Customer Reviews

Rotherham's Emphasized Bible

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a Bible College graduate, I have had the privilege of reviewing more than 50 different Bible translations as well as studying the Hebrew and Greek texts. When I study the Bible, I want to make sure that what I am reading is accurate. Mr Rotherham was a good Hebrew and Greek scholar who was very careful in how he interpreted the Sacred Scriptures. Although there are other good Bible translations, there are also several poor translations. From personal experience, I believe that The Emphasized Bible is the most accurate translation that we have available in English today.

This bible is a WONDERFUL tool and what I read almost exclusively now. It takes some getting used to because as a "literal" translation the sentence structure can be awkward at times. I have found that after reading it now for awhile I don't stumble much at all. The wonderful thing is that if it translates a certain greek word as "angry" it will never translate that same word as "upset" or "riled". It will always say angry, so you won't be as confused about the original intent of the inspired authors.

I also have the young's literal, but I strongly recommend the Rotherham. I find it less confusing, and it has more helps (adding marks for emphasis in original languages etc...). Another nice thing about this bible is that for the price it's very sturdy. Bibles this nice in a Christian bookstore will cost you more. Chances are you won't find very accurate translations in the Christian Bookstores!

I hope that whatever translation you may choose the word of God will richly reward you and change you.

Blessings.

ALSO RECOMMENDED: God's Inescapable Love by Thomas Talbott, The Lord's Prayer by Tim Ludwig (picture book), The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.

As far as I can tell, this is the best Bible translation I own. A sentence's meaning can change depending on which word is emphasized - and this book makes it clear what the point of the writer or speaker is. (This saves me from making a poor guess and deriving below-average theology from a passage...) By way of example, a sign at a motel in a nearby town with different emphases reads -
TRY restin' at the Creston (I'll bet you can't)
Try RESTIN' at the Creston (as opposed to being tense there)
etc., etc.

The heavy-duty paper used is both a pro and a con. I'd really like to take this Bible to church to reference during sermons, but at 4 pounds and 2 1/4 inches thick it's a bit bulky to lug around discreetly.

Perhaps OCR technology can help out someday with the major shortcoming of this book which is worn-out typsetting. Sometimes a letter doesn't appear in its entirety - for instance, part of the lower curve on an "s" might be missing. A second drawback is having Roman numerals in the page headings for the chapter references.

But for someone like me who hasn't been trained in Hebrew or Greek, it's an unbeatable at-home reference Bible. And the indentations used make it a little easier to read than other literal-type translations (such as NASB), so it could be used as an everyday Bible too.

This is really a fabulous work. Reading Rotherham's Bible translation is about as close as you can get to reading the scriptures in the original Hebrew and Greek, without having to actually learn those languages. For one thing, those languages have devices built into the grammar that place degress of emphasis on certain words and phrases. This gets lost in an English translation. Rotherham uses accent marks, brackets, double brackets, etc. to restore the emphasis. Now you can read in English and see what words and phrases were emphasized by the inspired writers. Rotherham also preserves the sentence structure of the original Hebrew and Greek. This makes the English sentences a little awkward, but I would say that it is still highly readable. Most importantly, Rotherham translates words consistently throughout. Most bibles often translate the same Greek word into several different English words. Often this is done to preserve a certain doctrine. For instance, it can easily be shown that the Greek word "aion" means an age, a long but limited amount of time. Most bibles render this word as eternity, but in places where the context doesn't support such a rendering, a different English word is used, such as world, age, or course.
Rotherham consistently renders aion as age and its adjective form aionios as age-abiding, not eternal. In Matt 25:46 Rotherham's version says the unrighteous go off to "age-abiding correction" and not to "eternal punishment" as other bibles say. Thus, the doctrine of eternal punishment disappears from the pages of scripture. Good riddance. God truly does love his enemies!

This is by far the best translation of both Old and New Testament out there. The Concordant Version and Young's Literal New Testament also rank high. Rotherham had no doctrinal postitions to defend. He is very true to the Hebrew and Greek. His is almost a transliteration instead of translation.

When I studied Koine Greek in theological college, I realised very quickly that English Bibles are at best, interpretative translations of the original language manuscripts, often based on the beliefs of their translators. Most English Bibles can translate one Greek word into four different English words (e.g.aion) or 3 Greek words into one English word (e.g.love).

English itself is a Germanic language, and many of its words have changed meaning over time. I compared the Greek to the 3rd century Gothic Bible (old Germanic), Wyclif's 14th Century English and Luther's 16th Century German Bible, to more modern translations, and one can see how in places words completely switch places.

As an example, Hell is a Germanic word. Originally, Hell/Hel/Helle was a figure in Norse mythology (daughter of Loki) who ruled the place of the dead. It is similar to the figure of Hades (brother of Zeus and Poseidon), who ruled the place of the dead in Greek mythology.

This is why 'Hell' is used to represent Hades in the Gothic Bible, while Gehenna remained as Gehenna. 1000 years later, Hell represented BOTH Hades AND Gehenna. Another 700 years later, most modern Bibles use Hell to represent Gehenna, while Hades remains as Hades! A complete switch of places over 1700 years!

Thankfully, the Emphasized Bible avoids the English/Germanic mistake, and simply retains both Hades and Gehenna instead of use the ever-evolving word, Hell.

Another example which at first makes it seem 'old', is the usage of ye and thou. Actually, this can make it easier to understand the Bible. Unlike French and German, in modern English there is no plural for the word 'You'. French has tu (singular) and vous (plural), German has du (singular) and sie (plural), while in the past English had thou (singular) and ye (plural).

The Americanism, 'Y'all' would be the modern equivalent of ye, but I think we would all think that the Bible was written in Texas if y'all was used instead of ye, with Jesus saying to his disciples 'I won't leave y'all as orphans'.

Using ye and thou makes it much easier to see if Jesus is speaking to one person or a whole group. Unfortunately, in English we have no replacement as of yet for ye and thou.

Unlike many Bibles today, this is translated by one person, Rotherham, rather than a committee and is not prone to the same mistakes as committees are. For example, modern Bibles may translate one Greek word into four different English words quite inconsistently, depending on what that particular translator believes is the best way to translate it. With one person translating, the Emphasized Bible is consistent in it's translation, the same English word always being used to represent the same Greek word.

Finally, Yahweh is used instead of Jehovah. By now, it should be quite common knowledge that the word Jehovah is a a mistranslation. It is in fact an amalgamation of YHWH and Adonai and was used in English when there was little difference between J and I (which is why Germans pronouce J as a Y.)

This is without a doubt, the most literal English translation of the Bible that you can get.

I have highly recommended it to all my theological college friends, and would recommend it to any Christian wanting a more accurate understanding of the Bible.

There is no doubt that the Rotherham's Emphasized Bible is a great teaching tool. Basically I like it, but I found the small type a real challenge, and my vision is good. Anyone with impaired vision will certainly have a problem with it.

The other consideration is its weight. Over 4 lbs. That might be a problem for some. Also, the Sacred Name groups will appreciate the name Yahweh, especially the Yahwehans, and even the Yahvehans. But alas, the name Jesus is used in the New Testament instead of Yahshua or Yehshua.

If the above doesn't present a problem then I heartily recommend this Bible. There may be other encumbrances yet to emerge, but as of now I'm enjoying it in spite of the "problems."

I would have given this Bible "5" stars if the print size would have been larger and more comfortable to read (font is probably a 7-point). In any case, what makes Rotherham's Emphasized Bible such an excellent and useful Bible study aide is it's uncompromising loyalty to the authorized version for accuracy, its continued adherence to the literal "word for word" rule of interpretation, the scholarly yet easy-to-follow footnotes on specific verses, and also its overall character of genuiness of devotion to the veracity and inspiration of the Scriptures. I strongly recommend this Bible to any serious student of the Scriptures.

I bought The Emphasized Bible, by Joseph Rotherham, around 1980 when handling a bill dealing with the teaching of evolution and creationism in the public schools. I could not afford to trust just any source for my information. My political neck was on the line. I have never been caught short when quoting this book.
Mike Fair, Oklahoma State Senator

Great and accurate translation of the Bible. The two major flaws that I found were his mis-translation of God hardening Pharoah's heart, and using an ancient, extremely shortened version of Westcott-Hort.