Bibliotheca: A Very Literal Translation of the Masoretic Text of the Bible
I recently received a copy of Bibliotheca from Speakeasy. It is a translation of the New Testament called the American Literary Version (ALV). “Bibliotheca” literally means “a collection of books” and that is truly what all Bibles are. While I received the New Testament portion of this collection, the full Bibliotheca is a boxed series of five books: The Five Books of Moses & the Former Prophets, The Latter Prophets, The Writings (this would include Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs, Lamentations, and others), The Apocrypha, and the Christian writings of the New Testament.
The hard cover book is bound in a beautiful ivory-colored cotton cloth. Unfortunately, I noticed as I took it out of the box, that the outside of the book smudges easily. It also cleaned up easily though. The book has a good “feel” to it---from the texture of the cotton cover to the inner pages, which feel thinner than the average book page, but also stronger. According to a promo I read about the book, the acid-free mineral pages are made with limestone chalk instead of wood pulp. The binding is closely stitched, the book opens out flat, and a beautiful sewn-in cloth bookmark completes it. In all, the book virtually shouts “quality.”
I am told that this book debuts a new typeface known as “Katharos” which is designed for more comfortable reading. But I truthfully didn’t notice anything distinctive or different in the font. One of the first things I noticed as I opened the book to get a “feel” for it is that it properly puts poetry in a form that enables one to immediately recognize it as poetry and not narrative, which many Bibles fail to do. This makes a difference when you are trying to figure out “what does this mean?”
The first thing that most people will notice about this version is that there are no headings, no chapter or verse numbers, no marginalia, and no footnote references. I find that it rather helps the reading. There are no stops or pauses in one’s thoughts as the eye moves over the page and it feels more like reading a novel, or a newspaper, or a book of poetry.
The ALV began as a light revision (changing “thee,” “thou,” and “thy) of the American Standard Version (ASV) of 2016. But as the Bibliotheca received more funding, the updating became more in-depth. The ASV, NKJV, and ESV claim to be very literal, but they are not as literal as they claim to be. They often change the literal translation in order to create a more readable version for modern readers. However, as readability increases, much of the literal meaning of the text is lost. The ALV gives a more literal reading of the original Greek or Hebrew than those texts. The reviews that I read indicated that it impinged somewhat upon the readability of this version, but so far, I have not found this to be true.
For an example of how ALV differs from other very literal versions, let’s take a look at Philippians 1:27. The NASB and NKJV translate it as “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ . . .” ESV translates it as “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. . . “The word for those portions that are emboldened above, literally translates as “live as a citizen.” Philippi was a Roman city where many retired Roman military veterans lived. It was a city that had a fervent nationalistic pride. Philippian Christians may have been likely to think of themselves as Roman citizens rather than as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. The ALV, however, gives us a more literal translation: “Only behave worthily as citizens of the good tidings of the Christ…” It thus encourages them (as well as us) to see our citizenship in terms of the gospel of Jesus Christ, not as citizens of Rome in the first century C.E. and not as citizens of whatever country we live in today. Our primary citizenship is in the Kingdom of G*d.
Translations can affect theology. For example, in the KJV, Jude 4 reads, “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation. . ..” And ESV reads, “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation. . ..” Both of these translations would appear to support Calvinism. The more literal ALV translates it as “For certain men crept in secretly, those who were of old written of beforehand to this condemnation . . . “This translation does NOT sound like certain individuals were pre-ordained to condemnation, but only that it was written of beforehand that some would be reprobates.
I only received the Christian scriptures (New Testament) to review, not the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and I am neither a Hebrew nor Greek scholar, but my research on the ALV indicates that when translating the Hebrew Scriptures it is much more likely than the ESV, NKJV, NASB, or any other translation to rely on the Masoretic text than the Septuagint, even when there is reason to believe that the Septuagint is the more reliable. So, we must say that the ALV is a literal translation of the Masoretic text. Since the books seem to be loosely divided according to the standard Jewish ordering, I suspect the MT is used because it is the version used in Jewish translations of the Hebrew Scriptures.
In all, I must say that this is a beautiful, quality Bible and would recommend it for your reading and study. Be aware of its biases but, in all, I recommend it.
You can go to https://www.instagram.com/bibliothecaco/ and https://www.bibliotheca.co/ for more information about this translation, if desired. Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255