31 Jan '14 16:50>3 edits
James Moffatt and Coptic John 1:1, 18
Dr. James Moffatt (1870-1944) was a notable scholar of Biblical Greek and translator of the 1934 Bible version which bears his name. I've had him on the shelf for some time and recently looked at his translation of John 1:1 and John 1:18.
What interested me is that Moffatt's English translation of the Greek text(s) was quite close to what an accurate English translation of the Sahidic Coptic text would say, the Coptic text itself being based upon ancient Greek texts.
In other words, it appears that Moffatt took a similar message from those Greek texts that the Coptic translators did when they rendered their Greek texts into their own Egyptian Coptic language.
At John 1:1 Moffat renders:
The Logos existed in the very beginning, the Logos was with God, the Logos was divine.
The Sahidic Coptic text, with my 2006 Contemporary Translation:
Hn teHoueite neFSoop nCi pSaJe auw pSaJe neFSoop nnaHrm pnoute auw neunoute pe pSaJe
In the beginning the Word existed. The Word existed in the presence of God, and the Word was a divine being.
http://copticjohn.blogspot.co.uk/2008/04/james-moffatt-and-coptic-john-11-18.html
According to trinitarians the word was not divine but the Word is the person of God, which translation is correct, 'the word was God' or 'the word was divine' and why?
Dr. James Moffatt (1870-1944) was a notable scholar of Biblical Greek and translator of the 1934 Bible version which bears his name. I've had him on the shelf for some time and recently looked at his translation of John 1:1 and John 1:18.
What interested me is that Moffatt's English translation of the Greek text(s) was quite close to what an accurate English translation of the Sahidic Coptic text would say, the Coptic text itself being based upon ancient Greek texts.
In other words, it appears that Moffatt took a similar message from those Greek texts that the Coptic translators did when they rendered their Greek texts into their own Egyptian Coptic language.
At John 1:1 Moffat renders:
The Logos existed in the very beginning, the Logos was with God, the Logos was divine.
The Sahidic Coptic text, with my 2006 Contemporary Translation:
Hn teHoueite neFSoop nCi pSaJe auw pSaJe neFSoop nnaHrm pnoute auw neunoute pe pSaJe
In the beginning the Word existed. The Word existed in the presence of God, and the Word was a divine being.
http://copticjohn.blogspot.co.uk/2008/04/james-moffatt-and-coptic-john-11-18.html
According to trinitarians the word was not divine but the Word is the person of God, which translation is correct, 'the word was God' or 'the word was divine' and why?