Evgenia Smagina: "Several alternative translations are an absolute blessing"

"I am an employee of the Institute of Oriental Studies, I teach ancient languages, including some biblical disciplines. Participated in the Bible translation project.

I am not very familiar with this translation, but I have some complaints, purely linguistic, historical and cultural. Everyone has the right, if he is competent enough to do so, to translate and interpret the biblical text. At the same time, others have the right to criticize him.

One perfect translation would be good, but it is impossible, because there is no perfection in the world. And when there are several alternative translations on which you can say something like that, then this is an absolute blessing. The translation of 70 interpreters, judging by the original source, was done in this way. They translated everything, and then they got together and consulted.

Evgenia Smagina, Head of the Department of History and Culture of the Ancient East of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, translator of the Bible.