They have left only lies and reproach …: The literal Revised Standard Version is more economical than Good News Translation, but Good News Translation spells the meaning out quite plainly. The translational challenge in this verse is capturing the force of the two Greek nouns rendered lies and reproach. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version are good with “deceit and disgrace.” The first Greek word does mean lies, but we are talking here about images of gods as “lies”; the sense is that they are useless and without value (see the comments on “false” in verse 44). New American Bible chooses to render the second noun as “opprobrium,” which refers to disgrace caused by shameful conduct. In English it is a heavy word borrowed from Latin and rather rare, but it does convey the meaning of the Greek. New English Bible translates effectively by expressing the second noun as an adjective: “scandalous fraud.” Good News Translation could perhaps also be improved along that line, saying “disgraceful fraud [or, deceit].”

Alternative translation models for this verse are:

• The only thing these people leave for their descendants are idols [or, gods] that are a disgraceful fraud [or, deceit].

• … idols that are completely useless and deceive people.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.