HCSB Study Bible Coming September 2009

I’ve just read an informative post by Robert Jimenez about the HCSB second edition. He has been in contact with Jim Baird from B&H Publishing, and it appears that the rumored HCSB Study Bible is tentatively slated for release in September 2009 and will also contain the updated second edition text. This will almost certainly be a study Bible that I will pick up, particularly if it has an online edition like the NLT and ESV Study Bibles did.

 

Acts comparison results part 2

Starting with the third translation from the earlier post, we have an idiomatic rendering taken from The Message. There were two interesting things about this translation to me. The first is the rendering of Jerusalem as “town” in order to use a common phrase. I think it works here, but the Greek actually has the proper name for Jerusalem in this instance. The other thing that caught my eye was the usage of the word “refute” instead of “deny” like the other translations do. I think that “deny” is in much more common usage today than “refute” is, so I found this to be a very interesting selection for this translation. Yes, I’m referring to The Message as a translation; I suppose if I used paraphrase it would be more palpable.

• “What can we do with these men? By now it’s known all over town that a miracle has occurred, and that they are behind it. There is no way we can refute that. But so that it doesn’t go any further, let’s silence them with threats so they won’t dare to use Jesus’ name ever again with anyone.”
  The Message

I really liked this translation here from the HCSB. If they had used “can’t” as the NLT did then I would say that this is pretty close to how I would translate the passage. I also like the use of an exclamation point.

• “What should we do with these men? For an obvious sign, evident to all who live in Jerusalem, has been done through them, and we cannot deny it! But so this does not spread any further among the people, let’s threaten them against speaking to anyone in this name again.”
  HCSB

I admit that I always have high expectations of the NEB and REB when it comes to comparing scripture. I was a bit disappointed this time around however there was one interesting word. Here the REB uses “farther” instead of “further” in the last verse. I’m not sure if this is just a difference because the REB is Anglicized, or if there is some other explanation that I’m not aware of.

• “What are we to do with these men?” they said. “It is common knowledge in Jerusalem that a notable miracle has come about through them; and we cannot deny it. But to stop this from spreading farther among the people, we had better caution them never again to speak to anyone in this name.”
  REB

I will make one more follow up post comparing the last three translations.

Update
Original post, follow up posts: part 1, part 2, and part 3.