September 18, 1924 • James Moffatt's Modern-Language Bible

oday's English Version, the New Testament in Modern English, the Living Bible... Today there are many easy-to-read "colloquial" translations of the Bible on the market.

On this day, September 18, 1924, James Moffatt, a Scottish Presbyterian issued A New Translation of the Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments. It was the first of many translations that would be made for general readers in the twentieth century. Earlier, he had issued the New Testament alone.

"The aim I have endeavored to keep before my mind in making this translation has been to present the books of the Old and New Testament in effective English," wrote James Moffatt in the preface. And indeed, his version was easy to follow. Even old, familiar passages had a new sound to them. Here is how he translated John 3:16 and the following two verses: "For God loved the world so dearly that he gave up his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life instead of perishing. God did not send his son into the world to pass sentence on it, but to save the world by him. He who believes in him is not sentenced; he who will not believe is sentenced already, for having refused to believe in the name of the only Son of God."

As far as human qualifications go, James was qualified by training and scholarship to make the translation. A Scottish Presbyterian, he had pastored in the Free Church before becoming a professor of Greek and New Testament studies at Mansfield College. Later he taught church history at the United Free Church college in Glasgow. He ended his career in the United States, teaching church history at Union Theological Seminary, New York. During his productive career, he wrote about forty books of history and Bible studies.

James accepted German theories of textual criticism. Most notably, he adopted the documentary theories which said the books of Moses were compiled from four sources and he printed passages in different type faces to indicate which of the four sources each supposedly came from. In his preface, he dated most of the books of the Old Testament centuries later than their own claims. He argued against the historical accuracy of the Old Testament. And in places he rearranged passages to go where he thought they belonged. (For example, John chapter 14 is placed after 15 and 16; and several passages in Isaiah are shifted.) Perhaps the most controversial step he took was to change the Bible according to guesses that had no basis whatever in old manuscripts.

Despite these innovations, his translation was a best-seller. The letters of Paul were much easier to understand in his version than in the lengthy run-on sentences of the King James. James Moffatt set a trend; many others imitated his example and came out with versions of their own.

E. F. Scott, who had personal knowledge of James, said that he was a "man of simple and beautiful character." Among Moffatt's many interests were sports and detective fiction. He even wrote a mystery novel, A Tangled Web. He also composed the seldom-heard hymn tune "Ultima."

Bibliography:

1. Moffatt, James. A New Translation of the Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1935.
2. "Moffatt, James." The Dictionary of National Biography, founded in 1882 by George Smith; edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. London: Oxford University Press, 1921 - 1996.
3. "Moffatt, James." Encyclopedia Britannica. Britannica Corp., 1967.
4. "Moffatt, James." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.
5. "Moffatt Version." http://www.bible-researcher.com/moffatt.html
6. Various encyclopedia and internet articles.

Last updated July, 2007