Bible Journaling - Names & Footnotes in the NLT

All we wish to do, is enjoy the Bible and do some arty decorating in its pages, yet we still have a few more pages to deal with that require careful scrutiny and reading, if we wish to truly understand the texts we will be dealing with. Today, we take a look at pages A16 and A17 of the Inspire Praise Bible. The first issue that we need to look at, is the rendition of God's names. As the Bible was produced by a number of authors, over the span of centuries, in a variety of languages, it goes without saying that there was no overseeing editor to ensure consistency. Different authors used different names to call God by. To further complicate matters, the dynamic nature of language also has to be contended with. Spelling and language rules changed with the passage of time and modern translators need to deal with these inconsistencies. The NLT provides a very short discussion on this topic, looking at names in general, and God's names specifically. The name YHVH and Christ is looked at specifically and you can read more about this yourself. Suffice it to say, that I was happy to find that the translators had opted to stick to the general rule of rendering YHVH as LORD, as has become somewhat of a general rule, making it easy for readers to spot it in the text, without complicating reading with foreign language words. This is of course a personal preference of mine, and you may differ from me on this.
We then finally learn about the use of footnotes in the NLT, which gives clarification of all of the issues discussed in the preceding pages on the translation of the Bible. Here is a list of issues covered in the footnotes, although you may to choose to read these pages for further clarification:

• Literal translations;
• Alternative renditions;
• Textual Variants, especially from the Textus Receptus,
• Quotations between testaments;
• Cultural and historical information to enlighten the text;
• Wordplay in proper names.

I believe that it may benefit to quote from the last chapter in the passage to clarify the intention of the translators:
"We pray that the New Living Translation will overcome some of the barriers of history, culture and language that have kept people from reading and understanding God's Word."

We were once again confronted with some very mundane looking pages in our Bible.

I once more treated both pages to a coating of Zellen Clear Gesso.

Once it was touch dry, I slipped a protective shield in between the pages and weighted it down to straighten the pages.

This is what my pages looked like when I opened the Bible back up the next day.

I once more decided to use a serviette that I had to decorate the pages with.

I removed two layers of backing paper from the serviette.

Then I cut the motifs from the serviette and arranged them on my page.

I used Dala Acrylic Matt Glaze Medium to decoupage the motifs onto the pages. I waited for it to become touch dry, and then I sealed the pages with the same medium.

I then painted the backgrounds of the two pages in Yellow Ochre, using my watercolours.

When the pages were dry, I slipped a protective shield in between the pages and weighted it down.

My layout when I was done with it.

You can watch a short compilation video of the steps above on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/VKPPrCCsnxI

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2005,2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois, 60188. All rights reserved.

Inspire PRAISE South Africa edition copyright 2017 by Christian Art Publishers, PO Box 1599, Vereeniging, 1930, RSA. All rights reserved.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy my books here:
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