English-Greek Reverse Interlinear of the NRSV Apocryphal Texts

The English-Greek Reverse Interlinear of the NRSV Apocryphal Texts opens up enormous possibilities of ways to study the original language text of the Apocrypha. The structure of a reverse interlinear provides the English and original language text together. This way, the translation is connected with the original at the individual word level. It is one thing to read a text that has been translated by someone else, or that gives you phrase or sentence level translations. But with the reverse interlinear, you have the ability to see direct translations for every word in the Greek text of the Apocrypha. This makes direct study of a specific word easy, with original language tools only a click away.

But reverse interlinears are not simply tools for those whose biblical language skills are lacking. They also provide valuable scholarly information about how various words, phrases, and idioms are translated across a larger corpus. Reverse interlinears make it possible to examine how well the translators represent the semantic range of various words and grammatical categories. They open up a number of avenues of research such as determining whether the translator's rendering of conjunctions, adverbs, and other function words match the semantic range delineated in various lexicons such as BDAG and L&N or examining how present or aorist verbs are translated in different contexts. Reverse interlinears provide instant access to data about the relationship between Greek grammar and English translation that would otherwise be difficult and time consuming to gather.