Will Shetterly is starting up his cool translation of Genesis again, and it has me thinking about what my ideal Bible translation would be like.

I’d like a Bible that preserves the unique character of a collection of literature written in a number of ancient cultures that are now alien to us. I don’t want it to be accessible, in language written down to a fifth grade level. I’ve already got some of those. I don’t want one that reads well in worship. I’ve got some of those too.

Genesis is a case in point. It’s a collage of writings that come from competing religious traditions in ancient Judaism and even pre-Judaism. They have unique styles and viewpoints. If you know they’re there, you can find them, but I’d rather be slapped in the face with it.

The best translation of Genesis I’ve seen in print is At the Start by Mary Phil Korsak. Here’s how it opens:

At the start Elohim created the skies and the earth

—the earth was tohu-bohu
darkness on the face of the deep
and the breath of Elohim
hovering on the face of the waters—

Elohim said
Let light be
Light was
Elohim saw the light How good!
Elohim separated the light from the darkness
Elohim called to the light “Day”
to the darkness he called “Night”
It was evening, it was morning
One day

Doesn’t that kick ass? As I read it I feel like I’m hearing it for the first time, as though someone is chanting it around an evening campfire like Homer would perform the Oddysey.

I ought to check out Stephen Mitchell’s translation. I love his Tao te Ching and Gigamesh translations but thought his stab at Jesus was too much sweetness and light.