Welcome to the continuing series comparing the Revised English Bible (REB) with the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) for the first reading (usually from the Old Testament) at each Sunday Mass. This series complements the comparisons earlier in 2018, which focused on the New Testament letters. I’m interested in exploring whether the REB’s translation style differs between the Old and New Testaments.
Sunday, March 31st, 2019 — Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year C)
First Reading: Joshua 5:9a, 10-12
NABRE:
Then the LORD said to Joshua: Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.
While the Israelites were encamped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month. On the day after the Passover they ate of the produce of the land in the form of unleavened cakes and parched grain. On that same day after they ate of the produce of the land, the manna ceased. No longer was there manna for the Israelites, who that year ate of the yield of the land of Canaan.
REB:
The LORD then said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away from you the reproaches of the Egyptians.’
While the Israelites were encamped in Gilgal, at sunset on the fourteenth day of the month they kept the Passover in the lowlands of Jericho. On the day after the Passover they ate of the produce of the country, roasted grain and loaves made without leaven. It was from that day, when they first ate the produce of the country, that the manna ceased. The Israelites got no more manna; that year they ate what had grown in the land of Caanan.
I find it interesting that the REB says ‘ate’, while the Anglicized edition of the NIV never uses the word ‘ate’ even once in the entire Bible but always uses the word ‘et’, always every single time.
People sometimes say that the REB is an extremely ‘British’ translation, yet it uses an Americanized word ‘ate’ rather than the distinctively British ‘et’
The NIV turns out to be more ‘British’ than the REB!
Oddly I could not find “et” in my Anglicized Version; however, I did find it in the very colorful NIV-HB (Hillbilly) version. I understand that there is a group of Catholic Bluegrass musicians who are writing a Bluegrass Mass in G-Major and this group is using the NIC-HB version as a reference for the Biblical components of the Mass.
Well, if you listen to the audio version of the NIV by David Suchet, he always says ‘et’, ‘Adam and Eve ‘et’ the fruit, the Israelites ‘et’ the manna in the desert, the disciples took and ‘et’ at the Last Supper, etc