2001 Translation: An American English Bible

[rlvaughn]

I do not recall noticing this mentioned here, though I might have missed it. Anyone ever heard of 2001 Translation: An American English Bible? Apparently it is edited and/or translated by someone named Jim Wheeler.

I happened up on this because someone I was reading in the discussion of a “scholarly” article kept mentioning being “baptized in Holy Breath.” Looking to see where this is coming from, I found this Bible version. “Holy Breath” is their translation of ἁγίου πνεύματος (where I checked).

Just wondering if anyone knows about the background/history of this?

Thanks.

 

[rlvaughn]

Here are a few examples of the “Holy Breath” from Acts:

• 1:2 from the day that he gave his instructions to the Apostles whom he chose by Holy Breath after he’d been raised [from the dead]…
• 1:5 Indeed, John baptized you with water; however, in just a few days you will be baptized in Holy Breath.
• 1:8 However, you will receive power when the Holy Breath comes over you, and you’ll be witnesses of me in JeruSalem, throughout all of Judea, in Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.
• 2:4 and they all became filled with Holy Breath and they started speaking different languages, saying whatever the Breath was telling them to say.

 

[Conan]

"say whatever the Breath was telling them to say".

Seems like not so good of a word choice.

 

[rlvaughn]

A forum member sent me some links about this Bible. THIS ONE has some pretty lengthy detail about the 2001 American English Bible. They have put it in the public domain.

This Bible isn’t authorized by, nor does it represent the views of any religious group. Its content is the work of more than fifty online contributors, and the dedicated efforts a few translators and editors who have spent more than fifteen-thousand hours (to date) in creating this enormous work, and whose only interest is in helping others to understand what the Bible truly says.

Drop certain “rules” to follow their own style:

Let us start by apologizing to grammarians who will object to this Bible’s flagrant violation of established old rules for written English. English is a living language where the rules of speech are constantly changing. Yet, some prefer to try to define proper English by ancient rules and standards. This isn’t the way English works, just look at its history.

As an editor of the Oxford Collegiate Dictionary once explained it to us, proper English is always the language as it is currently spoken, written, and pronounced by the majority of the people.

Uses the name Jehovah:

We have also included the English rendering of the Divine Name Jehovah wherever the common Jewish substitution “the Lord” was made when referring to the Divine Father. The reason for this change is to help readers understand which Lord appears to be implied by the verses. However, we have not used it as frequently as in some other Bibles, because we have determined that the Name did not really appear in the original texts as many times as it is thought to have.

Translates OT from Septuagint:

We have also chosen the Septuagint as the source for the OT text because available copies are older than the current Hebrew texts; they reflect the Bible as it was used and read by First-Century Christians; it reads more like the most ancient available texts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls; and it simply makes more sense.

Appears to be agenda-driven in some way, in my opinion, since they claim all past Bible translators have chosen to translate according to their personal beliefs, while implying they have not.

Although most people have already reached their own conclusions about the teachings and promises of the Bible, we have tried not to allow such pre-formed conclusions to influence our translating. For, to be a good bible translator requires that you start out with an open mind, so you don’t translate the Bible to say what you believe (as all Bible translators have done in the past).

"say whatever the Breath was telling them to say".

Seems like not so good of a word choice.

Unfortunately, I did not find they made any explanation of this choice on the page mentioned above.

 

[rlvaughn]

Re "breath," I found this on their site. More can be read by clicking the link.

The Greek word pneuma (as in pneumonia, a breathing disease) means breath or wind – the movement of air.
In other Bible translations, this word is often translated as spirit or ghost, as in Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost.
However, spirit is just a shortened form of the Latin word spiritu, which once again just means breath.
And ghost conveys another meaning altogether.

In the Bible, the most common use of the word pneuma is to convey the idea of a force that can’t be seen, such as breath or wind.
And the problem with translating it as spirit or ghost, as is done in other Bibles, is that those words have been given religious meanings that aren’t really implied by the Greek texts.
So, wrong doctrines have been built upon a misunderstanding of the true Greek meaning of the word.

Notice that we have usually translated the Greek word pneuma as breath and occasionally as wind, in most places where it is found.
However, there are many exceptions, as in instances where the Bible refers to demons as ‘spirits.’
Translating pneuma as breath in these cases, though correct, might just be confusing.
So there are other places where we have left pneuma translated as spirit, since that English word has taken on a meaning of its own.

 

[Jerome]

the 2001 American English Bible....Translates OT from Septuagint

How We Did the Translating

"what did we do? First, we started with a good interlinear Bible translation, where the Greek words are above the English words"

"though we don’t speak Greek, we are very familiar with the common Greek words; so, checking for proper translating in the interlinear Bibles was fairly easy for us"

"when we came across words that were unfamiliar or where the meaning was unclear, we looked them up in Bible dictionaries"

"there are really no Greek words that should be ever translated as forever, everlasting, Trinity, Hell Fire, cross, Christ...these English words really shouldn’t appear in any Bible"

 

[Yeshua1]

"say whatever the Breath was telling them to say".

Seems like not so good of a word choice.

When i first read this, i was thinking of Holy Mouthwash!