How would you do this in the iOS App?
In bible study last night a question about translation came up, I was using my Ipad to read the text in both the ESV and NIV and caught an interesting difference in translation. I tried to dig into it a bit and hit a wall of sorts. Curious what resources or approach others might have used... using only an iPad or iPhone.
The passage is Nehemiah 4:5. The two texts are:
NIV "for they have thrown insults in the face ofa the builders."
ESV "for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders"
You'll notice the NIV has a footnote referencing the alternate translation.... where would you go, what resources would you use to better understand the translation here?
Thanks!
Comments
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I'd open up a scholarly commentary, such as Williamson WBC volume, where he explains:
37.a. Most modem translations take “the builders” as the dir obj of the verb, but לנגד “in front of” seems to stand as an insuperable difficulty for this view; it can hardly be understood adverbially, as neb implies: “they have openly provoked the builders.” הכעיס “to provoke” can, however, be used without the object expressed of provoking God to anger; cf. 1 Kgs 21:22: 2 Kgs 21:6; 23:19; Hos 12:15 (14); Ps 106:29
(it is unlikely that textual corr has affected all these passages,
though it has independently been held responsible for them all by
various commentators). This gives a suitable meaning in the context (cf. Comment below, contra Rudolph), and allows לנגד to have its usual meaning.Keep in mind that the WBC is verse-linked to the Comments section, but translation notes are found in the Notes section prior to that, plus it uses the Hebrew versification as the default, so you have to check the Translation section to make sure you have the right verse (the linking in Biblia.com didn't compensate for the different versifications).
MacBook Pro (2019), ThinkPad E540
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Thanks for the quick reply! I actually tried WBC last night, but haven't used WBC much and didn't realize the linking worked like that, so I was actually a little disappointed when I tried it. I also tried the lexham hebrew interlinear, but as someone who hasn't learned any hebrew, I just got confused... Your explanation definitely helps, and I can see that info now and it makes more sense. What would some of the other more scholarly commentaries be that might be worth consulting?
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I'd use a reverse interlinear, and then do a Bible Word Study and look at the lexicons. Click and hold on the word in question ('provoke' in the ESV). The NET Bible footnotes are also usually pretty helpful for translation issues.
This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!
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Thanks for the info Mark. I tried that again last night using the iPad and it seemed to work. Not sure why I got so turned around. It may have been the reading right-to-left and not having used the interlinear much.
Thanks again to both of you.
Andrew
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First, How'd you get the NIV on the iPhone/iPad - as I can't find anywhere that it's available yet and certainly not available on mine....
Second, I tend to take Todd's response. I have a few commentaries that I go to on a regular basis - I tend to like the New American Commentary, but don't know how scholarly it is. It's written in plain English for people and tends to make sense of things pretty well.
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No, no NIV on iPad... We were using "old fashion" print bibles
I had my iPad handy and used it to compare, sorry for any false hope I may have created 
I use another app to read NIV...
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You can get the NIV 2011 edition on YouVersion app if you needed it on the iPad its free for a limited time. I would prefer to have this in Logos my self, I hope it will be available soon!
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