Grammar, the Bible and Translation

I was preparing my sermon on Psalm 23, ("The Lord is my shepherd ..."), and I found out the the New International Version of the Bible, which I use, has just completed a revision. Its last major revision was 1984. The new revision has been available on the web since last November and you should now be able to buy the books.

I also didn't realise that the Committee on Bible Translation meets on an ongoing basis to review the latest scholarship and also common English usage. Although they say 95% of the latest revision remains the same as the 1984 revision, I found that Psalm 23 had five changes!

My own opinion on why this is the case is that in previous revisions, they had not wanted to stray too far from the King James Version when it came to well known passages like Psalm 23. However, that seems to be no longer the case. So gone is "the valley of the shadow of death", replaced by "the darkest valley", which just about every other modern translation has. Also gone are the "paths of righteousness", replaced by "right paths", which is much clearer (or, to put it another way, what exactly are "paths of righteousness"?).

I think their latest translation of Psalm 23 is very good, and for your interest, here it is (italics indicate the changes I've noticed):

¹ The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³ he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

Another aspect of English interested me as I read the translators' notes. It was the use of gender neutral 'them' to refer back to a singular noun or pronoun, rather than having to say, "him or her", or something similarly clumsy. We all do it in spoken English, for instance, you might say to a group of people, "If someone can give me a lift, I'll wait for them in the car park." The plural "them" refers back to "someone", which is singular. But this is now officially alright to use! I need no longer sweat about what to me is bad grammar.

In fact, in a recent blog below on political correctness I wrote,

For instance someone isn't deaf, he or she is hearing impaired.

But I could have said "someone isn't deaf, they are hearing impaired." Not only is it politically correct, it's now grammatically correct as well!