NET Bible Principles of Translation

1. Text

• Old Testament: For the OT the translators started with the MT (Masoretic Text) found in the current edition of BHS (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia). In particularly difficult passages the translator may have followed a variant reading found in the versions, alternative Hebrew tradition (e.g., DSS), or in some cases, conjectural emendation. Such variations from the MT were noted by the individual translator and reviewed by the OT textual consultant.
• New Testament: For the NT
  the Greek text to be used by individual translators was decided by the textual
  consultant. The full Greek text will be published at a later date.
• Traditional passages: For passages which lack adequate textual authority (i.e., are almost certainly not part of the autographs) the words were included in the translation in double square brackets with a note giving a brief discussion of the problem.

2. Interpretive Decisions and Tools

• Interpretive decisions, where necessary to translate a passage, were made by the translators and editors. The alternative renderings, where exegetically significant, have been indicated in the notes.
• Standard technical (critical) commentaries and relevant periodical articles were consulted in the translation process. These are often cited in the notes.
• Current standard lexical tools were consulted as needed. For the OT, these included such works as BDB, KB3, and
  TDOT; for the NT, BDAG, Louw-Nida, and TDNT.
• Computerized concordance programs and electronic search engines were used extensively in the production of this translation.

3. Form of Translation

No translation can ever achieve complete formal equivalence.¹ Even a translation which sometimes reflects Hebrew and Greek word order at the expense of English style has to resort to paraphrase in some places. On the other hand, no translation achieves complete dynamic equivalence ² either. Thus this translation, like every other, ends up somewhere between the two extremes. These considerations are reflected by the following specific qualifications:

• In vocabulary and grammatical forms every attempt has been made to reflect the different styles of the different authors of the Bible. Paul's letters should not sound like John's or Peter's or that of Hebrews in the English translation where possible.
• The level of English style is formal (not, however, technical) except in passages where somewhat more informal style would be more in keeping with the content. In general the use of contractions
  ("don't," "isn't") has been avoided, except in quoted speech.
• The language of average adults had priority. The translation attempts to use good literary style but is not overly formal or embellished.
• The translation is intended to be understandable to non-Christians as well as Christians, so liturgical language or Christian "jargon" has been avoided.
• Archaisms have also been avoided (e.g., "letter" was used instead of "epistle" in the NT). This includes the absolute avoidance of "thou" and "thee," since there were no distinctions in the original Hebrew or Greek between pronouns used to address people and those used to address Deity. On a related note, pronouns which refer to Deity are not capitalized for this same reason.
• Long, complicated sentences in the original languages have been broken up into shorter sentences more acceptable
  in contemporary English. However, an attempt has been made to maintain the connections present in the original languages wherever possible.
• Idiomatic expressions and figurative language in the original languages have been changed when they
  make no sense to a typical modern English reader or are likely to lead to misunderstanding by a typical modern English reader. The literal
  reading has been placed in a note giving a brief explanation (a translator's
  note).
• Nouns have been used for pronouns
  where the English pronoun would be obscure or ambiguous to a modern reader.
  This has been indicated in a note.
• Questions expecting a negative answer
  have been phrased to indicate this to the English reader.
• Clearly redundant
  expressions such as "answered and said" have been avoided unless
  they have special rhetorical force in context. The literal reading is frequently
  indicated in a note.
• Introductory expressions like "verily,
  verily" have been translated idiomatically, the single ἀμήν
  as "I tell you the truth" and the double ἀμήν
  (peculiar to John's Gospel) as "I tell you the solemn truth."
• Introductory particles like ἰδού
  ("behold") have been translated to fit the context (sometimes "listen,"
  "pay attention," "look," or occasionally left untranslated).
• Use of quotation marks (which did
  not exist in the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts) conforms to contemporary
  American English usage.
• The basic unit of translation is
  the paragraph. Verse numbers are included in boldface type. Poetry is set
  out as poetry.
• Greek historical presents have been
  translated by English simple past tenses since English has no corresponding
  use of the present tense.
• In places where passive constructions
  create ambiguity, obscurity, or awkwardness in contemporary English, either
  the agent has been specified from context or the construction has been changed
  to active voice in the English translation, with an explanatory note.
• Ellipses have been filled out according
  to current English requirements (e.g., 1 John 2:19). This is normally explained
  in a note.
• Proper names have been standardized
  in accordance with accepted English usage.

4. Additional Features of the Translation and Notes

• Any place supplementary information
  is required (e.g., word-plays, historical details, cultural differences, etc.)
  this is provided in a brief study note.
• Any technical terms (corban,
  Mark 7:11) used in the translation are explained in a study note.
• Any unfamiliar terms for weights,
  measures, and coins have been explained in a study note, although in general
  these have been expressed in contemporary American units, with metric units
  given parenthetically in the notes.
• A limited system of cross-referencing
  to principal parallel texts, cross-references, or significant allusions is
  found in the notes.
• Descriptive section headings have
  been provided by the translators and editors as an aid to the reader.
• Greek and Hebrew in the translator's
  notes use Greek and Hebrew fonts, often followed by transliteration. The occasional
  reference to a Greek or Hebrew word in a study note is transliterated.
• Abbreviations of biblical books
  and reference material follow Patrick H. Alexander et al., eds., The SBL
  Handbook of Style: For Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Early Christian
  Studies (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1999) with only a few exceptions.

¹  With formal equivalence each word of the original language is represented by a word in the receptor (target) language, and the word and clause order is kept as nearly identical to that of the original language as possible. Thus this approach translates word for word.

²  With dynamic equivalence (sometimes called functional equivalence) the goal is to render the original language text in the closest natural equivalent in the receptor language, both in meaning and style. This approach translates phrase for phrase or thought for thought.