en_ulb/00-About_the_ULB/ULB-Decisions.for.ULB.Users.md

Decisions Concerning the ULB

The following are decisions that have been made concerning the ULB. This is not a comprehensive list, but it is here to help those who might wonder why the ULB is as it is.

ULB Style

The following are details concerning the use of punctuation, capitalization, and vocabulary in the ULB.

• Quotation marks are used at the beginning and ending of direct speech. They are not used at the beginning of each verse, even though the speech may span several verses.
• Contractions are not used in the ULB.
• Punctuation is normally (not always) inside the quotation marks.
• Capitalization issues: in general, we follow the practice of the 2011 NIV.
• Titles are capitalized. (Son of Man, King David, the Messiah).
• All pronouns are lower case (except when beginning sentences and except for the first singular "I").
• Spelling of names, in most cases, follows that used in the 2011 NIV. (This includes translating Ἑβραϊστί as "Aramaic (language)."
• Where possible, the ULB editors have used common vocabulary that is easy to translate into another language.
• Numbers are written as words if they have only one or two words ("three hundred," "thirty-five thousand"). Otherwise they are written as numerals. ("205," "1,005")

Footnotes in the ULB

The ULB has footnotes for the following kinds of issues:

• names that have multiple spellings
• people and places that have multiple names
• differences in Hebrew and Greek copies that lead to differences in modern versions
• alternative renderings of verses that are very hard to understand in the original languages
• differences between copies of the texts in the original languages and the early Greek and Latin translations The notes use the following words in refering to copies and translations:
• "Copies" refers to extant copies of the Biblical text, written in the original language, or to copies of the Septuagint or Vulgate.
• "Text" or "original text" refers to the Hebrew or Greek or Aramaic text compiled from all sources (that is, from all extant copies).
• "Translation" refers to ancient translations (the Septuagint and the Vulgate) and to modern translations.
• We do not use the words "manuscripts" and "versions" in the footnotes. The ULB does not have footnotes for every textual issue, but it does address those that readers are most likely to encounter, particularly readers who have access to translations that were based on manuscripts known before the finding of the Dead Sea scrolls.