British English idioms in English Bible translations

[MikeInVA]

not so much the translation

I thought that the Jerusalem Bible was supposed to be pretty good but the New Jerusalem Bible not so much? I have a couple of Jerusalem Bibles that I bought as garage sales - maybe I need to actually open one and see!

 

[OddBird]

How do we learn that the British use the term “torch” where we would say “flashlight”? We read it somewhere. Same goes for lift vs. elevator, Bob’s your uncle, knackered, or any other uniquely British expression.

I agree, particularly as we now have Google at our fingertips pretty much anywhere.

I am a non-native English speaker but I can most often guess from the context, at least the general meaning, even when I encounter an expression for the first time (like, yesterday, @stpurl’s “sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander”, which I don’t think I had encountered before).

I do admit I sometimes have trouble remembering which word is the American and which one is the British idiom

One and the same Bible translation in every parish in the country. Even if it’s not everyone’s ideal translation …

I’ve grown quite fond of the French liturgical translation, even if I wasn’t sold at first. I think part of it is that it is intended for being read out loud, and some verses, particularly in the Psalms, stick to memory better.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I seem to recall Mother Angelica used to use the Jerusalem Bible for many years until she went more traditional.

 

[OurLadyofSorrows]

I love this one, have a gander at the gander, silly goose!

 

[OurLadyofSorrows]

Isnt jail and gaol just two different ways to spell the same word.

 

[OddBird]

Ok, I’ll have to look that one up

ETA : I would never have guessed that “taking a gander” meant “looking at something”. Thank you, something new to try and place in a conversation !

 

[Titivillus]

And yet, we’re not stupid. The average literate American is perfectly capable of reading new words and new usages of existing words and adapting.

[…]

Why do book publishers think we are illiterate and incapable?

Even some of our bishops think we are so. Remember all the pearl-clutching about consubstantial gibbets a few years ago?
rant
And in all the years since, and having attended the Good Friday Liturgy of the Passion a number of times, I have yet to hear the word gibbet uttered in church!? What up with that?

 

[BartholomewB]

Isnt jail and gaol just two different ways to spell the same word.

Yes, they are, but I’ve never seen “gaol” in an American newspaper or book. Even in British use, I have the impression it’s much less common nowadays than it used to be, although the New Jerusalem Bible, published in the 1980s, still uses “gaol” in Acts 5:21.

Acts, 5 - There was also a man called Ananias - New Jerusalem Bible

 

[Dovekin]

USA’s National Council of Churches produced the RSV and the NRSV. They also issued an Anglicized version which likely has the most information about British idioms. The idea was to produce an accurate bible every church in the USA would use. Canada uses the NRSV in their lectionary probably because the established Church in Canada uses it? I am not sure of that or how to refer to the Anglicans in Canada.

The NAB started in the ‘40s, when Catholics and Protestants did not get along. It was approved in 1970 and is still used in he American lectionary. A revised translation was produced over the next 20 years, but that has never been approved for liturgical use, which is why they are working on another revision, to be finished in 2025 maybe. An NRAB to replace the NABRE?

The Jerusalem Bible is based on the French translation from the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem. I like it, as it captures the concrete Hebrew imagery better, ie Children of Adam instead of mankind or humanity or Man. The NJB redid the notes but left the translation untouched. The NRJB is a revision done by a British monk on his own initiative. An impressive effort by someone who has taught Scripture his whole life. The lectionary in use by Catholics in the UK uses the original JB translation, probably Ireland too.

 

[BartholomewB]

The NRJB is a revision done by a British monk on his own initiative. An impressive effort by someone who has taught Scripture his whole life.

This is what The Tablet said about Henry Wansbrough, the editor-translator of the Revised New Jerusalem Bible:

Now the indefatigable Dom Henry Wansbrough, not content with being the chief editor of its first revision, the New Jerusalem Bible, a third of a century ago, has produced a revised version of the same, with a different philosophy of translation and a move in the direction of inclusive language and modern measurements.

The Revised New Jerusalem Bible: New Testament and Psalms is an outstanding piece of work by Henry Wansbrough

 

[Mary888]

Why do book publishers think we are illiterate and incapable?

It’s not that methinks. It is more that pondering on the meaning of linguistic findings is NOT the point of reading the Bible. Plus the Holy Scriptures must be accessible to people of average education, just able to read, and also they are also for the soul not just the mind. People may also run to reading the Bible in cases of trauma, fear, crisis. Encountering a meaningless word may have the opposed desired effect and make the reader get angry, impetuous and abandon the lecture.

 

[EndTimes]

Can some Scripture scholar perhaps provide me a few concrete examples of these British idioms in the Bible that Americans wouldn’t understand?

I’ve several Bibles including a Bible published for Brits - and there’s no problems.