There is a new Dutch version of the most read book in the world, the Bible. The new Bible was created by the Dutch-Flemish Bible Society that gave the book the name NBV21. 21 stands for 2021, but also for the current century.
The revision of the holy book is the culmination of a period of thirty years. In the early 1990s, almost all denominations said it was time for a new edition in good, contemporary Dutch. The then Dutch Bible Society set to work with this, which resulted in the New Bible Translation in 2004.
“The big shift of 2004 generated a lot of discussion. The Bible Society was open to this and asked to pass on all criticism and suggestions,” says translator Cor Hoogerwerf. With thousands of responses from pastors, churchgoers, and others to the updated version, the Bible Society has made some 12,000 changes.
In the new version, for example, a porcupine has turned into a bird, says main translator Matthijs de Jong:
The king received the first copy this afternoon in the Grote Kerk in The Hague. In addition, ten representatives of the Church were presented with the NBV21. Among them is also Theologian of the Fatherland Almatine Leene, who will use this new version of the Bible immediately on Sunday.
Leene expects that churchgoers and readers of the Bible on the one hand will be very happy with the new edition. For example, because the texts are more in line with our daily language use. “But it can also be emotional. Some know lyrics by heart and those lyrics can be different now.” She expects it to take some getting used to, and that takes time.
Ad van Nieuwpoort, pastor in Bloemendaal and Overveen, is critical. He regrets that the choice has been made to make the book understandable. “That’s not what the Bible is for. It’s a strange book and a rich book of poetry and metaphors.” According to him, the Bible should be a quest. “The deepening is created by reading and discussing it with each other.”
Modifications
Immediately in the second sentence of the Bible is the first change. ‘The earth was still desolate and dead…’ is now ‘The earth was desolate and dead…’. In the 2004 translation, the word ‘yet’ had been added to reinforce the connection, but readers thought that was unnecessary. And according to the translators, it works better to formulate it more openly without ‘yet’.
Complaint number one about the previous version was the lack of respect capitals. Hoogerwerf: “The idea in 2004 was that these would disappear from Dutch. But those capital letters are still used by He and You.” The Theologian of the Fatherland is happy that the reverence capitals are back: “It’s a feeling, but I like it.”
‘Claudia-de-Breij-translation’
Reverend Van Nieuwpoort points to an example of what he considers a unsuccessful correction in the book of Ruth. “Spread your wings over your maidservant,” says Ruth to Boaz one night of love. That has changed to ‘Will you take me with you’. Van Nieuwpoort thinks this is a Claudia-de-Breij translation. “The text from 2004 leaves something to the imagination. Leave that poetry alone, it has now been smashed.”
Leene is confident that the new translation is good. She works with different translations anyway, because every translation is limited, none are perfect. Because of all the attention there is for the NBV21, she hopes that it will make people curious and that they will read the Bible (again).