Bridging the Gap: Bringing the Beauty of Biblical Poetry to Life through Poetic Oral Translations
Bridging the Gap: Bringing the Beauty of Biblical Poetry to Life through Poetic Oral Translations
There is a huge gap between the beauty of the Psalms in Hebrew and the average reader’s experience of the Psalms in their mother tongue. The translations most English-speaking churches trust (ESV, NIV, NKJV, NASB, NLT, KJV) do not sound or look very much like English poetry. What can translators do about this beauty gap? The prolific Bible translation scholar Ernst Wendland (2004, 2013), other scholars in translation studies (Linafeld, Munday, House), and my dive into the brain science of emotions (Frost, forthcoming) have given me an idea for a path forward. I have simplified it into three guiding principles:
First, we must recognize that one of our best windows into the beauty of the Hebrew poetry is a translation which we find beautifully poetic. Why? In their original context, the Psalms were highly expressive texts, bursting with artistic beauty. In fact, Hebrew poetry is the primary conduit of emotional expression in the Hebrew canon (Linafeld 2016, 88). Audience members can feel the difference between poetically beautiful and bland texts. Our vast reservoirs of implicit and procedural linguistic knowledge produce a deep, logically ruled, yet often wordless sensation as the audience listens to meaningful poetry. Wendland, among many scholars, calls this an aesthetic effect (2004; cf. Obermeier et al. 2013, Shelly 2022). I think of an aesthetic effect as the visceral experience of beauty.
Second, translators must translate the poetic beauty and expressiveness of these texts while remaining faithful to other aspects of their meaning (cf. Munday 2016, 115-117). If left untranslated, the translator's insights into the artistic beauty of the original Hebrew does not benefit the hearts, minds, or spirits of the target audience (Neubert 2000, 10). For the lay Christian, such translations are often their only window into the poetic beauty in the Scripture. This second principle introduces a problem. One third of the Bible is Hebrew poetry. If we do not understand how this type of poetry works, we will misinterpret this critical chunk of Scripture. My final guiding principle tackles this problem.
Third, I suggest that we translate enough of the original poetic aspects that the audience can have an aesthetic experience with the Psalm while also learning about Hebrew poetic devices. Often, translators are offered two translation methods: a more "literal" approach or a more "dynamic" approach. I posit the possibility of a middle path that takes the best of both approaches. We can make a linguistically informed translation of the poetry with some functionally equivalent aesthetic effects so that the audience can feel the beauty of the poetry in ways that are already meaningful to them in their context. At the same time, this translation should retain as many aspects of the original poetic structure as will work for the audience without obscuring the meaning. Such features might include the grouping of lines, the placement of God’s names, word plays, the use of the same word roots, and even sound plays on some occasions. This approach allows the audience to learn something about Hebrew poetry, thereby gaining a greater appreciation for substantial portions of Scripture. This type of translation will serve as a bridge between the original poetic beauty of Hebrew poetry and the aesthetic preferences of modern audiences. Teaching about the beauty of the Hebrew poetry cannot replace experiencing the beauty, and carefully crafted experiences of beauty can give people the motivation and ability to appreciate features of Hebrew poetry.
My Oral Draft of Psalm 9
For my devotional time during the last month, I drafted an oral translation of Psalm 9 in line with the vision above. Click the link above to listen to the translation. You can follow along with the transcription provided at this same link. I am hoping to work with a Bible translation consultant soon who can approve this Psalm as an actual translation!
Feedback Requested
If you listen to my oral translation of Psalm 9, would you mind responding to this email with your thoughts on my draft?
- What part of the Psalm stood out to you the most?
- What, if anything, surprised you—either pleasantly, or struck you as particularly odd? Please explain your response.
- Is my translation in a style that you enjoy listening to? Please explain your answer.
- Would you enjoy listening to more Psalms like this?
- If you wanted to memorize a Psalm, would you want to use a translation like this one? Why or why not?
Sources
- Linafelt, Tod. 2016. “Poetry and Biblical Narrative.” In The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Narrative, edited by Danna Nolan Fewell, 84–92. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Shelley, James. 2022. “The Concept of the Aesthetic.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta, Spring 2022. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2022/entries/aesthetic-concept/.
- Munday, Jeremy. 2016. Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications. 4th edition. London; New York: Routledge.
- Neubert, Albrecht. 2000. “Competence in Language, in Languages, and in Translation.” In Developing Translation Competence. Amsterdam ; Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
- Obermeier, Christian, Winfried Menninghaus, Martin von Koppenfels, Tim Raettig, Maren Schmidt-Kassow, Sascha Otterbein, and Sonja Kotz. 2013. “Aesthetic and Emotional Effects of Meter and Rhyme in Poetry.” Frontiers in Psychology 4. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00010.
- Wendland, Ernst. 2013. Orality and the Scriptures: Composition, Translation, and Transmission. https://www.academia.edu/3657392/Orality_and_the_Scriptures_Composition_Translation_and_Transmission.
- Wendland, Ernst. 2004. Translating the Literature of Scripture : A Literary-Rhetorical Approach to Bible Translation. SIL International Publications in Translation and Textlinguistics 1. https://www.academia.edu/1801668/Translating_the_literature_of_Scripture_A_literary_rhetorical_approach_to_Bible_translation.
- The oak tree and palm tree came from https://www.flaticon.com/