The literary Bible: a wilderness of words

This is the second post in a new translation comparison series. Focused on “the literary Bible”, my intent is look at passages or phrases where translations that have been especially noted for their literary translation qualities seem to capture the meaning of the text with an extra dash of written flavor, at least in comparison with other standard English translations.

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The primary text under consideration today is 1 Timothy 1:6. In order to provide the proper context, I will first provide a modern translation of 1:3-7, then look at how the “literary” translations render the target text.

3 I urge you, as I did when I was on my way to Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach any different doctrine, 4 and not to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies that promote speculations rather than the divine training that is known by faith. 5 But the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. 6 Some people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions. (1 Timothy 1:3-7, NRSV)

The original Greek of verse 6 is hos tis astocheo ektrepo eis mataiologia. The NRSV is quite literal with its translation of astocheo (”to deviate from, to miss the mark”) and ektrepo ( “to turn aside, to turn away from”). Strong’s defines mataiologia as “vain talking, empty talk”. The root word is mataiologos (cf. Titus 1:10), defined as “an idle talker, one who utters empty senseless things”, of which the root adjective mataios means “devoid of force, truth, success, result” and “useless, of no purpose”.

William Barclay notes that mataios “applied to heathen worship. The main idea was of a worship which produced no goodness in life.” The NASB captures the literal sense of this with “fruitless discussion”, which seems to carry a little more semantic weight than the NRSV’s “meaningless talk”. To these ears, the use of “fruitless” versus “meaningless” more literally conveys the “useless result” idea of mataios.

The translations being considered for this comparison render this verse as follows:

1. Through falling short of these, some people have gone astray into a wilderness of words. (NEB)
2. Through lack of these some people have gone astray into a wilderness of words. (REB)
3. There are some people who have gone off the straight course and taken a road that leads to empty speculation (JB)
4. From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling (KJV)

The diversity of translation is significant. Some phrases are recognizable from the NRSV, but others have, quite possibly, missed the mark (Gk. astocheo)! The first thing to identify is whether there are any textual variants that might account for the differences, however, I’ve not been able to find any differences for this passage.

With regards to the opening phrase, the NEB and REB should be scrutinized most closely. The NEB’s “falling short” may be within reasonable bounds of astocheo, especially if the “missed the mark” definition is taken; however, the REB’s rendition, “through lack of these”, is a head-scratcher. A secondary translation of astocheo is “erred”, but even this doesn’t account for the REB’s questionable revision of the NEB.

Like the NRSV and KJV, the JB assigns a sense of purpose to the translation of astocheo. The translations “have gone off” and “have deviated from” and “swerve” are deliberate actions, compared to the passive phrasing of the NEB and REB.

In terms of literary phrasing, the JB succeeds beautifully in tying astocheo and ektrepo together. Using the same imagery of “the straight course” and “a road” is a wonderful choice and one’s thoughts perhaps drift to Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken“, though Paul is certainly not writing in the positive here with respect to the road that leads to “empty speculation”. That said, as strong as the “road” phrasings are, the JB’s translation of mataiologia seems weak; while “empty” is certainly fine, “speculation” just doesn’t seem to capture the root legos adequately. Moffatt’s “empty arguments” would be preferable.

The question for the KJV is whether we read “jangling” in today’s context of “making a harsh or discordant, often ringing, sound” (e.g. he jangled his keys), or whether there is a different meaning, more in line with the literal definition of mataiologia. And indeed, the first two entries in Webster are “to talk idly” and “to quarrel verbally“, producing “intense irritation”. A reference to the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary defined “jangling” as “chatter”. Finally, when the text is read out loud, there is a sounding alliteration between “vain” and “jangling” that should be commended.

Similarly the alliteration of the NEB/REB is excellent; “a wilderness of words” is a vivid portrait of this phrase. “Wilderness” quite captures the barren, fruitless aspect of mataios; however, I wonder if, in our modern interpretation, “words” leans too much toward a written connotation and not the verbal “discussion for the sake of discussion” that Paul is writing about and that the root legos suggests. That caveat aside, it’s a masterful phrase and one can also derive some pleasure from the REB’s related choice for mataiologos in Titus 1:10 of “There are many [...] who talk wildly and lead others astray.”

Final thoughts — Anyone who has read this blog for even a short while will know the affection I have for the NEB/REB’s translation of this verse, at least the second half. If you are new here, well, just look to the tagline in my header graphic. The JB continues to impress with its translational choices - I’m looking forward to receiving my copy of the NJB to see if they’re improved the translation of mataiologia since the trend with most revisions has been to become more literal. I still can’t connect with the KJV text and I’m looking forward to receiving my copy of the Lattimore New Testament, which has been highly recommended.

Finally, I want take note of another commentary, which drew a parallel between mataiologos and Shakespeare’s classic “sound and fury” line from Macbeth. And indeed, wouldn’t that be a beautiful literary translation:

Some people have turned away from these and tell tales like idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

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** Update ** My copy of the New Jerusalem Bible came just as I was finishing writing this post. Regrettably, but perhaps as expected, the freedom of the JB has been replaced by a considerably more literal “Some people have missed the way to these things and turned to empty speculation“.