Monday, December 18, 2023

1602 Bishops' Bible with King James Bible Translators' Notes Digitized

Screen capture of digitized 1602 Bishops' Bible
The single remaining copy of the 1602 Bishops' Bible with notes from the King James Bible translators has been digitized. THIS ARTICLE at Text & Canon Institute provides background and gives some interesting examples of the kinds of notes that were made. It shows a good awareness of differences in the available textual witnesses. HERE is the link directly to the digitized version at the Bodleian Library. It is worth checking out some of the prefatory material which includes a lectionary, genealogy charts, and more.

HT: Christianity Today

Friday, December 15, 2023

Using AI to Translate the Bible into Rare Languages

Image created by DALL-E 3
Interesting article from Religion News Service on using AI to translate the Bible into rare languages, a process that usually is very time-consuming or otherwise totally neglected.

Out of the 7,100 languages that exist, the Bible has been translated into more than 700, making it the most-translated book in the world. Yet, those remaining languages — many of them extremely rare — have vexed Bible translators for decades. Two scientists are looking to new advancements in artificial intelligence to help close the gap.

They recently launched the "Greek Room."

The Greek Room includes three main tools: spell-checking, world alignment that ensures consistency in translation, and Wildebeest, used to detect improper characters in a script. 

Their work is supported by Wycliffe, part of the Every Tribe, Every Nation project.

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Mark 1.1-8 RCL Advent 1B Translation, Commentary, Performance

I've been working on a new translation and commentary on Mark which is 'tuned' to the performing (biblical storytelling) of the text. Attached here is the Mark 1.1-8 text for this Sunday, Advent 1B of the RCL. It includes my introduction to the text which does not tell what the text is about. Rather, it puts it into context and prepares the hearers to understand it better. There are also some suggestions for the performance of the text. Let me know if / how this is helpful. 

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