Our Father, who art in heavenYour New Testament came to us 500 years ago*. We’re celebrating with a new translation that’s hitting the market with a bang.
To us the language of the NT 1526 sounds ancient. How should the language sound now? Modern, for example. The Swedish Bible Society has compiled a list of principles that we translators, both exegetes and stylists, must follow. Firstly, the Swedish language must be of good quality and have an idiomatic, understandable, natural and contemporary dialect. There are also many other principles, such as that the Greek words should be rendered in the same way in different places in the text (the principle of concordance), that the biblical images should be preserved, and that ambiguities in the Greek should be reflected in the translation.
However, the principles are rank, according to the document the Bible Society posts on its website. And at the top of the list is this principle of natural and contemporary language style. This ranking is so reassuring because if Swedish doesn’t become natural and contemporary, then what kind of Swedish have we translated into? But Fadher wår, who is in the flower of heaven, not everyone likes this principle, and especially they don’t like that it is put in the first place at all.
“The first principle cannot have a permanent right of way,” someone says after we have been working for a while. “You can’t translate in a certain way just because it sounds good.”
But that doesn’t work Objection gaining importance? Admittedly, in this project there are a far greater number of Greek experts, both among the translators and those charged with correcting the translation, than there are among the guardians of the Swedish language. But we have the principles and their ranking! And that’s why it’s certainly not a problem that we are so few and they are so many. They will listen particularly carefully to us, not to mention how carefully they will listen to the writers and poets from whom we will collect opinions on the texts.
To be on the safe side, the Bible Society has stated that the principle of concordance should apply unless the Swedish becomes unnatural or the matter becomes incomprehensible. It was also stated that the principle of comprehensibility is at the forefront of efforts to preserve the biblical imagery. In addition, it was stipulated that openness to interpretation must not lead to the text becoming unnatural and too unclear. So you want to preserve the first principle of translation. But Fadher be who is in the heavenly flower, there will be a fight anyway.
“There seem to be different translation ideals in circulation here,” says a defender of the Swedish language.
“It’s too late to change that now,” says someone from above.
“We have come to an agreement “It is all the principles together that decide whether it is a good translation, not a specific ranking,” it says.
Who are “we”? The ranking remains on the Bible Society website. But I am now being told that stylistic work should be limited to questions of linguistic correctness.
Of course everyone wants this to be a good translation. The exegetes worked hard, twisting and distorting every detail of the Greek text. We stylists wait, sometimes patiently, sometimes impatiently. When is it our turn to edit the text? We have a special responsibility to ensure that the first principle is applied. But the schedule keeps changing because the exegetes need more time for their work. Then it can’t be helped that we have less time on our part, because 2026 is approaching and then it will be published.
When I get it As the first John on my desk, I have less than a day to process this Bible book. The next morning my suggestions are discussed with the exegetes. Unfortunately, it is not the most recent version of the text I am reviewing; The lack of time means that the exegetes must be allowed to continue modifying the text in parallel with my editing.
Then we can also interview the writers and poets that were talked about at the beginning of the project and that I usually remember. Nothing helps because the marketing carousel has been going on for a long time
I consider the situation untenable and remind senior officials of the space shuttle Challenger. There were engineers warning that all was not well, but NASA decision-makers chose to ignore these voices. I would like to point out that due to the time-related parallel work processes, no stylist has an overview of what the translation actually looks like.
I propose to present a program of ongoing translation work at the 2026 Book Fair and to continue the work on the Swedish language costume for another year. Then we can also interview those writers and poets who were discussed at the beginning of the project and who I usually remember. Nothing helps because the marketing carousel has been going on for a long time. And here we stylists sit with an old principle.
We get an email It says that the editorial board’s work is now complete, and I soon see people on the Facebook feed cheering that the new translation is “finished.” I read in the newspaper that we have been working together for ten years. It sounds like a lot. There must be time to translate the New Testament in ten years. But then I calculate… The test translation of some Bible books came in 2015 and the pilot translation of some other Bible books came in 2021. In April 2021, the major project NT2026 started, and as part of this project, the two previous translations were heavily revised.
We have been working on what will be called NT2026 for less than five years. Five years is less than ten years, I’m sure. There is various information circulating about how long it typically takes to translate the New Testament. In this case, five years was too short a time for a more in-depth stylistic treatment.
Our Father, who art in heavenI learn from an insider that printing of the first Danish translation of the New Testament in 1524 began before the translation was finished and that the manuscripts were received during the actual printing process. Whether there was the same drama around our Swedish NT 1526 remains to be said, but it was clearly in a hurry earlier. And here we are again. NT 1526 was revised when it became part of Gustav Wasa’s Bible in 1541. Sometimes you hear someone mention the year 2041.
Dear Bible Society, good luck with NT2026 and all future plans and projects. And if you still adhere to the first principle of translation in the future, then involve as many stylists and exegetes as possible in the project, make a realistic schedule and ensure that the collaborators fit into the hierarchy of principles that you present to the public.
*”Our Father, who art in heaven” is the beginning of the prayer that Jesus teaches in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, here in a translation from 1526. In the 2000 Bible it says “Our Father, who art in heaven.”
The article also appears in the special issue of the magazine Nod on the subject of the Bible and Bible use on the occasion of the new edition of the New Testament.
