What is the Role of an Exegete?

To ensure every portion of translated scripture is accurate, beautiful, and clear to the intended audience, an expert in interpretation, an exegete, must review the text thoroughly. “There can be a single exegetical expert on a team or there can be more than one. The exegete does not have to be an American; it could be someone from another language community. Ideally it would be one or more translators who have advanced training in biblical interpretation, such as Greek and Hebrew but also interpretative principles,” explains Nathan Esala, main project exegete for the Komba New Testament. 

Modern technology is a blessing. For example, Logos, a software program, provides tools to study texts in the original language, such as dictionary definitions, word breakdowns, and searches to highlight where else in the Bible a word can be found. Exegetes are the bridge from the original text to the translation, keeping Biblical integrity at the forefront. 

This is an important role! “Mistranslations in the Bible can have big effects. One well-known mistranslation is the King James Version of Exodus 20:13, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ But in Hebrew, a different word is used here than the normal word for ‘kill.’ It is better translated as ‘unlawful killing, murder.’ Most modern English translations translate this word as ‘murder,’ which is more accurate than the general word, ‘kill.’ This gives us a very different understanding and application of this verse,” Dr. Jim Kaiser, consultant. Read examples from the Mende translation checking by Dr. Kaiser.