I was flipping through the prophets a few days ago and couldn’t resist this idiosyncratic rendering in the REB, which I offer compared to examples of traditional, median and functional translation.
Jeremiah 20:7
| REB | TNIV |
|---|---|
| You have duped me, Lord, and I have been your dupe; you have outwitted me and prevailed. All the day long I have been made a laughing-stock; everyone ridicules me. |
You deceived me, LORD, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. |
| ESV | NLTse |
| O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me. |
O LORD, you misled me, and I allowed myself to be misled. You are stronger than I am, and you overpowered me. Now I am mocked every day; everyone laughs at me. |
Read the translation notes from the NET Bible to possibly shed some light on the differences.
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I know you would never make this mistake, but perhaps others might.
In the British dialect, particular the Queen’s English of 1970 when the NEB was published, duped was not slacker-talk, but a somewhat formal word. Thus, the NEB doesn’t blink, but mixes the word with rather formal address:
O Lord, thou hast duped me, and I have been thy dupe;
thou hast outwitted me and hast prevailed.
I have been made a laughing-stock all the day long,
everyone mocks me.
Ah, you’ve given me an extra yard of rope on the gibbet – thank thee.
On a different track, perhaps someone from a technology manufacturing context would read that as, “You have copied me, Lord, and I am a copy of you”!
Here is another rendition of Jer. 20:7 via the Christian Community Bible:
“Yahweh, you have seduced me and I let myself be seduced.
You have taken me by force and prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long:
they all make fun of me.”
Of course, there is also the old Jerusalem Bible:
“You have seduced me, Yahweh, and I have let myself be seduced;
you have overpowered me: you were the stronger.
I am a daily laughing stock, everybody’s butt.”
Hmm…
Interesting, thanks!