Easiest to hardest books to translate

This is a little off-topic (althought I would be using LOGOS for this project). Smile

Does anyone know of a list that organizes the books of the Old Testament from easiest to hardest to translate linguistically? (ie. Ruth is easiest, then Genesis, etc. . . )

Is there such a list for the New Testament as well?

Thanks in advance.

Michael

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Comments

Mike Childs

Well, in the New Testament, it is going to be John's writings - the Gospel and 1,2, & 3 John. Then I find 1 Corinthians pretty easy reading. That is just my opinion. After that it is pretty much the same difficulty to me. But I am not aware of any book or resource on the difficulty of the various books.

Ben

I'm not familiar with a list, but for the Old Testament narrative tends to be easiest (Ruth, Judges, etc.), poetic books the most difficult (Job, Isaiah)

Jack Hairston

Perhaps an anecdote would help.

When Oscar Wilde was at Oxford, the professors did not appreciate his homosexual lifestyle, so they laid a trap. One of the requirements for graduation was to be fluent in Greek. When Oscar sat down to his test, he was given Acts chapter 27, which contains many hapax legomena, especially nautical ones. Oscar read it like one would read the London Times. Then he asked, "May I continue reading? I so want to learn how the story ends."