In Praise of the ISV: Presenting the Ancient Multiformity of the Text

The International Standard Version (ISV) is a very promising work in progress. An innovative feature it has begun to incorporate in the notes to its translation of the Bible is an account of significant variants found among the Second Temple biblical manuscripts found at Qumran and elsewhere in Judean desert. Peter Flint, an excellent Dead Sea Scrolls scholar, is responsible for this aspect of ISV. The latest draft, v1.4.8, like those that went before, is available online. ISV Psalms and Proverbs now contain a set of textual footnotes the thoroughness of which, with respect to the Dead Sea Scrolls, is unparalleled in other available translations. Still, there is room for improvement, as I will show in this and following posts.

It is invaluable for a translation to footnote occasions in which it departs from the received Hebrew text known as the Masoretic Text (MT). As I’ve documented on other occasions, translations to date have done so only in part.

It is also helpful for a translation to present in footnotes salient features of the ancient multiformity of the text. ISV Psalms and Proverbs do this whenever a biblical manuscript among the Dead Sea scrolls contains a significant textual variant. With few exceptions, otherwise it does not.

For example, ISV Psalm 11:2 reads as follows (MT is provided for comparison's sake):

כִּי הִנֵּה הָרְשָׁעִים יִדְרְכוּן קֶשֶׁת

כּוֹנְנוּ חִצָּם עַל־יֶתֶר

לִירוֹת בְּמוֹ־אֹפֶל לְיִשְׁרֵי־לֵב

2     Look, the wicked have bent their bow

             and placed their arrow¹ on the string,²

                       to shoot from the darkness³ at the upright in heart.

¹  So MT and DSS 5/6HevPs; DSS 4QCatena A and LXX read arrows

  11:2  ² So MT; the LXX reads arrows for the quiver

  11:2  ³ So MT and DSS; the LXX reads shoot on a moonless night

 

The usual rule is that ISV does not present the ancient multiformity of the text unless a biblical manuscript in Hebrew among the Dead Sea Scrolls contains a text at odds with MT thought worthy of note. In that case, other ancient witnesses may – or may not – be cited.

However, the third variant, while interesting, does not fit this rule. The picturesque LXX translation seems to be included on a whim. I’m happy it’s included – don’t get me wrong – but in that case, it makes sense to include such readings more consistently.

I am pleased with the efforts of ISV to give contemporary readers a taste of the textual variety through which the Word of God was vouchsafed to the saints of old. Ideally, a fuller range of ancient versions would be cited irrespective of the existence of a “triggering” variant preserved among the extant DSS witnesses.

If that were done, Psalm 11:1-2 might look as follows (the translation I offer modifies ISV where I think the draft version takes unnecessary liberties with the Hebrew):

        בַּיהוה חָסִיתִי    אֵיךְ תֹּאמְרוּ לְנַפְשִׁי   נוּדִי הַר כְּמוֹ־צִפּוֹר

        כִּי הִנֵּה הָרְשָׁעִים      יִדְרְכוּן קֶשֶׁת

        כּוֹנְנוּ חִצָּם עַל־יֶתֶר     לִירוֹת בְּמוֹ־אֹפֶל לְיִשְׁרֵי־לֵב

1     I take refuge in the LORD,

              so how can you say to me,

                     “Flee like a bird to the mountains!”?

2     Look at the wicked,

                               they bend back the bow;

                                     they place their arrow on the string

to shoot from the darkness at the upright in heart.

11:1 like a bird to the mountains so LXX, Vulgate, Targum, and Syriac; MT to your (plural) mountains, bird!

11:2 their arrow so MT and DSS 5/6HevPs; similar: Vulgate and Targum; DSS 4QCatena A and LXX read arrows

11:2 place . . . on the string so MT, Targum; the LXX and Vulgate have prepare . . . for the quiver

11:2 from the darkness so MT, DSS, etc.; the LXX has on a moonless night

 One of the great things about the ISV is that the editors welcome all suggestions with regard to their work, which remains in progress. I’ve been assured already that the changes in punctuation, tense, and poetic formatting I suggest for ISV Psalm 11:1-2 will be the subject of discussion by the editors. Suggested improvements to the text of the ISV may be sent to: mailto:suggestion@isv.org.

The text of MT Psalm 11:1 is modified in accordance with a text-critical judgment. ISV reflects that text-critical judgment. In my view, it would be best to supply a footnote to that effect, as NRSV does.

Per REB’s practice, numbers within the body of the translation are omitted. They are a nuisance to the average reader, and unnecessary to the more studious reader.

Psalm 22:16 is one of the most contested texts of the entire Hebrew Bible. In my next post, I will examine ISV’s treatment of it.

Comments

[Iyov]

Per REB’s practice, numbers within the body of the translation are omitted. They are a nuisance to the average reader, and unnecessary to the more studious reader.

I do not know what you mean.

Do you mean Bamidbar ("The Book of Numbers") is a nuisance?

Do you mean that numerical values mentioned in the text of the Hebrew Bible are a nuisance (such as ages, dates, or the dimensions or the ark, for example)?

Do you mean that verse numbers are a nusiance? (omitting verse numbers is not a feature of a translation, but a particular printing -- and the ISV downloads appear to include verse numbers).

Do you mean gematrios are a nuisance?

Do you mean "Strong's numbers" or "G/K numbers" are a nuisance?

Do you mean page numbers are a nuisance?

[JohnFH]

Guess again, Iyov!

I was referring to numbered footnotes. ISV has them. REB does not; neither does the new Zuercher Bibel, nor does the old La Bibbia di Gerusalemme. Footnotes are abundant in all cases, but are unnumbered. Each begins with a chapter and verse number location. I prefer that.

There are also editions of the Jerusalem Bible which do without interpolated numbers for chapters and verses. Said numbers are located in the margin. The solution is elegant.

The Koren Bible and Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia (Hendrickson) also do without interpolated numbers. Bar Ilan University's Miqra'ot Gedolot uses the same system, and has three sets of independent footnotes, none of which are numbered. The circulus, per tradition, is used to reference the Masorah Qetannah, but there is no indication within the body of the text itself as to whether there is a corresponding note in the Masorah Gedolah or the Ayin ha-Masorah, or whether Rashi, Radaq, etc. have a note or not on a particular locus.

[Iyov]

I suppose you would consider it pedantic for me to point out the ISV (at least the version I downloaded) has lettered footnotes?

But, hey, I'll let you battle it out with Edward Gibbon.

Or, maybe you might enjoy this.

[JohnFH]

You are right about that. I was deceived because I cut and pasted what I needed into a Word doc and the program automatically transformed the lettered into numbered footnotes. Still, the principle holds.

Thanks for the link. It's a splendid article.

[ginat]

11:1 ... MT to your (plural) mountains, bird!

Actually, "mountain" -- but to make it a little more interesting, "your (plural)" agrees with MT ketib, "flee (plural)" (though not with "me"), in which case, bird could be collective: "Flee to your mountain, birds!" or perhaps "Flee to your bird mountain!"

[JohnFH]

Ginat,

thanks for pointing out the complexity of MT, which I left mostly to one side.

Har, of course, is also used to reference a mountain-range in Hebrew, not just a single mountain, and that's what I have in mind when I translate with "mountains."

Har is translated with a plural already in the first translation of the Bible, the Septuagint, becuase Greek idiom requires it, but with a singular in the Targum, for example, because the Aramaic equivalent is indeed a collective singular. Cf. Syriac Tur-Abdin, which refers to a hilly region, as does Har-Efraim in Hebrew.