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At my Bible study discussion group, we sit in a circle and answer devotional style homework questions. The recommended Bible translation is the New International Version (NIV), because it is supposed to be easier to relate to for today's readers.
So we are currently studying the life of Moses. His life is so monumental that it covers 5 books (which every Bible scholar should know)!
Once we get to Leviticus, it starts talking about the law and how to operate in the law. So one lady answers a particular homework question and her version uses the word "harlot" another version uses "prostitute" and still another uses "whore". So we started making jokes about the authenticity of all of these versions and how some words, thoughts, and phrases cannot be adequately translated without usually falling short of emphasis, severity, and depth of meaning. Rarely does a word find itself putting too much emphasis.
But where there's a will there's a way. Leave it up to these kids today, or some Southern woman who's had to fight all her life to conjure up a way to say it all in a few short phrases, and hit you where your heart is! So the wheels in the curious mind startihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifng turning. What if we had an "Ebonic" version of the Bible. Since I am offended by the connotation of the word ebonic, I decided to call it the Keeping It Real Version of the Bible. Full of slang and modern colloquialisms to keep the youth enthused!
Where Leviticus talks about not uncovering the nakedness of his father's wife's daughter, we could simplify by saying something like "Don't be trying to sneak a peek at your sister, your step-sister, or your half sister, bruh!"
Words like "knew" could be replaced with "screw", "smash", or the like. "Harlot" and "prostitute" could be replaced with "slut", "chicken head", and "hoe".
Of course Heaven would get blinged and iced out! And maybe the Rastas would want the burning bush to sit comfortably in between Moses' lips.
The twelve disciples could be Jesus' homies, round, clique, entourage, boyz, etc. Of course a large deal of research would have to go into this, with so many areas of the country having its own vernacular.
It was just a thought. I know that people of color, whose primary language was never English, still struggle to fully incorporate technical grammar into our daily verbage (individual cases may vary!). Furthermore, I saw a billboard for a church that used a phrase from some popular rap song to try to get the youth in church! Maybe a Bible that speaks their language might help!
Peace
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