“Prepare a sacrifice”?
Why does the ESV have in Ps. 5.3 (5.4 Heb.) “in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch”? The Hebrew is ‘arak, which HALOT has as “to lay out, set in rows”; it can also mean to set up a battle formation; but the kicker is this: it is a legal term meaning to present a case (before a judge, I presume). The meaning of laying out/setting in rows is used for sacrificial meat [e.g., Lev. 1.8] and for the showbread [e.g., Lev. 24.8] – but that is certainly not the only use – and doesn’t fit the context of the Psalm, which doesn’t seem centered on priestly activity in the Holy Place. The LXX renders it with parastesomai (“to be present; stand by”). Most other English transations I checked respect the ambiguity of the term and render it in a more general way – which, it seems to me, is much closer to the meaning. NKJ has “In the morning I will direct it to you, and look up”; KJV, “In the morning I will direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up”; NAS, “In the morning I will order my prayer to Thee and eagerly watch”; NJB, “At daybreak I lay my case before you and fix my eyes on you.”
It appears that the ESV simply copied the RSV on this verse, without actually checking the Words our Lord gave us. Missed it by THAT much. And, removed from the mouths of God’s people what He actually wants us to do and say.
And then, there was last Sunday’s Epistle, specifically Rom. 6.19. ESV has, “I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations.” That sounded odd as soon as I read it, sending me running to my trusty Robinson-Pierpont. Sure enough, there is mischief afoot. The Greek has dia ten asthenian tes sarkos humwn (forgive my lousy transliteration skills). Is there any reason at all not to just translate it, “because of the weakness of your flesh”? That puts it within the context of everything the Scriptures have to say about the weakness of the flesh. Change for the sake of change is unwise; change that actually makes the text theologically harder to understand is irresponsible.
Just when I start liking the ESV, I come across things like these that make me wonder why our Synod rushes into bad translations generation after generation.
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Very insightful! I am glad someone is watching out for translation problems. If only we all knew Greek, and Hebrew, (and latin, and German)… Oh for the days of the classical education!
The one that kind of made me luke-warm on it (no pun intended, okay maybe a little) was Acts 20:10, where Paul raises up the young man who fell out of the window in Troas. ESV says that Paul bent over him. Most translations say “fell upon.” The parallel that this has to Elijah raising the widow of Zarapheth’s son in I Kings 17 is completely lost.
The one that kind of made me luke-warm on it (no pun intended, okay maybe a little) was Acts 20:10, where Paul raises up the young man who fell out of the window in Troas. ESV says that Paul bent over him. Most translations say “fell upon.” The parallel that this has to Elijah raising the widow of Zarapheth’s son in I Kings 17 is completely lost.
When I was at the Seminary I repeated over and over NKJV to the people who were working on the hymnal – but nope, no one listens to me. Not when you have your own profs working on the ESV translation >=o)
If only it were the EESV, the “Esget-Eric Standard Version”!
By the nature of things, no translation of anything will ever be that thing, exactly, in another language. So the effort or the search is for the translation that is the least problematic. I think the ESV qualifies for that among the current English ones, although I agree the NKJV is an arguably excellent choice too.
The real question to me is, why is translation the norm for Christians? I mean, Jews learn Hebrew, Muslims learn to read the Koran in the original, what’s up with us? Yes I know that does not make every Jew or Muslim a Hebrew or Arabic scholar, but you get the point.
And I freely admit, Greek is, well, Greek to me. I can hack the Vulgate though!