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John R. Kohlenberger III, ed., The NIV Interlinear Hebrew-English Old Testament. 4 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979-85. Published in a single volume and with a new introduction in 1987. The Hebrew text is reproduced from the BHS. Kohlenberger's interlinear translation is, as he puts it, "based on the vocabulary of the NIV" (introduction, xix), and so in many places it mimics the "dynamic equivalence" of the NIV rather than giving a literal translation. Thus the ordinary character and purpose of an interlinear is defeated at many points. For example, in Exodus 29:12 the NIV follows the Septuagint interpretation - "the rest of the blood you shall pour out," instead of giving a literal translation of the Hebrew, "all of the blood you shall pour out;" and so Kohlenberger puts the English gloss "rest of" under the Hebrew word that means "all" in his interlinear translation, as if the word literally meant "rest of." The reasons for this inaccuracy of the interlinear translation are unclear, but a possible reason is indicated in the introduction, where Kohlenberger nervously advises readers that nothing in the interlinear translation should be construed in such a way as to call into question the accuracy of the NIV. Another problem is the editor's occasional failure to recognize where the NIV translators have followed a critically emended text which does not correspond to the Hebrew text printed in the volume. For example, in Genesis 4:15 the Hebrew word laken (לכן) is glossed "not so," but this word really means "therefore." The NIV's "not so" here is based upon an emendation of the text: lo ken (לא כן), as explained in the footnote. In Genesis 49:10 the Hebrew text has the very obscure words "until Shiloh comes," but the NIV has "until he comes to whom it belongs," an interpretation which is based upon an emendation of the Hebrew text (the NIV fails to mention in its margin that a textual emendation has been made here), and so-betrayed by the NIV, it seems-Kohlenberger puts the English gloss "he whose" under the Hebrew word "Shiloh" in his interlinear translation, as if that were a possible meaning of the word as it stands in the unemended text. In some places there are mistakes that are hard to account for, as in Judges 11:34, where a word which means "only one" (יחידה) is glossed "along." Is this a typographical error, in which "along" is put for "alone"? If so, it only causes us to wonder why Kohlenberger would have glossed the word as "alone" instead of "only one." Errors of interpretation like this are serious faults in an interlinear translation, and they bring into question the competence of the editor. He seems to have relied upon the NIV in making the interlinear translation, without enough independent knowledge of Hebrew to see where the NIV departs from the BHS text.