{"id":282,"date":"2010-08-04T13:58:29","date_gmt":"2010-08-04T20:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/?p=282"},"modified":"2010-08-04T13:58:29","modified_gmt":"2010-08-04T20:58:29","slug":"a-little-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/04\/a-little-help\/","title":{"rendered":"“A little help!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NRSV<\/a> has a strangely bland translation of Romans 15:24<\/a>:<\/p>\n

when I go to Spain. For I do hope to see you on my journey and to be sent on by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a little while.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The bland part is where it says “to be sent on.” That’s a unfairly wooden translation of the Greek word propempto<\/em>. Literally, the word means just that: pempto<\/em> (“I send”) plus pro-<\/em> (“forth”). But what it really means is to help<\/em> someone go forth.<\/p>\n

To send someone that way sometimes means to accompany them. That’s what it means in Acts 21:5<\/a>, where Luke writes that “all of them, with wives and children, escorted us outside the city,” and Acts 20:38<\/a>, when the Ephesian elders brought Paul to the ship.<\/p>\n

But more typically, especially in the Epistles, to send someone forth means to provide them with material support for their journey. This is particularly clear in Titus 3:13<\/a>, which tells the recipients to send on Zenas the Lawyer and Apollos, “and see that they lack nothing.” BDAG<\/a> offers this definition: “to assist someone in making a journey, send on one’s way with food, money, by arranging for companions, means of travel, etc.”<\/p>\n

ESV<\/a> is better, if still a little awkward:<\/p>\n

I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

NIV<\/a> is better still:<\/p>\n

I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The problem with the NRSV’s bland translation is it disguises what Paul is doing: asking for money. In Romans 15:24<\/a>, Paul is saying he wants the Roman church to help him get to Spain. In 1 Corinthians 16:6<\/a>, he says he doesn’t even know yet where he’ll be going.<\/p>\n

By disguising what Paul is saying, this failure-to-translate hides the implicit teaching, that this is what churches do: provide support to people who are doing ministry beyond their immediate neighborhood. And worse, it fails to teach people (e.g., pastors and elders) to ask<\/em> for such support, the way Paul used to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NRSV has a strangely bland translation of Romans 15:24: when I go to Spain. For I do hope to see you on my journey and to be sent on by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a little while. The bland part is where it says “to be sent on.” That’s a … Continue reading »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[78,8,161,224,237,676,56,293],"class_list":["post-282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-ask","tag-bible","tag-help","tag-nrsv","tag-paul","tag-service","tag-stewardship","tag-translation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messofpottage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}