BIBLE TRANSLATIONS | NEB

0. Introduction

a) Below is one comparison of twenty-three major Bible translations. Listed with each version is the text basis translators used for the Old and New Testaments, what technique they used to translate, and background information about the version.

1. Translation (Date originally published, abbreviation)

a) New English Bible (1970, NEB)

Text basis for O. T. :  Primarily the Masoretic Text as presented by Rudolf Kittel in his 3rd Edition of the Biblia Hebraica (1937). Also used were the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Greek Septuagint, the Aramaic Targums, and the Syriac Peshitta.

Text basis for Apocrypha:  The Old Testament in Greek according to the Septuagint, edited by H. B. Swete. Also used was the Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209, Codex 248 and R. L. Bensly's Latin text The Fourth Book of Ezra.

Text basis for N. T. :  Early Greek New Testament manuscripts, early translations rendered in other languages (those aside from Greek), and the quotations of early Christian writers and speakers.

Technique used:  Dynamic Equivalence

Owner:  Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press

b) The NEB is a modern English version taken directly from the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts. This controversial version, which also includes the Apocrypha, was sponsored by several denominations in Great Britain.