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Bible Translations

Most Christian bookstores have numerous versions of the bible available for sale. The usual requirement is for it to be easy to read. This may not be the best criteria if one plans on using it to get a clear understanding of what is true. Passions can run high in regard to what is the “best” translation. To understand this subject it can be useful to examine how we came to have the bible.

The first and largest part of the bible is the Old Testament written mostly in Hebrew and translated into Greek as what is called the Septuagint in about 200 BC. The word “testament” can also be called covenant or contract and refers the the agreement between the nation of Israel and God made at Mt. Sinai. Most bible translations use the Hebrew of the Masoretic text which was compiled roughly 1000 AD. The discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls dated to around 100 BC tend to support the accuracy of the Masoretic text over the Septuagint.

The second part of the bible is Called the New Testament and was written in Greek. The first four books are called the gospels and written to give a record of Jesus and what he said, what he did, and where he went during his ministry. The rest of the New Testament are epistles (letters) written by Paul, John, James, Peter, and Jude to various groups and churches.

Already at the time of Paul copies of letters were being distributed (Col 4:16). In the 4th century Jerome wrote a translation from the Greek into Latin that was used by the Roman Catholic church for over 1000 years. The quality of his translation left something to be desired. For example the practice of penance was derived from a result of his mistranslation of the Greek metanoia (often translated as repent in English and meant a change of mind in Greek). Jerome translated metanoia into Latin as poenitentiam agite (do penance). As an ascetic himself, he perhaps might be understood to have seen this as a requirement.

Two events happened in the 1400s that would change how Christians would have access to the bible. Constantinople finally fell to the Muslims and the printing press was invented. Scholars from Constantinople brought their copies of the Greek bible with them and some secured teaching positions in Western European universities. Erasmus was a scholar and widely traveled around 1500. In 1515 he had published a Greek New Testament from eight copies of the Greek he had managed to compile. He had been motivated to make a Greek version since he was so dissatisfied with how the Latin version had been translated. Over the next 100 years the compilation Erasus had made was further edited and came to be known as the Textus Receptus (received text). Since then thousands more Greek texts and fragments have been discovered and added to what is now called the “Majority Text”

The King James Version of the bible was first published in 1611. However, numerous initial printing and other errors were corrected which is why some refer to the KJV less as 1611 than as the Authorized version which includes a later more correct version. Many today hold to a strong view that the KJV bible is inspired or preserved by God. It would seem difficult to support this view as there are also a few errors in the KJV. However, one can understand a degree of defensiveness because almost all modern translations of the bible are based on a different Greek text than the one used for the KJV.

Almost all modern translations use a compilation of the Greek called the Critical Text (Also Alexandrian is used) which is different than the Majority Text. In the late 1800s there was a push by academics to have a newer version of the Greek to be used for bible translations. Today the NA28 (Nestle Aland version 28) is mostly used. These versions are considered to be approved by committees of scholars that study various manuscripts. Nestle built his compilation in 1898 by using the Tiscendorf Greek (based on his discovery of a manuscript scheduled to be burned in a monastery in Sinai) and Wescott and Hort who were partial to the Vaticanus manuscript. In 1927 Nestle’s son Erwin came out with version 13 which reduced even further the inclusion of majority text documents.

My opinion is that the Critical Text is inferior, but not cataclysmically so. While getting an accurate version of the original language is important, much greater risk is involved in trying to take the meaning of one word and bring it into another language. For example language is dynamic and changeable. In 1611 the word “test” had not yet come into usage in the English language. As a result, translators would use worlds like “try” or “prove”.

If one were to translate the English word “tall” into another language a choice might have to be made as a mountain can be tall as well as a man. Similarly, in Greek the word “aion” (age, frequently the time of the reign of a ruler) can be variable and is often translated as “eternal” in English. Young’s Literal Translation uses “age-during” to translate aion. The Amplified translation even though it uses the critical Greek text provides multiple words to translate the original language that can help the reader understand better.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: - KJV

Eph 2:8 For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God; - Amplified

Another example of usefulness is the Wuest translation although it also is based on the Critical text makes use of verb information often lost when bringing the Greek to the English.

Eph 2:8 For by the grace have you been saved in time past completely, through faith, with the result that your salvation persists through present time; and this is not from you as a source; of God it is the gift, - Wuest

It can be helpful to have computer software like esword (free) which allows one to examine the original languages and provides bible dictionaries for the original languages.

Eph 2:8 ForG1063 by graceG5485 areG2075 ye savedG4982 throughG1223 faith;G4102 andG2532 thatG5124 notG3756 ofG1537 yourselves:G5216 it is theG3588 giftG1435 of God:G2316 (KJV esword w/Stong’s numbers)

Strong’s G4102 faith

From G3982; persuasion, that is, credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly constancy in such profession; by extension the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself: - assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.

Thayer - G4102

1) conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it

1a) relating to God

1a1) the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ

1b) relating to Christ

1b1) a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God

1c) the religious beliefs of Christians

1d) belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ, springing from faith in the same

2) fidelity, faithfulness

2a) the character of one who can be relied on

One can begin to see how bible tools would be useful for one who desires to delve into the bible and draw from it an accurate understanding.

I prefer the KJV for several reasons. Firstly, it is drawn from a superior Greek text. Secondly, the translators did not try to simplify it. Thirdly, its wider use of the English vocabulary approaches the poetic in both expressiveness and almost Shakespearean evocativeness. Lastly, it is useful to locate a verse if it contains a word less common in today’s English. However, the KJV is not perfect, but serves well as a springboard from which to explore the original languages especially since many tools are keyed to the Strong’s numbering system.

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