Misled, duped and deceived

By ElShaddai Edwards | Published: April 28, 2009

I was flipping through the prophets a few days ago and couldn’t resist this idiosyncratic rendering in the REB, which I offer compared to examples of traditional, median and functional translation.

Jeremiah 20:7

REB TNIV
You have duped me, Lord,
and I have been your dupe;
you have outwitted me and prevailed.
All the day long I have been made a laughing-stock;
everyone ridicules me.		 You deceived me, LORD, and I was deceived;
you overpowered me and prevailed.
I am ridiculed all day long;
everyone mocks me.
ESV NLTse
O Lord, you have deceived me,
and I was deceived;
you are stronger than I,
and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all the day;
everyone mocks me.		 O LORD, you misled me,
and I allowed myself to be misled.
You are stronger than I am,
and you overpowered me.
Now I am mocked every day;
everyone laughs at me.

Read the translation notes from the NET Bible to possibly shed some light on the differences.

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4 Comments

  1. Theophrastus
    Posted April 29, 2009 at 1:30 PM | Permalink

    I know you would never make this mistake, but perhaps others might.

    In the British dialect, particular the Queen’s English of 1970 when the NEB was published, duped was not slacker-talk, but a somewhat formal word. Thus, the NEB doesn’t blink, but mixes the word with rather formal address:

    O Lord, thou hast duped me, and I have been thy dupe;
    thou hast outwitted me and hast prevailed.
    I have been made a laughing-stock all the day long,
    everyone mocks me.

  2. ElShaddai Edwards
    Posted April 29, 2009 at 2:00 PM | Permalink

    Ah, you’ve given me an extra yard of rope on the gibbet – thank thee.

    On a different track, perhaps someone from a technology manufacturing context would read that as, “You have copied me, Lord, and I am a copy of you”!

  3. Timothy
    Posted April 30, 2009 at 12:47 PM | Permalink

    Here is another rendition of Jer. 20:7 via the Christian Community Bible:

    “Yahweh, you have seduced me and I let myself be seduced.
    You have taken me by force and prevailed.
    I have become a laughingstock all day long:
    they all make fun of me.”

    Of course, there is also the old Jerusalem Bible:
    “You have seduced me, Yahweh, and I have let myself be seduced;
    you have overpowered me: you were the stronger.
    I am a daily laughing stock, everybody’s butt.”

    Hmm…

  4. Swinefigher
    Posted May 1, 2009 at 6:06 AM | Permalink

    I was flipping through the prophets a few days ago and couldn’t resist this idiosyncratic rendering in the REB, which I offer compared to examples of traditional, median and functional translation.

    Interesting, thanks!

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