John 1:1-5

In these entries, I will type up what I transcribed by hand for the day in Greek, with the normal King James translation underneath, and finally with my own translation (in italics), which will be mostly borrowed from the helpful transliterations at BibleHub (hyperlinked by verse number). As this is a learning process for me, my translation may be somewhat literal at first, but as an exercise in textual exegesis, the literal translations will hopefully be helpful in grasping the true character of the book. Perceived departures in the Greek meaning from the usually understood English interpretation will be noted after the textual translation.

1 Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1 In [the] beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and God was the Logos.

2 οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
2 This was in the beginning with God.

3 πάντα δι’ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν. ὃ γέγονεν
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
3 Everything through him happened, and without him happened not one (thing) that happened.

4 ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων·
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
4 In him life was, and the life was the light (of) men.

5 καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
5 And the light in the darkness shines, and the darkness he (did) not conquer.

Some thoughts:

I am convinced that Logos must remain untranslated from the Greek. So much is lost by translating it to "word" that the entire nature of God--which is established in these very verses as being intertwined with the Logos, and in some sense identical to it--is changed by attempting any single-word substitution. Dr. Jordan Peterson describes the Logos as being something like articulated truth, which comes close to capturing the associations with reason and the logic behind an argument. "Word" simply doesn't cut it. "Truth" comes reasonably closer, but there is still something missing.

I am slightly curious as to why τὸν (the) is omitted in English translations of the Bible. While it is slightly less wieldy than "God" alone, "the God" casts a broadly different light upon the passage. Then again, its omission is all but a grammatical necessity at the end of verse 4, where ἀνθρώπων is best translated as "of men" rather than "men" generally (there is precedence for this), so the antecedent object of possession (φῶς, "light"), would be separated from the tacit possessive prefix, rendering "light the of men." Neither smooth nor comprehensible.

It is worth making note of the fact that in verse 4, the word for life is not βίος (bios), but ζωὴ (zoe), which refers to spiritual life, rather than biological life. It might be worth flagging ζωὴ at the beginning of this translation exercise as a potential finger pointing towards consciousness.

Summary:

"Before anything else was manifest truth. Everything that exists exists because it is true. Manifest truth is one and the same as God. In the truth is consciousness, which is the divine spark of man. This divine spark shone forth and made the world intelligible, so that even chaos could not stand up against the conscious pursuit of truth."

This is a needlessly--perhaps recklessly--secular rendition of the text, and it does not do justice to the actual content. Nevertheless, as a summary it is still loyal to the text, and looks at the text through a different lens which does not subtract from the more traditional one, and which I think can ultimately lead to a richer, more layered understanding of the book.