The Impact of Biblical Accents on English Translations of the Bible

Abstract

The aim of this article is to find out whether English Bible translations are consistent with or in conflict with the understanding predicated by biblical accents. Twenty-one translations were chosen to focus on seven verses from the three poetical books, Psalms, Job, and Proverbs. Those verses can illuminate different aspects of the rules of verse division and the rules of the Ta‘amei Emet accentuation system. The few examples provide evidence that Bible translators, even of Jewish translations, did not pay great attention to the biblical accents.