Author Archives: Mike Sangrey

By training, I’m a Software Engineer.

By profession, I’m a Data Security Consultant currently working for one of the “Blues” in the health insurance industry.

By heart, I’m an amateur linguist who seeks, with the undeserved gifts God has so kindly given, to improve Bible translations. More than anything else I want Bible translations, when coupled with the humble attitude of those translating as well as those reading, to incarnate the Spirit of God into the lives of his people.

By family, I’m the happy husband of a wonderful wife, and the proud father of 6 children who span ages from learning obedience to old enough to live out their obedience.

May God be gracious to us all.

An inquiry into better seeking — Matthew 6:33

November 21, 2011 – 11:11 pm

What does ζητέω (ZHTEW) mean? Matthew 6:33 says, “ζητεῖτε δὲ πρῶτον τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ καὶ ταῦτα πάντα προστεθήσεται ὑμῖν” An elementary Greek, wooden translation is, “And/But seek first the kingdom of God and the righteousness of him and these all will be added to you.” I’ve often wondered what seeking [...]

Posted in Bible Translation | Comments (20)

Headline news: Accuracy Battles Readability—Surreality Wins

October 1, 2011 – 10:09 pm

Joel Hoffman, over at “God didn’t say that,” cites David Roach in the Baptist Press, “most American Bible readers … value accuracy over readability.” Reading between the lines of Joel’s posting I take it he’s a bit bothered by the statement. Joel, you’re not alone. He asks, “What do you think.” Since my response involves [...]

Posted in Bible Translation | Comments (31)

N.T. Wright’s Reflections on Bible Translation

September 27, 2011 – 11:52 pm

Recently we had some discussion regarding N.T. Wright’s translation. Here is his views of translation presented at the SBL in London, July 2011. I’m glad to report he makes many of the points that BBB has tried to make. See: The Monarchs and the Message, Reflections on Bible Translation from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First [...]

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Using Underscores in Translation–πλὴν

May 7, 2011 – 5:24 pm

S. Taman asks on our share page: I was looking up an interlinear bible and what each word may mean in the concordance and wondered if it is possible that the end of Ephesians 5 v 33 could also be translated “let each of one of you in particular so love his own wife as [...]

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Translating Punctuation when there is No Punctuation to Translate

May 1, 2011 – 10:06 pm

Jonathan Morgan, on our share page, asks this, One thing I have heard a number of times is the assertion that “Greek has no punctuation”, and that as a result we can choose to repunctuate the *English* in any way we like, because “it’s all just been added by the translator anyway”. I’ve never been [...]

Posted in Bible Translation, idiomatic, literal translation, natural English, punctuation, semiotics, standard English, translation accuracy, translation equivalence | Comments (6)

Being Pragmatic about Words

April 10, 2011 – 6:30 pm

We are having a fascinating discussion about ἀποστέλλω and πέμπω in Apostles and missionaries. I don’t want to slow it down, but one comment on that post brought some thoughts about Pragmatics to mind. Stephen Beck, here, says, “But for now I did want to ask Mike to consider two verses: John 7:18 and 12:49.” [...]

Posted in Pragmatics | Comments (12)

Being paid with what you got coming

March 14, 2011 – 7:30 pm

Being paid is a good thing, right? Maybe. Depends what you’re paid with. Being given your just reward is generally not a pleasant thing. In an American idiom, “getting what you got coming” is not necessarily a good thing, either. Generally, the expression is rather negative and results in discomfort for the one given the…well…the [...]

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Some Drum Rolls are Bigger

January 6, 2011 – 1:04 am

On December 27th, 2004 we noticed something big.  It was an explosion.  A big explosion. It was 50,000 light years away.  Our Ionosphere reacted to it (it had happened a bit earlier, of course).  If you were looking at the right place at the right time, it was as bright as a full moon.  If [...]

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Little drum rolls

January 4, 2011 – 12:51 am

Katy Payne was standing in the Metro Washington Park Zoo in Portland, Oregon in 1984, watching the elephants.  She’s a Bioacoustics researcher, and she noticed something unusual.  Everyone else missed it.  In fact, everyone else always missed it.  Or, if they did notice it, they dismissed it.  ’Dis’ or just ‘missed’, it was all the [...]

Posted in Bible Translation | Comments (19)

“Pray without ceasing”

December 31, 2010 – 2:14 pm

What’s the best translation for 1 Thessalonians 5:17? Pray without ceasing. Pray continually. Don’t cease praying. Something else? The Greek is, ἀδιαλείπτως προσεύχεσθε. Short. Sweet. To the point. What’s the point? For ἀδιαλείπτως, lexicons have glosses like ‘unintermitting’, ‘incessant’, even ‘continuously’.  ’Incessant’, in English, means “to continue, seemingly without an interruption.”  Is that what the [...]

Posted in Bible Translation | Comments (23)
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