[B-Greek] English Translation of the GNT

Michael Holmes holmic at bethel.edu
Mon May 19 11:42:18 EDT 2003


Someone asked,
>I would very much like to know what commonly available English 
>translation is considered closest to the Greek New Testament (UBS, 
>4th Revised Edition).

A number of list members have answered this query in terms of translation theory, but the questions seems to be asking something else: not which ET most closely represents Greek sentence structure and syntax, but which one most closely follows a particular text (regardless of translation theory).

The text of the UBS 4th ed. is identical to the text of the UBS 3rd ed., so the question may properly be answered with regard to either edition. The English translation that is closest to the text of the UBS 3rd/4th ed. is likely the NRSV, which essentially adopted the UBS 3rd ed. as its default textual basis--no surprise, since two members of the NRSV NT translation committee, Metzger and Wikgren, were at the same time members of the UBS editiorial committee. (But even so, there are the rare exceptions; e.g., at Acts 16:12, the NRSV translates PRWTH ["a leading city of the district"], the reading preferred by Metzger, rather than the text as printed, PRWTHS ["a city of the first district"], preferred by Wikgren.)

So, the short answer: probably the NRSV.

Mike Holmes
Bethel College



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