S.C. Daley, Ph.D. (2007), Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is a translation consultant with SIL International, currently serving in the Eurasia Area. He has taught Biblical Hebrew and presented aspects of textual criticism in numerous contexts. He is the founding editor of the Common Text Project.
The TBET (TEE-bet) Test: A Procedure for Discovering and Defining the Text-critical Constitution of Old Testament Translations
Abstract
Using the TEV as an example, this paper will demonstrate that analyzing a translation’s response to 430 Old Testament textual issues may be adequate for discovering and defining its text-critical constitution.
The list of textual issues is drawn from sample biblical chapters, para-textual elements of the Masoretic text, a random selection of scholarly (conjectural) emendations, and certain columns of textually significant Dead Sea scrolls. The list comes from a recent book entitled The Textual Basis of English Translations of the Hebrew Bible (TBET), which examines well-known English translations across the same range of textual issues and thus establishes the procedure known as the TBET (TEE-bet) test.
In the book, the test leads to the identification of distinct periods in the textual history of the English Bible, to the possibility of classifying the English translations by eclectic type, and to the observation that each of the English translations examined is ultimately unique from a text-critical perspective. Applying the test to other Old Testament translations would allow us to check whether the identified periods are universal, to discover the eclectic type of the translation(s) under study, and to check for unique textual features, as well.
Understanding the textual basis of existing translations promises to aid further efforts to design translation references, help field translators, and expedite worldwide Bible translation.