This episode addresses the challenges of translation, with the acknowledgment by Miles Smith that no translation is perfect. Miles Smith, writing in the preface of the KJV, described the final work as having "some imperfections and blemishes" as a result of the fallible process of translation. This acknowledgment however shouldn't be overstated: the goal of new translations is to make good translations even better. "Rubbing and polishing," Smith declared, are the ongoing tasks of translators. The episode describes the challenges of translating "hapax legomenon," words that are only found once in the Old or New Testaments. Even though comparison with other places in the Scripture that use a word is not an option, translators can consult the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, and note how third century Hebrew scholars rendered the Word of God in Greek. The much larger vocabulary of Greek allowed the translators of the Septuagint to select words that illuminate the translation of hapax legemenoi. Regarding the New Testament, translators can rely now rely on the trove of contemporary correspondences in koine Greek to help translate extremely rare New Testament words.
