In the first edition of his Greek version of the New Testament, Erasmus did not have a Greek Manuscript available for the last bit of Revelation. So he translated Revelation 22:16-21 from the Latin Vulgate into Greek. This obviously introduced errors. There is an interesting website called “Lost in Translation” which takes an English text, translates it into another language, translates it back into English, another language, and so forth. Just for a reminder of the perils of translation, let’s see what it does with Revelation 22:16-21 as taken from the NRSV English translation. (Sidenote: my German professor says there is no such thing as a “translation” – we have to say “rendering” or “interpretation”)
English:
“It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let everyone who hears say, “Come.” And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift. I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book; if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.
Translated into French:
le “It est I, Jésus, qui vous a envoyé mon ange avec ce témoignage pour les églises. Je suis la racine et le descendant de David, le matin lumineux tiennent le premier rôle ; L’esprit et la jeune mariée indiquent, “Come.” ; Et laissez chacun qui entend la parole, “Come.” ; Et laissez chacun qui a soif venu. Laissé n’importe qui qui souhaite à prise l’eau de la vie comme cadeau. J’avertis chacun qui entend les mots de la prophétie de ce livre : si n’importe qui ajoute à eux, Dieu ajoutera à cette personne que les pestes ont décrite en ce livre ; si n’importe qui emporte des mots du
livre de cette prophétie, Dieu emportera la part de cette personne dans l’arbre de la vie et dans la ville sainte, qui est décrite en ce livre. Celui qui témoigne à ces choses indique, “Surely je suis prochain soon.” ; Amen. Venez, Seigneur Jésus ! La grace du
seigneur Jésus soit avec tous les saints. Amen.
Back to English:
the “It is I, Jesus, who sent to you my angel with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the luminous morning holds the first role; The spirit and the bride indicate, “Come.” And leave each one which hears the word,
“Come.” And leave each one which is thirsty come. Left no matter whom who wishes with catch brandy like gift. I informed each one which hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if no matter who adds to them, God will add to this person that the plagues described in this book; if no matter who carries words of the book of this prophecy, God will carry the share of this person in the tree of the life and the Holy City, which is described in this book. That which testifies with these things indicates, “Surely I am next soon.” Amen. Come, Seigneur Jesus! The grace of the Jesus lord is with all the saints. Amen.
Translated into German:
das “It ist I, Jesus, der Ihnen meinen Engel mit diesem Zeugnis für die Kirchen schickte. Ich bin die Wurzel und der Folgeprozeß von David, der leuchtende Morgen hält die erste Rolle an; Der Geist und die Braut zeigen, “Come.” an; Und lassen Sie jedes, das das Wort hört, “Come.” Und lassen Sie jedes, das gekommen durstiges ist. Links gleichgültig, das, wer mit Verriegelung Weinbrand wie Geschenk wünscht. Ich informierte jedes, welches die Wörter der Prophezeiung dieses Buches hört: wenn, egal wer ihnen hinzufügt, Gott dieser Person daß die Pest hinzufügt, die in diesem
Buch beschrieben wird; wenn, egal wer Wörter des Buches dieser Prophezeiung trägt, Gott den Anteil dieser Person im Baum der Lebensdauer und der heiligen Stadt trägt, die in diesem Buch beschrieben wird. Das, das mit diesen Sachen bezeugt, zeigt, “Surely ich sind folgendes soon.” an; Amen. Gekommen, Seigneur Jesus! Die Anmut des Jesus Lords ist mit allen Heiligen. Amen.
Back to English:
I, Jesus, which you angels mean with this certification for the churches sent, is “It. I am the root and the discrete event type process of David, the lighting up morning stop the first role; The spirit and the bride show, “Come.” on; And you leave everyone, which hears the word, “Come.” And you leave everyone, which is come thirsty. Left indifferently, that, who requires with interlock weinbrand such as gift. I informed everyone, which hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if, all the same who adds them, God of this person that the plague adds, which is described in this book; if, all the same who carries words of the book of this prophecy, God carries the proportion of this person in the tree of the life span and the holy city, which are described in this book. That, which testifies with these things, shows, “Surely I is the following soon.” on; Amen. Come, Seigneur Jesus! The beauty of the Jesus lord is with all holy ones. Amen.
Translated into Italian:
_ I, jesus, che voi angelo signific con questo certificazione per chiesa trasmett, “It. _ io radice e discreto evento tipo processo david, illuminazione mattina arresto primo ruolo; _ lo spirito e bride mostr, “Come.” sopra; _ e voi lasci tutto, che sent parola, “Come.” _ e voi lasci tutto, che ven assetato. _ parte di sinistra indifferently, quello, che richied con interruttore di sicurezza weinbrand quale regalo. _ io inform tutto, che sent parola prophecy questo libro: _ se, tutto stesso che aggiung loro, dio questo
persona che peste aggiung, che essere descriv in questo libro; _ se, tutto stesso che trasport parola libro questo prophecy, dio trasport percentuale di questo persona albero life durata e santo città, che essere descriv in questo libro. _ quello, che testimoni con questo cosa, esposizione, “Surely i seguente soon.” sopra; _ amen. _ Ven, Seigneur Jesus! _ la bellezza jesus signore con tutto santo quel. _ amen. _
Back to English:
_ I, jesus, than you angel signific with this certification for church trasmett, “It. _ I root and discreet event type process david, lighting system morning arrest first role; _ the spirit and bride mostr, “Come.” over; _ and you lasci all, than sent word, “Come.” _ and you lasci all, than ven made thirsty _ part of left indifferently, that one, than richied with emergency switch weinbrand which gift _ I inform all, than sent word prophecy this book: _ if, all same that aggiung they, God this person who plague aggiung, than to be descriv in this book; _ if, all same that trasport word book this prophecy, God trasport percentage of this person tree life duration and saint city, than to be descriv in this book _ that one, than witnesses with this thing, exposure, “Surely following soon.” over; _ amen _ Ven, Seigneur Jesus! _ the beauty jesus getlteman with all saint those _ amen _
And it just goes downhill from there. One interesting observation is about the “the” error which was introduced into the French rendering from the beginning (the first word of the passage). It was repeated again in English, then in German, but was removed when going from German back into English. Secondly, for whatever reason some of the punctuation just couldn’t make it through into Italian and thus our punctuation in the final English translation is greatly flawed. Finally, there are foreign words that the website could not translate into English: “Seigneur,” “mostr,” “ven,” “getlteman.” These words were
simply used in the English text in the same location as they had been in the previous language.
The end result is obviously massively butchered from the beginning passage. The point of this exercise is not to show that this is exactly what happens in the the scribal or translation process, but it makes me think a little bit about what is involved in the translation and copying of sacred texts. One would assume that an educated human doing the same translations would do better than the computer. But why? If translation were a one-to-one equation, a machine could do it better than humans. All translation is (to some extent) an interpretation. Nothing surprising, but it was fun to experiment.
(Oh, and yes, there is some intended irony in using this particular passage when it comes to translation… Let’s just hope I don’t experience any plagues as a result of this blog posting!)
