reading the bible in spanish (for language lovers and others)

I teach Spanish at a Catholic school, and we start every period with prayer.  Since I teach Spanish 2, I teach the prayer or scripture in Spanish, but I then give a short devotion in English.  If you have never looked at scripture in a foreign language, you are missing out on a real eye-opening experience.  

English is limited. We have two tenses:  past and present.  We have various aspects, but only two tenses.  Spanish, on the other hand, has 14 different tenses:  present, imperfect, preterit, conditional, future, present perfect, pluperfect, subjunctive, to name just a few.  Greek, the language of the Bible (NT) has 15 tenses x 2 (don't ask me--that's what I was told, I'm not a Greek scholar)--making 30 tenses in all.  So in the New Testament, using Spanish might give you a clearer idea of what was actually being said.  For example,  this is John 1: 11-12 in English (NIV)

¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believedin his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

This is the same passage in Spanish:(NVI--same version, but in Spanish)

¹¹ Vino a lo que era suyo, pero los suyos no lo recibieron.¹² Mas a cuantos lo recibieron, a los que creen en su nombre, les dio el derecho de ser hijos de Dios. ¹³ Éstos no nacen de la sangre, ni por deseos *naturales, ni por voluntad humana, sino que nacen de Dios.

The version is similar, but with distinct differences:
Hi came to those who were his, bit his own did not receive him.  But to those who received him, to those who BELIEVE in his name, he gave them the right TO BE children of God. Those are not born of blood, nor of natural desire, nor of human will, but THEY ARE born of God.

So you see that in this version, the receiving and being born of God continues to this day (it could also be literary present, but I prefer to think of it this way :) )

The first thing that happens when you read in a foreign language is that you are immediately struck by language.  You are used to English--it's your mother tongue.  If you read in Spanish, words and tenses hit you.  Another example:

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome^[a] it. (John 1:5)
in Spanish:

Esta luz resplandece en las tinieblas, y las tinieblas no han podido extinguirla.

This light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not been able to extinguish it.

At first glance, there is little difference between the two verses; even the idea of "extinguish" also appears in the NIV as an option.  The difference is between "tinieblas" and "darkness" and "resplandece" and "shines"

Resplandece does mean shine, but it also means glimmers or gleams, and (I love this) it can also refer to a person.  Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness--he literally shimmers.

Tinieblas is a very dark word in Spanish.  It is a literary term and refers to both natural and MORAL darkness.  When I hear tinieblas, I think of a total absence of light, either natural or spiritual.  When I see La luz resplandece en las tinieblas, I get a picture of Christ himself shining in the total moral darkness of this earth.

So if you know two languages, get a Bible and try it out.  If you don't--hey, there's no time like the present to learn!!