The Bible, translated by Nicholas King

A critical review of Nicholas King's translation of the Bible. My copy is a sewn hardback with text formatted in a single column, verse-by-verse in the Old Testament, but broken into paragraphs in the New. The Old Testament features page-bottom notes, while the flow of the New Testament books is interrupted by commentary intermixed with the text. The font is Adobe Garamond, printed too lightly for my taste.

I agree with King's decision to translate the Old Testament from the Septuagint, but I wish the result better represented the text New Testament authors and early Christian writers read and commented on. The translator is a Jesuit priest. The Deuterocanonical books are included, intermixed with the books of the Hebrew canon. It was issued, apparently, without nihil obstat or imprimatur. King's approach to gender inclusiveness relies on frequent use of the singular "they". ISBN: 9781848676671.

Detailed contents:

00:00 Details (dimensions, margins, layout, font …) four charts
00:45 Size compared to the New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS)
01:05 Size compared to Brenton’s Septuagint
01:23 Dimensions
01:48 The Bible without dust jacket
02:09 The ISBN and the original sale price in the UK
02:24 Interior layout
07:23 Font in the text – Adobe Garamond
08:20 Font in the Old Testament’s page-bottom notes
08:35 Paper qualities
10:10 Book introductions
13:05 Maps at the end of the Bible
13:45 Title and copyright pages
14:12 Table of contents
14:30 The preface – why translate the Septuagint?
15:08 Maps at the end of the Pentateuch
15:27 The map at the end of the Historical Books section
15:36 The sewn binding and single violet ribbon marker; the Bible lies open and flat
16:07 The text stays out of the gutter
16:15 A close-up of the typeface, plus comparisons to Brenton’s Septuagint and the NETS
17:40 A quick glance back at the Table of Contents to verify it contains the Deuterocanonical books
18:04 Luke 6.12 – “he was spending the whole night in prayer to God”
18:59 Luke 6.20 – the Beatitutudes: “Congratulations to the poor …”
19:39 Ephesians 2.8-9 – “we are his ‘poem’, created in Christ Jesus” to write poetry?
20:28 Revelation 1.8 – “the Is”; but Exodus 3.14 has “The One Who Is”
22:35 Titus 2.16 – “to call Jesus ‘God’ is not an impossibly enormous step forward from Paul’s own Christology”
23:44 Lamentations 4.20 – “the breath of our face”; and Irenaus of Lyons
25:03 Isaiah 7.9 – King translates this well: understanding requires belief
25:50 Joel 2.25 – Locusts and caterpillars as the power of God
27:19 Proverbs 8.35 – “favour from the Lord is made ready” or, with Augustine of Hippo, “the will is prepared from the Lord”?
28:13 Job 14.4-5 – “No one at all. Even if their life is just one day on earth …” “No one at all, even if his life is just one day on earth …”
29:45 1 Maccabees 12.9 – the connection to Romans 15.4 obscured, the comfort of the scriptures
30:50 Revelation 3.20-21 – gender inclusiveness: multiple uses of the singular “they”
31:25 John 10.9 – gender inclusiveness: “through me if anyone enters, they will be saved”
32:13 Romans 4.4 – “his wages are not reckoned as a ‘freebie’”
32:45 Romans 11.1 – “No way!”
32:58 Summary
33:15 A photo of the translator
33:24 An endorsement from Desmond Tutu