The Public Domain Rashi commentary “Sefaria Community Edition” has now been added; from this point forward it will be known as the “NSV” edition. This is because we may make changes to the commentary based on other (Public Domain) versions of Rashi, or to modify the language to comport with our translation (since many passages in Rashi seem to quote the Torah). However, we will never modify it away from an approved reading of the commentary.
This is an exciting turning point because it represents the final stage before we start working on the Christian scriptures. How long this takes will be unknown, so,
I have also considered skipping this phase.
One theory is that so long as all the cross-references from the Torah and the Christian Scriptures read well, the //rest// of the Torah can remain unchanged. This is a “10% of the work gets 90% of the effort” approach. And indeed it may even be the best way to start. There will always be time to edit random passages ‘as I see them’, or when they become important.
This will increase the utility of this project much more quickly. But…
Eventually, every verse needs a full comparison round for readability and cohesiveness anyways, and then on top of that a full read-through would be helpful in smoothing out any briars. Technically, this is phase 3 work. I suppose that taking my time and creating a solid product to work with as I begin studying the Christian scriptures will prove invaluable. It may take time but I feel patience finishing Phase 3 will pay off in the long run.
I am not sure if I regret using the KJV as a base now instead of the ASV or something else, perhaps in the end it does not matter so much (it’s an easy copy and paste as the edit continues).
Based on the “thou” test (i.e.
grep -h "^[0-9]" gene* | grep " thou "
) it seems as if we should begin the comparison check in Exodus, which as of now contains 75 offenses (There are a few remaining in Genesis as well).
Looks like I will have to make a ‘bad words finder’ script again to help me stamp out all of that older English. If only there was a more modern version, also in the public domain.
Well, once again, here are the “other” five PD bibles on BibleGateway (besides KJV):
- American Standard Version (ASV)
- Darby Translation (DARBY)
- Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
- World English Bible (WEB)
- Young’s Literal Translation (YLT)
I am sure that between these we can find a nice, modern reading that does not lose it’s KJV flavour otherwise.