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 3rd, 2019 — Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
First Reading: Sirach (Ben Sira) 27:4-7
NABRE:
When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear;
so do people’s faults when they speak.
The furnace tests the potter’s vessels;
the test of a person is in conversation.
The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had;
so speech discloses the bent of a person’s heart.
Praise no one before he speaks,
for it is then that people are tested.
REB:
Shake a sieve, and the rubbish remains;
start an argument, and a man’s faults show up.
As the work of a potter is tested in the kiln,
so a man is tried in debate.
As a tree’s fruit reveals the skill of the grower,
so the expression of a man’s thoughts reveals his character.
Do not praise a main till you hear him in argument,
for that is the test.