Metabiblical

Consider the following, from the preface to the World English Bible, as found at https://ebible.org/eng-web/FRT01.htm:

The style of the World English Bible, while fairly literally translated, is in informal, spoken English. The World English Bible is designed to sound good and be accurate when read aloud. It is not formal in its language, just as the original Greek of the New Testament was not formal. The WEB uses contractions rather freely.

There are a few problems here. First, notice that the WEB, as a whole, is supposed to be in “informal, spoken English” because “the original Greek of the New Testament was not formal”. This claim about the Greek is itself arguable. I doubt that many people who can read Greek would characterize Paul’s letters as filled with “informal, spoken Greek”. But let us leave that issue to one side for the moment and stipulate that the whole New Testament is written in informal, spoken Greek.

This would certainly provide an argument for rendering the New Testament into informal English. It is harder to see what this has to do with the Hebrew Bible. I don’t know of anyone who has tried to make a serious case that the Hebrew Bible is written in the informal, spoken Hebrew of its time.

Even if the entire Bible were written in a highly formal register, there would be some argument for producing at least one informal translation into English, perhaps for people whose personal background does not allow them to comfortably read formal literature.

But even if it were a good idea to re-write the Hebrew Bible in an informal, conversational register, the actual fact is that the World English Bible does no such thing. Instead, the world English Bible takes the archaic style of the ASV, modernizes some of its most obviously archaic features, such as the old pronouns and verb endings, and then sprinkles a few contractions in. This creates a jarringly mixed register.

Consider the following exchange between a woman and a priest in 1 Samuel 1:

¹⁵ Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have not been drinking wine or strong drink, but I poured out my soul before Yahweh. ¹⁶ Don’t consider your servant a wicked woman; for I have been speaking out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation.”

¹⁷ Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him.”

¹⁸ She said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate; and her facial expression wasn’t sad any more.

In the discussion about, I have bolded the contractions. Do you find that the Don’t and wasn’t give the whole thing a chatty, conversational vibe?

On the question of register, the WEB needs a great deal of work, and if the goal is to mirror the registers found in the Hebrew Bible in English, then the most likely result will be some kind of literary English that doesn’t necessarily try to imitate casual conversation throughout the text.