All three of the options used here are listed as viable possibilities in Strongs and Vines, and I can only pass along the argument that if Paul truly meant a royal crown, he might have used diadema instead. But here, athletic competition is the context, and a woven garland of botanicals seems to be a more appropriate choice.

As such, I’m less inclined to argue with a translation of phthartos that draws out the perishable aspect of a leafy “crown”, whether that be “withering” or “fading”.

how these so-called “literary translations” render phrases in ways that color the English in a manner that a translation like the TNIV does not attempt.

I think there is very often a good reason not attempt to colour translations in this way. Not only does it give to the translation a literary feel which is not necessarily in the original, it can also compromise the accuracy of the translation. In the original, if there is any “description of the drying, the fading, the withering away of the leaves that make up a champion’s wreath”, it is all in one word, so to spell this out further in a translation is to risk adding to the Bible message.

I do like your amalgamation up to v.26, and I think it has satisfied my three marks of a good translation. But I still prefer the TNIV at v. 27. I really find it hard to beat.

That’s not to say that the TNIV is wrong – I’m just looking at the difference between “They do it to get a crown that will not last” and “this is to win a wreath that will wither”. Alliteration aside, the description of the drying, the fading, the withering away of the leaves that make up a champion’s wreath creates a more visually rich picture than the straightforward “crown that will not last”.

I really don’t see the TNIV as being too wordy at v. 25. Maybe my love of the TNIV is clouding my judgment…lol.

I do not spare my body, but bring it under strict control, for fear that after preaching to others I should find myself disqualified.

I see both “but” (alla) and “body”. Unless your critique was of my final rendering, which I’ve acknowledged is inadequate.

As for verse 25, no surprise, I prefer the NJB and REB – the TNIV sounds pedestrian to me and the parallelism you note feels wordy compared to the former two. Never mind whether “crown” is the right translation of stephanos to use for a Greek audience.

They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

The REB has done nothing with alla at the beginning of verse 27, and as Peter has pointed out, there’s no mention of the body, which I think is key to this metaphor.

I still like the TNIV’s rendering.