Norlie/ESV

I appreciate my Norlie Simplified New Testament. The subtitle : In Plain English -- for Today's Reader. Olaf Morgan Norlie had completed the New Testament in 1951, but it wasn't until 1961 (the year before his death) that Zondervan published it.

In this thread I will compare snips between the two versions. Occasionally I will compare entire verses. It's my opinion that this old translation is more up-to-date than the more recently published ESV.

E = ESV; N = Norlie

Hebrews

1:5
E : For to which of the angels
N : to one of the angels

1:5 (verse 6 in Norlie's)
E : I will be to him a father
N : I will be His Father

Chapter 2

v. 4
E : while God also bore witness
N : God has also confirmed their testimony

Chapter 3

v. 1
E : holy brothers
N : fellow-Christians

Chapter 5

v. 7
E : In the days of his flesh
N : During His life here on earth

v. 11
E : you have become dull of hearing
N : you seem sluggish in spirtual understanding

v. 12
E : oracles of God
N : God's revelation

Chapter 6

v. 6
E : holding him up to contempt
N : have exposed him publicly to shame

 

Hebrews

Chapter 7

v. 2
E : and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything
N : Abraham gave him in return a tenth of everything he had.

v. 3
E : He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life
N : There is no record of his father or mother. There is no genealogy, no date of birth or death.

v. 18
E : because of its weakness and uselessness
N : because it was weak and ineffective
[The ESV rendering doesn't bode well for public reading here.]

v. 25
E : Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him
N : Therefore, He is also fully able to save all those who approach God through Him

Chapter 9

v. 26 ( verse 27 in Norlie)
E : he has appeared
N : He has come

v. 28 (verse 29 in Norlie. Strange)
E : offered once ... not to deal with sin
N : suffered death once ... not as a sin-bearer

Chapter 10

v. 1
E : For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities
N : The Law gives only a shadow of the benefits in store for the godly, but it is not an exact image of the good things themselves.

v. 27
E : a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries
N : a fiery hatred which eventually will consume those who hate God

v. 33
E : being partners with those so treated
N : you were sympathizers with those who were being treated in that way

 

Hebrews

Chapter 11

v. 12
E : Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
N : And so there sprang from a man as good as dead as far as prospects for progeny, a race of people countless in number like the stars in the heavens and as the sands of the seashore.

v. 13
E : but having seen them and greeted them from afar
N : But they had glimpsed the fulfillment in the distance; they hailed it with delight

v. 14
E : For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
N : In saying this much, they were clearly trying to say they were seeking their true homeland.

v. 25
E : than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin
N : than to have temporary enjoyment of sinful pleasures

v. 27
E : By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king
N : Faith, not fear of the king's anger, prevailed on him to leave Egypt

v. 40
E : that apart from us they should not be made perfect
N : they should not reach perfection without us, too

 

Hebrews

Chapter 12

v. 1
E : Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses
N : We are, then, figuratively encircled by a great crowd of witnesses.
[Did you read carefully and note that the Norlie has "crowd"?]

v. 12
E : Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees
N : Therefore, up with your hands that are now dangling down, and make those weak knees of yours strong again!

v. 22
E : and to innumerable angels in festal gathering
N : where are gathered angelic hosts by the tens of thousands

v. 28
E : let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe
N : let us serve God so as to please Him, in reverence and godly fear

 

Hebrews

Chapter 13

v. 1
E : Let brotherly love continue
N : Continue to love one another.

v. 3
E : since you are also in the body
N : since you, too, have mortal bodies

v. 13
E : bear the reproach he endured
N : sharing the shame with Him

v. 23
E : Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon.
N : Timothy has been released and, if he comes soon, I will bring him with me when I come to see you.
[Do you see how awkwardly the ESV has worded that verse?]

 

The Norlie, though 50 years senior to the ESV sounds more contemporary. Let's hear it for the Norlie! It's a shame that the Norlie didn't have a bigger marketing effort behind it back in the day. Otherwise it, or the MLB, could have been as popular as the NIV has been. What if?

 

I don't have my Norlie with me at this particular time. I don't think it's so TR-based as you think. I remember it's take on John 3:16 -- the word "begotten" was not there.

 

In The Book Of Mark

E = ESV; N=Norlie

1:35
E : a desolate place
N : a lonely spot

1:45
E : from every quarter
N : from every direction

3:9
E : lest
N : in case

3:12
E : not to make him known
N : should not tell who he was

4:27
E : knows not how
N : without knowing exactly how

5:2
E : there met him ... a man
N : He was met by a man

5:7
E : I adjure you
N : I plead with you

5:23
E : implored him earnestly
N : begged and pleaded with Him

5:26
E : suffered much under many physicians
N : suffered a great deal,had tried many physicians

5:28
E : touch even his garments
N : only touch His clothing

6:11
E : as a testimony
N : as a protest

6:25
E : she came in immediately with haste
N : Quickly she came back

6:31
E : they had no leisure even to eat
N : they hardly got a chance to eat

6:35
E : the hour is now very late
N : it is already late

6:43
E : they took up
N : they gathered up

6:48
E : making headway painfully
N : struggling hard at the oars

7:13
E : many such things you do
N : you have many other similar wicked practices

7:19
E : it enters not his heart
N : it does not enter his heart

7:30
E : the demon gone
N : the demon had gone

7:36
E : the more he charged them,the more zealously they proclaimed it
N : the more He told them not to tell, the more eager they were to do so

 

E = ESV ; N = Norlie

8:23
E : he had spit on his eyes
N : He put some salvia on his eyes

8:32
E : began to rebuke him
N : started to protest against the prophecy

8:36
E : For what does it profit a man
N : What benefit will it be to him

9:1
E : Truly,I say to you
N : I am telling you the truth

9:37
E : receives not me
N : receives not only Me

9:50
E : if the salt has lost its saltiness,how can you make it salty again
N : if the salt loses its flavor,how can you make it salty again

10:9
E : let not man separate
N : man must not separate

10:30
E : a hundredfold
N : a hundred times

12:33
E : all whole burnt offerings
N : all the burnt offerings

12:40
E : for a pretense make long prayers
N : under cover of long prayers

13:16
E : not turn back to get his cloak
N : not turn back to get his coat

14:23
E : they all drank of it
N : they all drank from it

14:65
E : the guards received him
N : the officers hit him

15:15
E : scourged
N : flogged

15:19
E : kneeling down in homage to him
N : knelt before Him in mock worship

15:23
E : wine mixed with myrrh
N : a drink of wine mixed with a drug

15:45
E : he granted the corpse to Joseph
N : he let Joseph take the body

 

In these 37 examples the NRSV wording was the same,or nearly the same in 19 cases --18 were different from the ESV rendering.

When it comes to the NASB 11 examples were the same as the ESV. In 23 cases the NASB word choice was more natural-sounding. It used more current English. In the other three cases the NASB wording was not like the ESV wording and yet had older phraseology.

So from this brief,unscientific survey the ESV and NRSV are more akin to one another than is the NASB to the ESV.