Young's Literal Translation - Translation Philosophy

Translation Philosophy

The Literal Translation is unusual in that, as the name implies, it is a strictly literal translation of the original Hebrew and Greek texts. The Preface to the Second Edition states,

If a translation gives a present tense when the original gives a past, or a past when it has a present; a perfect for a future, or a future for a perfect; an a for a the, or a the for an a; an imperative for a subjunctive, or a subjunctive for an imperative; a verb for a noun, or a noun for a verb, it is clear that verbal inspiration is as much overlooked as if it had no existence. THE WORD OF GOD IS MADE VOID BY THE TRADITIONS OF MEN.

Therefore, Young used the present tense in many places in which other translations use the past tense, particularly in narratives. For example, the YLT version of Genesis begins as follows:

	In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens and the earth —
	the earth hath existed waste and void, and darkness on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters,
	and God saith, 'Let light be;' and light is.
	And God seeth the light that it is good, and God separateth between the light and the darkness,
	and God calleth to the light 'Day,' and to the darkness He hath called 'Night;' and there is an evening, and there is a morning — day one.
	And God saith, 'Let an expanse be in the midst of the waters, and let it be separating between waters and waters.'
	And God maketh the expanse, and it separateth between the waters which under the expanse, and the waters which above the expanse: and it is so.
	And God calleth to the expanse 'Heavens;' and there is an evening, and there is a morning — day second.
	And God saith, 'Let the waters under the heavens be collected unto one place, and let the dry land be seen:' and it is so.
	And God calleth to the dry land `Earth,' and to the collection of the waters He hath called 'Seas;' and God seeth that good.
	And God saith, 'Let the earth yield tender grass, herb sowing seed, fruit-tree (whose seed in itself) making fruit after its kind, on the earth:' and it is so.
	And the earth bringeth forth tender grass, herb sowing seed after its kind, and tree making fruit (whose seed in itself) after its kind; and God seeth that good;
	and there is an evening, and there is a morning — day third.

Young's Literal Translation in the 1898 Edition also consistently renders the Hebrew Tetragrammaton (divine name) throughout the Old Covenant/Testament as "Jehovah", instead of the traditional practice of representing the Tetragrammaton in English as "LORD" in small capitals, but editions prior to 1898 do say "LORD" in small capitals.