Appendix A: NET Bible Principles of Translation

1. Text

2. Interpretive Decisions and Tools

3. Form of Translation

No translation can ever achieve complete formal equivalence.[1] Even a translation which sometimes reflects Hebrew and Greek word order at the expense of English style has to resort to paraphrase in some places. On the other hand, no translation achieves complete dynamic equivalence[2] either. Thus this translation, like every other, ends up somewhere between these extremes. These considerations are reflected by the following specific qualifications:

4. Additional Features of the Translation and Notes

Abbreviations of biblical books follow JBL standard usage. With only a few exceptions JBL style is used for all other abbreviations.

[1] With formal equivalence each word of the original language is represented by a word in the receptor (target) language, and the word and clause order is kept as nearly identical to that of the original language as possible. Thus this approach translates word for word.
[2] With dynamic equivalence (sometimes called functional equivalence) the goal is to render the original language text in the closest natural equivalent in the receptor language, both in meaning and style. This approach translates phrase for phrase or thought for thought.