UBS or 4th rev. GNT?

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J. Garriga
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Joined: January 27th, 2013, 5:05 pm

UBS or 4th rev. GNT?

Post by J. Garriga »

I want to get a Greek New Testament for translation study, but am not sure whether to get the Aland 4th rev. ed. or the UBS Reader's Edition.

Amazon.com doesn't have a preview of the former, but I have been able to see the UBS. The UBS' same-page glossary and other helps are nice, but, really, what I'm looking for is readability. I've read some comments that the 4th rev. is hard to read. I'd be very interested in the opinions of those here who've chosen one over the other.

Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I couldn't find it on the site.

Thanks.
Stephen Carlson
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Re: UBS or 4th rev. GNT?

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Readability in what sense? Good looking font? Opaque pages? Font size?

Personally, I use the large print edition of the NA27.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Barry Hofstetter
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Re: UBS or 4th rev. GNT?

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

J. Garriga wrote:I want to get a Greek New Testament for translation study, but am not sure whether to get the Aland 4th rev. ed. or the UBS Reader's Edition.

Amazon.com doesn't have a preview of the former, but I have been able to see the UBS. The UBS' same-page glossary and other helps are nice, but, really, what I'm looking for is readability. I've read some comments that the 4th rev. is hard to read. I'd be very interested in the opinions of those here who've chosen one over the other.

Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I couldn't find it on the site.

Thanks.
What, precisely, do you mean by translation study? I am currently using the UBS Reader's Edition for my intermediate Greek class, and found that it really does help the students (student, in this case), though she is still held responsible for learning the vocabulary on each page as we complete it. I have not yet seen a copy of NA 4, but if the typography is the same as the previous editions, the UBS text is quite "readable" in the sense that the font is clear and reasonably large. If you are interested in textual variants, the NA-4 has many more listed than the UBS text, which only focuses on textual variants that are supposed to make a difference in translation.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
Jonathan Robie
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Re: UBS or 4th rev. GNT?

Post by Jonathan Robie »

I like large, readable fonts, and I generally use one of two Bibles.

One of them is on sale right now for $25.00 at bible.org. Each pair of pages has the Nestle Aland 27th edition on one side, with the full apparatus, and the NET translation on the other side, with really good translator's footnotes. I like the footnotes better than the translation. You can see a pair of facing pages here, and a sample of the features of the English pages and appendices here. I like this edition when I want to know various ways a passage has been translated, the textual basis for a passage, and all that scholarly head stuff.

The other GNT I use a lot is the Greek Orthodox Patriarchal Edition 1904, available at the Bob Jones Campus Bookstore thanks to Randy Leedy, a professor who makes them available, and otherwise hard to find in the United States. It's just the text, without apparatus or translations or notes. It comes in two sizes, the smaller size is hard for my eyes to read in long settings but fits in a shirt pocket, the larger size is very easy to read but still small enough to carry very conveniently. And a great advantage of this edition is that you can download free MP3 recordings read by a native Greek, an Orthodox monk who reads very well. I have them on my MP3 player, and listen as I read. You can find these recordings and other tips here. I like this edition when I really want to read Greek.
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
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James Spinti
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Re: UBS or 4th rev. GNT?

Post by James Spinti »

I usually recommend that people buy the NA 27 large print. My question to them is "How long do you plan to be reading Greek?" If they say for the next year or two for classes, then it really doesn't matter much. The UBS 4 is fine for them. But, if they are intending to be reading it for the rest of their lives, they definitely should invest in the large print edition!

The font in either the UBS or the NA is very readable. Barry mentioned the UBS Reader's edition. Personally, I find that edition to be very readable as well. Zondervan has come out with two editions of a reader's GNT; personally, I don't like the font (or the paper) in either edition. The newer one is slightly better, but the paper is still "Bible Paper"--which means way too thin; there is significant bleed-through.

My $.02,
James
Proofreading and copyediting of ancient Near Eastern and biblical studies monographs
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