Psalms in a Psalter,84 NIV and 2011 NIV

I am back in America and enjoying my home church. My pastor uses the 84 NIV and it's also the pew Bible. He was unaware of the 2011 NIV. I showed him a rendering where the 84 had "make amends" and the 2011 had "make atonement". He appreciated the later.

Anyway,I also have enjoyed singing Psalms from a little red book. It's called :Sing Psalms :New metrical Versions of the Book of Psalms. It is published by the Free Church of Scotland. An extract of the Preface has:"Because of the contraints imposed by the use of metre and rhyme,a metrical translation of the psalms is inevitably freer than a prose translation. But what it may lose in terms of verbal correspondence it compensates for by rendering the psalms into metrical idiom to which English language readers are accustomed. A metrical translation is more than a paraphrase which renders in verse certain thoughts suggested by the original passage of Scripture. 'Sing Psalms' is a metrical translation rather than a paraphrase in that every effort has been made to set out in verse what is to be found in the original text. At times compression of expression also expansion have to be employed to adjust to the metrical format of the English version;this has been done in such a way as to steer a middle course between over-expansion of Scripture and undue omission."

I will start with some snips from the Psalm Book(Ps),the 84 NIV(84) and the 2011 NIV(11).

1:1 : Ps :blessed the one
84 :Blessed is the man
11 : Blessed is the one

10:13
Ps : why does the wicked
84 : why does the wicked man
11 : Why does the wicked man

11:4
Ps : the human race
84 : the sons of men
11 : everyone on earth

12:1
Ps : faithful folk we can no longer see
84 : the faithful have vanished from among men
11 : those who are loyal have vanished from the human race

14:2
Ps : human race
84 : sons of men
11 : all mankind

15:4
Ps : the worthless
84 : a vile man
11 : a vile person

26:9
Ps : those who love to wound and slay
84 : bloodthirsty men
11 : those who are bloodthirsty

27:2
Ps : evildoers
84 : evil men
11 : the wicked

34:19
Ps : the just
84 : a righteous man
11 : The righteous person

36:7
Ps : Both high and low
84 : Both high and low among men
11 : [phrase absent]

37:1
Ps : the wicked
84 : evil men
11 : those who are evil

37:9
Ps : the wicked
84 : evil men
11 : those who are evil

38:13
Ps : like the deaf
84 : like a deaf man
11 : like the deaf

39:6
Ps : Like shadows people go about
84 : Man is a mere phantom
11 : everyone goes around like a mere phantom

40:4
Ps : Blessed are they
84 : Blessed is the man
11 : Blessed is the one

42:3
Ps : they say
84 : men say
11: people say

To be continued ...

​

 

Continuing In Psalms

Sing Psalms =Ps
1984 NIV = 84
2011 NIV =84

53:2
Ps : human race
84 : sons of men
11 : all mankind

54:3
Ps : the ruthless
84 : ruthless men
11 : ruthless people

58:11
Ps : all will say
84 : men will say
11 : people will say

64:4
Ps : at the innocent
84 : at the innocent man
11 : at the innocent

64:9
Ps : All people
84 : All mankind
11 : All people

66:12
Ps : You let us be oppressed
84 : You let men ride over our heads
11 : You let people ride over our heads

68:18
Ps : From people you accepted gifts
84 : you received gifts from men
11 : you received gifts from people

71:4
Ps : from cruel hands of violence
84 : from the grasp of evil and cruel men
11 : from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel

78:31
Ps : the youth of Israel
84 : the young men of Israel
11 : the young men of Israel

86:16
Ps : on your servant grace bestow
84 : save the son of your maidservant
11 : save me,because I serve you just as my mother did

89:22
Ps : no wicked one
84 : no wicked man
11 : the wicked will not

90:3
Ps : You turn all people
84 : You turn men
11 : You turn people

101:3
Ps : faithless people
84 : faithless men
11: faithless people

101:4
Ps : All wicked people
84 : men of perverse heart
11 : The perverse of heart

To be continued...

 

Concluding Psalms

103:15
Ps : Each human life
84 : as for man
11 : The life of mortals

107:27
Ps : as with drink
84 : like drunken men
11 : like drunkards

108:12
Ps : all human help is worthless
84 : the help of man is worthless
11 : human help is worthless

109:2
Ps : deceitful
84 : deceitful men
11 : deceitful

112:10
Ps : The wicked
84 : The wicked man
11 : The wicked

119:9
Ps : the young
84 : a young man
11 : a young person

119:113 : The double-minded
84 : double-minded men
11 : double-minded people

135:15
Ps : human hands
84 : the hands of men
11 : human hands

139:19
Ps : you who thirst for blood
84 : you bloodthirsty men
11 : you who are bloodthirsty

140:11
Ps : The violent
84 : men of violence
11 : the violent

I think there is a similarity between the 2011 NIV and this Psalter produced by the Free Church of Scotland Psalmody Committee in 2003. Perhaps at that time they consulted the TNIV. But that's just a guess.They may have come up with their renderings in a completely independent manner.

 

Looking at the 40 snips I found that the ESV used inclusive language 45% of the time (including two instances of the the word 'mankind' in which there is some debate as to whether it really is an inclusive term as such). So yes,on 18 occasions the ESV used inclusive language.That means there should be 45% less criticism of the 2011 NIV with respect to these snips.