Tuesday, March 27, 2007

TNIV: weighed down

The TNIV not only has improved upon the accuracy of the NIV but sometimes it improves upon its literary style. I think I have found an example of an improvement in literary style. In Eccl. 8:6 the NIV is worded as:
For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
though a man's misery weighs heavily upon him.
The TNIV revises this to:
For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
though a person may be weighed down by misery.
The TNIV increases gender-accuracy by revising "a man's" to "a person" reflecting the generic meaning of Hebrew ha'adam.

Stylistically, it sounds better to me that someone is "weighed down by misery" than that "misery weighs heavily upon him." In fact, I'm not sure that the English lexicon allows the collocation of "misery" with "weighs heavily".

I know that English allows me to say that something can weigh heavily on my heart. A burden can, I think, weigh heavily on my heart. I don't know if I can be weighed down by misery, but it does sound better to my ear than saying that misery weighs heavily upon me.

What do you think? (Don't repeat the words in question too often, or else they might start squishing into each other and you might lose your normal sense of what is natural English.)

No comments: