My New Project: The Affirming Version

I started a new project, which will be a revision of the World English Bible. The World English Bible is an excellent modern English translation that is a revision of the American Standard Version. It is in the public domain.

My goal is to create a literal translation of the Bible that is gay-friendly and gender neutral, while distinguishing between plural and singular you.

• Gay-Friendly The first edition will be taking the clobber passages and translating them with a gay-friendly interpretation. I will also provide translator's notes to justify the new translation. An example is Leviticus 18:22, which will be translated as "‘You shall not forcibly lie with a man, as with a woman. That is detestable." The verb translated as "lie with" in Hebrew carries connotations of coercion and/or deception when referring to sexual acts.
• Gender Neutral I will be replacing masculine nouns with gender-neutral nouns when the original languages could have been referring to either gender (for example, changing man to person). I will also be replacing masculine pronouns to gender-neutral pronouns in the same case. I will generally use the singular they to do so in the case of pronouns, but will note that it is meant to be singular with an asterick. An example is Exodus 16:18, which is translated as, "When they measured it with an omer, they* who gathered much had nothing over, and they* who gathered little had no lack. They gathered every person according to their* eating."
• Distinguishing Between Singular and Plural You All the original languages of the Bible (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) had different words for you for when it was singular and when it was plural. The KJV used thee, thou, and thine for singular, and ye, you, and your for plural. In modern English translations, the distinction is lost. In the Affirming Version, singular you will be left as is, but plural you will be be designated with a plus sign (+) when it is plural. An example is Exodus 16:8, which says, "Moses said, 'Now Yahweh shall give you+ meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to satisfy you+; because Yahweh hears your+ murmurings which you+ murmur against him. And who are we? Your+ murmurings are not against us, but against Yahweh.'"

My timeline for this translation is a year. I am following the One Year Bible reading plan to revise the text of the World English Bible following the above principles.

Any comments, suggestions, or encouragement for this project is welcome! Please feel free to have your say in the comments below!