18 October 2013

OMGWTFBible: A loose translation

I first heard about this from a recent article in the Tablet. Comedian David Tuchman is translating the Hebrew Bible and recording it live at various venues in New York City. He invites a guest on the show to read his translation while he makes fun of it. It's great so far.

David Tuchman is Jewish (as are many of his guests) so he knows Hebrew well, and is familiar with rabbinical interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures. There's always something in each episode that I missed at the SAB. So I'm adding stuff as I listen.

My only concern is the pace. He's been doing this for a year now and he's still not through Genesis. At that rate I won't live long enough to hear him do Malachi. (If he continues at the current rate, he'll finish in 2040.)

I'd like to hear him do Malachi 2:3, for example.
Behold, I will corrupt your seed and spread dung upon your faces.
And then finish with the happy ending of the Hebrew scriptures:
...lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Malachi 4:6
So I suggest that he pick up the pace a bit. How about weekly, or even daily?

Here's his latest episode. Enjoy!
(I should also mention that the chapters in Tuchman's bible don't match the traditional ones. Which is OK, since the chapter numbers are arbitrary anyway. But it does make it a bit hard to follow.)

2 comments:

Stephen said...

Steve, this is hysterical! Thanks!
Steve Weeks

Stephen said...

O Crap!
Live in New York? Why not Mundelein???

Well, I'll just have to be content to listen. :-(

BTW, I have forwarded a link to OMGWTF Bible to all my Jewish friends, and they all think it's extremely funny.
Steve Weeks