My Two Cents on Bible Translations
Many new translations of the Bible are
said to be thought-for-thought, rather than a literal
interpretation of the original text. These shouldn't be
heavily relied upon, because they are depending on man's
interpretation of God's thought. Here's a helpful guide to
see where your translation falls between literal and thought
interpretation: (click it to view larger)
**This chart is
copied from Mardel Bookstore website,
here.
I found this chart at the Mardel Bookstore. Click
HERE
to
read their Bible translation guide, which gives a brief
explanation of each translation. In case that link is
changed some time in the future, I also have their Bible
translation guide available HERE
as
a PDF (which you can either read or print).
The translation I use is the New American
Standard. As you can see, this is ranked the most literal on
Mardel's chart. There will always be some debate over which
translation is best, but, from what I've found in personal
study and in talking to various preachers, the New American
Standard seems to be pretty hard to beat when it comes to a
really good literal translation.
Some people say this version is harder to
read then some of the newer ones- and to an extent they are
right. It is written on about a tenth grade reading level,
whereas the NIV is written on about a sixth grade reading
level. But for adults, this shouldn't be a problem. I think
what people mean when they say it's harder to read isn't the
reading level itself, but the readability of the text due to
outdated words, or thee's and thou's. To address those
concerns, there is a 1995 updated version of the New American
Standard which kept the word-for-word translation, but made
it more readable. Zondervan says "The 1995
updates makes several important refinements with regard to
the original NASB:
1)
It no longer uses "Thee" and "Thou" in reference to
Deity;
2)
phrases have been smoothed out
3)
words that have changed meaning have been
updated
4)
verbs that have a wide range of meaning have been updated to
better account for their use in the
context;
5)
punctuation and paragraphing have been formatted to fit
today's standards; and
6)
notes about the ancient manuscripts have been revised to
include more new and interesting
facts."
You
can read a fuller description about the NASB from
Zondervan here.
Anyway, my personal recommendation is to get the updated New
American Standard. I haven't found the translation
difficult to read at all; I actually find it easier to
understand then many others I've read. Plus, it's a very
reliable, literal, word-for-word translation of God's
original message.
When it all boils down, what we have today
are still translations. The Old Testament was written in
Hebrew, and the New Testament in Greek. The Greek language is
more complex then Hebrew- having more usage rules attached to
it, but it's concise, direct, literal and clear: perfect for
the New Testament message. Due to God's providence, it's
written in Koine Greek, which is a locked-in language. This
means that unlike English, which changes word meanings over
time, Koine Greek wasn't around long enough to change word
meanings. It became a dead language within about a hundred
years after the Bible was written. So, we can look up the
original Greek word and be confident in what God meant when
He said it! This is why regardless of what Bible translation
we use, key-word studies, as described
HERE, are valuable.
By seeing what word God chose to use, and finding out what
it means, we can gain a fuller understanding of the text
using God's thoughts rather then man's speculations.
Related
Articles:
Selecting a
Bible (understand
differences in construction
quality)
Become a Student of God's
Word (Learn
about key-word studies)
Related
Pages:
Spiritual
Growth
Reference
Tools
Bible Lessons for
Children