Better Bibles Blog :: Can you stomach translation of Matt. 1:18?

Wayne Leman looks at the translation of Matthew 1:18, focusing on phrasing issues.

but Jesus Christ-of the birth thus was.
betrothed the mother of-him Mary the-to
Joseph-to, before they.came.together was.found in
belly having by spirit holy.

For those who are interested in the issue of literal or essentially literal or word-for-word translation, we should note that “was with child” is not translated according to any of these translation approaches. English “was with child” is no closer in form to literal “having in the belly” than is English “was expecting” or “was pregnant.”

What I’m Reading :: Which Bibles are the Best?

In this post, David McKay compares the ESV to the TNIV. Overall, he is fair to both versions and gives the pros and cons of each.

I think that if we are to understand a collection of writings that is over 1900 years old, we need all the help we can get. We need to know what the original says, but we also need to know what this means. We are fortunate that excellent translations like the ESV and TNIV have been produced, but it does not help us when one version is promoted in a misleading way which hints that it is the only really reliable version. it is also not honest to say that a version which aims to use less interpretion in its text is essentially literal when it has interpretation on every page.