The Translation Project

About the Project
Translations of the Hebrew Bible translate the original Hebrew so that it will be understandable to the English reader who has no background in the ancient Hebrew language. When doing a translation, it is often necessary to add words in the English translation of the Bible which are not in the original texts. Translators also use different (sometimes many) English words to translate one Hebrew word. These changes are made in order to make the texts clearer and understandable in the English translation. Unfortunately the translators personal beliefs and biasness will often influence how words and phrases will be translated.
There is a great need for a very "literal" translation of the Bible, where one English word will be used consistently to translate one Hebrew word. While this translation will not read well, it will assist the Bible Student with Biblical understanding. This type of translation will be virtually free of translation biasness as the translation is mechanical not allowing for personal interference with the text.
This translation, being an English reading of the original Hebrew word and sentence structure, will allow the student to see how the Hebrew is structured with no prior Hebrew background.
As a project of this size will take years to complete, we will be adding portions of this translation here beginning with Genesis Chapter One.
About the Translation
In this translation there are no punctuations or capital letters as these do not exist in the Hebrew. I will also translate one Hebrew word with one (sometimes two) English word every time. The English translation will be the same all the time, I will not translate the same Hebrew word with different English words as all translations do.
As you read this you will probably find some strange readings. For example the Hebrew word "eloah" (singular) is usually translated as "God, god, Mighty, mighty or power" and the Hebrew word "elohiym" (plural) is usually translated as "God, gods, Mighty One, mighty ones or Powers". In this translation I will always translate "eloah" as "power" and "elohiym" as "powers" as this English word will best fit all the uses of the word throughout the Biblical text.
After the literal translation of Genesis One there will be a more contemporary translation using the same pattern of word translation used in the literal translation but adding English words needed to make the sentence inteligable.
Notes on the Hebrew language and the translation
- Prefixes and suffixes are added to Hebrew verbs to identify the gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) of the one or ones who are performing the action of the verb. I will add these to the word with dashes. For example the Hebrew word "vayomer" consists of two prefixes ("va" and "y") and the root word ("omer") which means "and he said", I will write this as "and-he-said".
- Nouns also have suffixes and prefixes and these will also be shown by attaching them with dashes to the noun.
- In Hebrew, the one doing the action of the verb will usually follow the verb. For example, in English we say "John drove to the store". In Hebrew this would be "Drove John to the store".
- Our English words "is", "of" and "a" do not exist in the Hebrew.Our English words "is", "of" and "a" do not exist in the Hebrew.
- The Hebrew word "et" has no equivelent in English and is never translated. This word always comes before the direct object of the verb. I will use the word "et" in the literal translation when this word appears in the original.
- Hebrew does not have the past, present and future tenses as in English. Instead, Hebrew has Perfect tense (completed action) and imperfect tense (incomplete action, meaning action that is being completed or has not yet begun. When translateing the Hebrew tenses into an English translation, I will use the past tense for the Hebrew perfect tense and the present tense for the Hebrew imperfect tense.
- Sometimes it is necessary to use more then one English word to translate one Hebrew word. In these cases I will place a period between the English words. For example the Hebrew word "yabbashah" means dry ground, I will write this as "dry.ground".
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