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possessed of a little ingenuity, can with the help of a dictionary and grammar give a
word-for word rendering, whether intelligible or not, and print `Translation' on his title
page. On the other hand it is a melancholy spectacle to see men of high ability and
undoubted scholarship, toil and struggle at translation under a needless restriction to
literality, as in intellectual handcuffs and fetters, when they might with advantage snap
the bonds and fling them away, as Dr. Welldon has done" (Dr. Weymouth, Preface to
First Edition).
Dr. Weymouth refers to the R.V. and better still to Darby's New Translation, saying
that if the reader is bent upon getting a literal rendering, he will find it in these versions,
but should be on his guard against their strong tendency of mislead because of the idioms
that are found in the Greek of the N.T., Greek that is interpenetrated with Hebraisms,
which "a literal rendering into English cannot but partially veil, and in some degree
distort the true sense". Moffatt quotes from De Qunicey's essay on "Protestantism", on
the popular delusion that "every idea and word which exists, or has interchangeable
equivalent in all languages". "Thus", continues Moffatt, "there is no exact English
equivalent for terms like logos and musterion and dikaiosune".
On the other hand, J. N. Darby says, in connection with this same subject:
"My endeavour has been to present to the merely English reader the original as closely
as possible. Those who make a version for public use must of course adapt their course
to the public. Such has not been my object or thought, but to give the student of
Scripture, who cannot read the original, as close a translation as possible."
Speaking of the A.V., Darby says:
"There is one principle which the translators avow themselves, which is a very great
and perilous mistake. Where a word occurs in Greek several times in the same passage
or even sentence, they render it, as far as they possibly can, by different words in English.
In some cases the effect is very serious; in all the connection is lost. Thus in John 5 we
have `judgment' committed to the Son; shall not come into `condemnation'; the
resurrection of `damnation'. The word is the same in Greek, and every one can see that
`not coming into judgment' is a very different thing from `not coming into
condemnation'. The whole force of the passage depends on this word, and its contrast
with life."
The reader, though he know not a single word of either Hebrew or Greek, and has
never attempted to translate a single sentence from one language to another, will be
conscious that translation and interpretation are not so severely separated as not to mingle
and influence one another. As we are not able to help the reader to become a translator,
and as the ability to appraise any particular translation depends upon a combination of
qualities and attainments that may be possessed but which cannot be given, we will pass
from this specialized feature of translation, to the more general work of interpretation, in
which all gifts and talents may be employed whether by scholars or common folk,
whether they labour in ancient languages or merely use their own mother tongue.