καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία → and peace on earth and good will to men, and peace on earth and good will to all


banned8

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billberg23

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And (wouldn't you know?) there's a textual variant here (Luke 2.14):  ΕΝ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΙΣ ΕΥΔΟΚΙΑΣ (instead of ΕΥΔΟΚΙΑ).  This would make it "and peace on earth among men of good will."  Different translations (and different Christian sects) reflect either the one reading or the other.  How does your bible take it, springm?


banned8

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Very interesting, Bill. I had no idea there was this variant.

But have you seen the variant translation?

"Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."

Blimey!



billberg23

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Nick, I was unaware of that translation.  At first I was appalled, but after dwelling on it a bit I see it as a compromise between the two variants, and not a bad one.
I only own two bible translations, one the eminently stealable Gideon, which uses the standard KJ text (which agrees with your translation).  The other is a Jehovah's Witness NT (of which I own a dozen or so copies.  It's cheap and gives the full Greek text with interlinear translation;  I find it useful for teaching Greek to the masses here.).  The JW text uses the non-standard variant, which it translates "in men of well thinking."
There appears to be a slight grammatical problem with the standard text;  the variant looks to me like a scholarly interpolation which seeks to resolve that problem.  I suspect lots of ink has been spilled over this one.  It's just another of those things that make the bible fun to read.


marian m

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Just wanted to mention a musical perspective . . .

This is also part of the text of the famous chorus "Glory to God" from Handel's masterpiece "Messiah" and I believe the KJV was used, with minor alterations by the librettist, Charles Jennens.


springm

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Thanks to all for your help!  To answer billberg23's question:  I have two Bible Translations as follows:

     "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." - New International Version - Life Application Study Bible
     and
     "Glory to God in the heavenly heights, Peace to all men and women on earth who please him." - The Message

How interesting!  I grew up with the KJ version and this puts a different spin on an "old standard" for me.  Again, thanks to all the wonderful experts on this board!  :-)




marian m

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Springm, I also grew up with the KJV! I own at least 10 different English translations and one unique NT which features 8 modern translations in parallel columns!  It goes without saying though that there's nothing like the original! :-)
« Last Edit: 25 Dec, 2016, 21:15:43 by spiros »


 

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