of not listing the names of the translators of the Bible. After all, translators didn’t write the Bible; they simply render into a modern language what is there in Hebrew and Greek (with a bit of Aramaic). Humility would seem to call for anonymity.

So why does the NLT list the names of its ninety translators? It’s not to stroke the egos of the scholars. Indeed, I get embarrassed when people ask me to autograph their NLT because they see my name up front.

The main value of knowing who translated the Bible you are reading is to let you know the theological perspective of the work. (Yes, it is also to tell you that the people who did it are highly trained specialists in the language and literature of the Old and New Testaments). But what difference does the theological perspective of the translator make?

A big difference. After all, as I like to say, a translation is a commentary without a note. Well, not quite, but what I mean is that to translate requires interpretation and interpretation means that exegetical decisions have to be made. Much of the Bible is crystal clear and easily rendered into a modern language like English, but not all of it.

Let me give an example from the very first verses of Genesis (1:1-2) and let’s do so by comparing the NLT and the NRSV.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. (NLT)

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep…” (NRSV)

Notice the difference? In the NRSV at the time (when) God created the
heavens and earth, the earth was formless and void. In other words, it was
already there and ready for God to use. The NLT hints at a creation from
nothing. There was nothing and then God created a formless earth which he
then shaped into the habitable planet described in the rest of Genesis 1.

Here’s the rub. This important theological point cannot be solved by reference to the rules of Hebrew grammar. They both can be defended. The NLT (and other translations by evangelical scholars) base their rendering on other, later Scripture passages that clearly teach creation from nothing. The NRSV rather takes its cue from the cultural environment. The surrounding cultures (Egyptian, Canaanite, Mesopotamian) all describe primeval waters from which creation derives.

This is just one striking example, but it does indicate that you should know something about where your translation came from. It is also a good idea to use multiple translations when doing serious study, but more about that in the future.

Welcome to our newest NLT Blog team member, Dr. Tremper Longman. Dr. Longman is the Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies and the chair of the religious studies department at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California.

He is the senior translator of the Wisdom Books in the New Living Translation and the General Reviewer of Job-Song of Songs and author of many notes and articles in the NLT Study Bible. He is also the author of the commentary on Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs in the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary series.

We’re so glad to have Dr. Longman aboard. We look forward to the ways that his contributions will inform and shape our discussion here about the NLT and bible translation.

In the recently-released CBA (Christian Bookseller Association) chart of best-selling Bible translations in July, the NLT topped the chart as the Bible translation with the most units sold in the month! This is the first time, to our knowledge, that the NLT has been #1 on this list. (The NLT was #2 on this list in June.)

This is pretty exciting news for us, though we do keep it in perspective, knowing that these numbers fluctuate fairly often. Part of the reason for the jump is due to the sales of one of our new Bibles--Operation Worship (NLT), which released this summer.

Several bloggers have commented on the momentum and growing usage of the NLT:

Bryon was the first (that I'm aware of) to link to this list.

Rick Mansfield, in a post last month called "The Rise of the New Living Translation" observes that "signs are starting to point to the New Living Translation as a major contender for the spot of top English translation that the NIV has held onto for the last two decades." He quotes Wayne Leman, who said "A major translation comes along every few generations and it can become a default translation. The KJV was one of these. The RSV was one, at least for NCC churches. The NIV was one. Now, [in my opinion], the NLT is one."

Brad says "It seems that the Study Bible and the NLT in particular is becoming the translation of choice for a lot of people."

ElShaddai Edwards observes in his post "Changes in the Bookstore" that the NLT is increasing in placement and location in his local Christian bookstore: "Surprise, surprise, the second largest layout was for the NLT, with 3 display units. They’d moved the NLT from the back wall (where the NIV is now) to the left side wall (high visibility too)" He comments "I can’t deny that I’m pleased to see the NLT get so much exposure. I’m become convinced that functional translations are as every bit authoritative a Bible as formal translations or even the original Greek/Hebrew texts. " A couple of commenters confirm that they've observed this trend in their local bookstores as well.

TC Robinson writes a post called "The Second Coming of the NLT has taken the Bible World by Storm!"

David Ker posts on buzz about the NLT in the blogosphere and CD-Host comments that "Virtually ever blogger I read has upgraded their evaluation of the NLT and/or NTLSB in the last quarter." In another post, David talks about the number of bloggers promoting the NLT. Rick Mansfield comments on that post that " the NLT is definitely gaining momentum and readers "

In a very well-commented post, iMonk says: "And then we have the issue of who translated the New Living Translation. Careful there young, restless and reformed. Some of your favorites have been doing some dynamic equivalence translation behind your back." (iMonk isn't saying anything about the momentum of the NLT, he's just saying.)

Other Buzz:

The July 2008 edition of the Christian Reformed Church reported that the 2008 synod declared that the NLT is one of the translations that may be used in that denomination's worship services.


Harold Smith, editor-in-chief and CEO of Christianity Today, International, in an announcement last month that the New Living Translation will be the default translation on CTI's websites, says "I’m especially thrilled that we can, together, provide broader distribution and more creative access to a quality translation that will bring God’s living Word to bear on more and more people.”

Mark D. Taylor

As a dynamic-equivalence translation, the NLT translates the Hebrew and Greek text in natural, understandable English. This means that we try to avoid technical terms that the average reader would not understand.

Two such technical terms not used in the NLT are "propitiation" and "expiation." The Bible Translation Committee chose not to use these terms because the average reader does not understand them. In fact, I'd guess that only 1% of the population could define the terms "propitiation" and "expiation" with any degree of accuracy.

The table below shows how four translations handle the Greek term hilasterion:

Romans 3:25
KJV	RSV	ESV	NLT
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation . . .	whom God put forward as an expiation . . .	whom God put forward as a propitiation . . .	For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin.
Hebrews 9:5
KJV	RSV	ESV	NLT
And over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercyseat;	above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.	Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.	Above the Ark were the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the Ark's cover, the place of atonement.

These are the only two NT passages that use the Greek word hilasterion. But the word is used frequently in the Greek translation of the OT, where it refers to the cover of the Ark of the Covenant. English translations of the OT render the Hebrew term as "mercy seat" (KJV, RSV, ESV), "atonement cover" (NIV), or "the Ark's cover--the place of atonment" (NLT).

In Heb 9:5, the term hilasterion is used in the literal sense--describing the Ark's cover.

In Rom 3:25, Paul uses hilasterion as a metaphor. "God presented Jesus as the hilasterion." But what does this metaphor mean? Jesus was the "atonement cover." He was the "place of atonement." He was himself "the sacrifice for sin," the means of atonement between God and humanity.

Does the English word "propitiation" communicate this nuance of meaning? Perhaps to 1% of the population. To the other 99%, it communicates very little meaning at all.

That's why the NLT uses words that communicate clearly to 100% of the readers: "God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin" (Rom 3:26).

By the way, Scripture Zealot has a post on this very subject called Romans 3:25, Propitiation and the NLT (in which he quotes the first-edition text of the NLT).

Labels: dynamic equivalence, formal equivalence, Hebrews 9:5, NLT, Romans 3:25