Thursday, January 17, 2008

Filling in Ellipses

I was surprised to find - One day in your courts is better than a thousand (Psalm 84) rendered as One day in your courts is better than a thousand in my own room. The words 'in my own room' are not in the MT or the LXX.

The next line of the poem is - I prefer door-keeping in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of ungodliness.

If you were going to fill in the blank in your translation - why not 'in an ungodly place' or the like, so that the parallel that follows rhymes as one might expect? But why fill in the blank at all? Don't do the work that the hearer must do to unpack the poem.

In my own room is in direct contradiction to the positive personal aspect of several psalms.

I'd love to hear a comment on this translation (from the NEB).

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