MetaCatholic

When I was looking around blogs (following my previous post on 2 Tim 3:16) I happened to come across both the ESV translation of this verse, and a comment on the ESV website

First the translation:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness

This takes the NIV’s etymological treatment of a notorious hapax legomenon a stage further in what I can only describe as blatant translation creep. It’s like some sort of auction for which translation can make this verse more doctrinally powerful. I’ve noted before just how dodgy I think etymology is in defining the meaning of a word. It may be one tool for obscure words, but context and the use and interpretation of native speakers are rather more important. Where those are missing or limited, we should be aware of just what shaky ground etymology gives us to stand on. (Chrysostom in his homily doesn’t even see the word worth commenting on, but moves on to its usefulness).

But as if that isn’t enough, look at the comment on the site:

Second, the ESV is special because it is a “word-for-word” translation. The Bible says every word was “breathed out by God” (2 Timothy 3:16). For this reason, the ESV seeks to translate the original Greek and Hebrew words with the greatest possible accuracy and precision. (their emphasis).

We’ve moved from the traditional “inspired” of most translations, through the “God-breathed” of the NIV (whether into or out of) to the “breathed out by God” of the ESV text, to this gloss of “every word was breathed out by God”, presumably one at a time! And all this justifies a translation theory, which in a number of places, not least the verse under consideration, the ESV doesn’t even stick to.

Is this a translation for those who don’t care what the Greek text says, as long as the English reinforces their prejudices?