Jesuit completes translation of Bible

With the publication of 'The Prophets', Father Nicholas King SJ has just completed translating every book of the Bible. "It was an enterprise whose ending I genuinely did not think that I should live to see," he said, "so I find myself rather surprised; it is an odd feeling."

The final volume of Nicholas King's translation of the Old Testament contains not only the Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel) but also the books of Lamentations and Baruch and the 12 'Minor Prophets'. They can now be read alongside the three previous Old Testament translations (The Pentateuch, The Historical Books and The Wisdom Literature, which includes the Psalms) and Fr King's translation of the New Testament.

For this new translation of the Bible, Fr King went back to the Greek text. "I have been translating the LXX or Septuagint, the translation made into Greek from Hebrew from the 3rd Century BC onwards," he explains. "My computer also has the Hebrew of each verse underneath the Greek, so that I can see what they have done with it (though we have to admit that we do not always know what text the Greek translators were dealing with). I also had various versions in English available on the computer, and it was interesting to see what they had done, although they are generally based on the Hebrew rather than the Greek." He also admits that it has been easier working on his own, rather than as part of a group, especially when translating the New Testament. "'Committee' translations tend to turn the Bible into a pureed sludge, where every text sounds like everything else. I wanted to capture the freshness that all the NT texts seem to me to have, because of the entirely fresh event of the Resurrection."

When Nicholas King's translation of the New Testament was published by Kevin Mayhew in 2004, it was greeted with huge acclaim by Church leaders, critics and readers. Rowan Williams - then Archbishop of Canterbury - described it as "a fine and quite distinctive addition to the ranks of Scripture translations"; Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, Emeritus Archbishop of Westminster, commented on the "raw power that the first Christians experienced when they heard or read these documents"; and Archbishop Desmond Tutu said the translation was "wonderfully refreshing, like a splash of cold water on one's face". Kevin Mayhew says the volumes which make up the Old Testament have the same freshness. "Many translations of the Bible opt for a uniform style; they iron out irregularities and try to amplify the text or produce easy-flowing reading or modern English. Nicholas King's fresh rendering of the Old Testament is not only innovative, but also illuminating; it will also strengthen the faith of readers."

By translating from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew text, Fr King was working with the Bible that the New Testament authors knew. "His aim is to keep as close to the original Greek as possible, frequently incorporating idiomatic or grammatical peculiarities," explains Kevin Mayhew. "This results in a translation which is exceptionally stimulating, sometimes startling; readers will find that it shakes off the dust which often settles on passages that have become tired from over familiarity or frequent quotation."

Fr King says there were several surprises for him in undertaking this translation of the Bible. Firstly, he rediscovered how much he loved it and several episodes in the narrative which he had forgotten ("How many readers can remember how you get to produce piebald goats?"). But one of his greatest delights was in discovering the best place to start studying the Bible: "It's in the Book of Psalms, where Israel reflects on what really matters in life," he explains. "The whole biblical narrative is an account of the love affair of God with humanity, with all our flaws mercilessly exposed - and yet the love continues!"

Nicholas King SJ was born in Bath and was educated by the Jesuits at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire. He started learning Latin and French at the age of eight and Greek two years later; he went on to study Classics at St John's College, Oxford. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1970 and was ordained a priest in 1980. He is currently tutor in biblical studies at Oxford University.

All four volumes of Nicholas King's translation of the Old Testament - plus the New Testament - are available from the Kevin Mayhew web site www.kevinmayhew.com. The Psalms are also published as a separate volume.