What translations can do
Hebrews 12 in the FNV
I've written before about the First Nations Version, which I now dip into occasionally. I appreciate that it provides a very fresh perspective on passages and forces me out of my familiar and comfortable zones for reading Scripture. The other day I was reading the following text, and struck by how exceedingly well it brought out the underlying metaphors in this passage. Today I'm going to reproduce the text and then make comments about the translation in particular:
To the People of the Tribes of Wrestles with Creator 12
A GREAT CLOUD OF TRUTH TELLERS
1 We are surrounded by a great cloud of truth tellers who have shown us what it means to trust the Great Spirit. So let us lay to the side everything that weighs us down and the broken ways that so easily wrap around our legs to trip us. And let us run as if we are in a long-distance race, setting a steady pace and heading toward the goal.
Comment: What I appreciate here is that it makes the metaphor running through v1 much more vivid and clear. "Broken ways" is the FNV standard way of talking about sin, but the image of wrapping around the legs, the long-distance race and 'setting a steady pace' brings out, in my mind, the metaphor of running a lot clearer than most standard EVVs.
2 This means we must keep our eyes on Creator Sets Free (Jesus), the trailblazer of our spiritual ways, the one who was first to reach the end of the trail. The joy that lay before him gave him the strength to suffer on the cross and willingly bear its shame. He now sits at Creator’s right hand in the place of greatest honor.
3 If you will keep your thoughts on how much hostility Creator Sets Free (Jesus) endured from those with bad hearts and broken ways, it will keep you from growing weary and your hearts from falling to the ground. 4 For in your struggle against bad hearts and broken ways you have not yet had to face your own blood being shed.
Comment: "trailblazer" is a great way to translate ἀρχηγόν and then to pair it with 'reach the end of the trail' for τελειωτήν. I think the race metaphor carries well into the middle portion of v3 as well, 'growing weary and your hearts from falling to the ground', perfect for μὴ κάμητε ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἐκλυόμενοι. This is 'dynamic equivalence' on fire.
THE DISCIPLINE OF THE GREAT SPIRIT
5 Have you forgotten the wise counsel in our Sacred Teachings that speaks to you as mature sons and daughters? “Do not treat lightly the wise counsel of the Great Spirit Chief or let your heart fall to the ground when he shows you where you have gone wrong. 6 For he brings correction to the ones he loves and disciplines every child he takes into his family.” 7 So accept difficult times as the loving discipline of a parent, for Creator is treating you as one of his children. Are not all children disciplined by their fathers? 8 But if you never receive the discipline that all take part in, it means you are not truly his children and not part of the family.
Comment: Notice that the FNV maintains the verbal parallel of 'heart fall to the ground' in the second half of v5, capturing the Greek well. I think, too, that the way the FNV translates brings across the family metaphor in this section much more consistently and kindly than most EVVS. The EVVs tend to adopt very direct father/son language for the discipline, but here we have family/child/parent/father language. In my mind this gets the right ideas across, respects the metaphorical domain of language, and yet doesn't sacrifice 'accuracy'.
9 When our earthly fathers disciplined us, we respected them for it. So how much more should we accept and respect Creator’s discipline, for he is our spiritual Father and the one who gives us the life of beauty and harmony! 10 For a short time, our earthly fathers disciplined us as they saw best, but the Great Spirit disciplines us for our own good, so we can be holy like him.
11 Now, all discipline at the time seems to create more sorrow than joy. But for those who have learned its worth, it grows into a life of peace and doing what is right. 12 So lift up your arms that hang down and begin using your weak knees. 13 Make the path you walk straight, so that those with weak knees may not stumble from the path but instead be healed.
Comment: v9 "the life of beauty and harmony" is a good example of FNV expanding and explaining, cf. the bare Greek καὶ ζήσομεν which woodenly translates as "and we shall live"; what's important to convey at that point is the nature, the quality, of the life on offer, and the FNV does so by filling in more detail. Similarly "a life of peace and doing what is right" for εἰρηνικὸν καρπὸν... δικαιοσύνης ('righteousness')
In v 12-13 the metaphorical language seems to return to that of endurance running, doesn't it? And again I feel like the FNV captures this more vividly than many EVVs. The freedom from over-literalism, as well as the commitment to its translation principles more broadly, gives it a freshness that breaks you out of the usual cadence and patterns of Bible-ese, allowing you to experience the text anew and afresh.
