What Is a Reverse Interlinear?
Crossway publishes an ESV Reverse Interlinear New Testament. I know that is quite a mouthful, so I’ll let them explain bellow.
A conventional interlinear New Testament provides an English translation directly below each Greek word in a Greek New Testament. This tool is called an interlinear because the English words are placed between the lines of Greek. Since the English words are merely translations of individual Greek words, the English words are out of grammatical word order, do not constitute any particular translation, and cannot easily be read. Their only use is as a reference. This is not to say that conventional interlinear New Testaments should not be used. One simply must be aware of their purpose and limitations.
A reverse interlinear displays an English translation as the primary text and then weaves the corresponding Greek words between the English lines. So the word order of the English translation is untouched, but the Greek words are rearranged to correspond with the English. This means that the English lines are readable and the text can be used as a working everyday English New Testament.
Furthermore, since Greek is not as dependent on word order as English, often the Greek found in a reverse interlinear is also readable. This means that there is nothing prohibiting someone from reading the English lines and then growing accustomed to reading the Greek lines as well. One of the features of this reverse interlinear is that the Greek words are numbered according to their original order. This provides an easy reference to the original for situations where the Greek word order could make a difference.
