Read the Bible? Okay, Which Bible?

February 13, 2008

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We live in a wonderful time when many Bible translations are available to us for study and comparison. Most of these translations have something special to add to our understanding of the Bible. We can be thankful for them. However, it can be a little confusing for new Christians and others who wonder what translation to purchase, what Study Bible would be best, etc.

First, I need to point out: all English Bibles are translations. None of them are the "original Bible." The Bible was originally written in the ancient languages of its time. The Old Testament was written in ancient Hebrew (though parts of the book of Daniel were written in Aramaic). The New Testament was written in ancient Greek.

Really, if you want to read the original Bible you would need to master Greek and Hebrew ? and that would probably take several years.

The ancient Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the various books of our Bible (the more ancient the better) are the basis of all modern translations.

However there are two ancient translations that have sometimes also been consulted in translating the Bible. (1.) Before the time of Christ, the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into ancient Greek (around the third century B.C.). This version is called the Septuagint. It was widely used in the time of Christ and the time of the early Church. (At that time, it was a "modern translation"!) The Septuagint is the source for the additional books in the Roman Catholic Bible that aren't in most of the Protestant Bibles (sometimes called "the Apocrypha"). (2.) For many years (far too many!) the standard translation of the Roman Catholic Church was the Latin Vulgate translation completed by a scholar named Jerome (347-419 A.D.). The Council of Trent (1545-1563 A.D.) declared this Latin Bible the only "authentic" Bible for Roman Catholics. Only in the 20th Century has the Roman Catholic Church begun to emerge from the stranglehold of Jerome's Latin Vulgate! The traditional translation of the Roman Catholic Church, commonly called the Douay/Rheims translation, was an English translation of the Latin Vulgate. It's one of the worst English translations of the Bible ever produced.

So, what is a good translation of the Bible?

First, I ought to say something about the King James Version. Some people still read and love the old King James Version. The language is familiar to some people. It was also an excellent translation for its day. But, that was a long time ago! It was first published in 1611 in England. In the 390 years since it's publication the meaning of various English words has changed. The Elizabethan style in which it is written is difficult to follow. Unless you grew up on the King James, it will probably be difficult for you to read and (correctly) understand. But, here's what's really important: our knowledge of the original Greek and Hebrew texts that lie behind the Bible is much better today than it was in 1611. We now have somewhere around 5,500 Greek manuscripts of the Greek New Testament (many of them literally "dug up") that simply were not available to the translators of the KJV. The Greek text of the New Testament that the KJV translators used was a late and highly embellished text. We have more ancient texts today ? and more come to light from time to time. Richard Ostling (AP religion writer) once wrote: "The KJV drew upon a very limited body of ancient manuscripts. Any translation from the past half-century, since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, will be considerably closer to the original."

But, for some reason, people make inflated claims for the inspiration of the KJV, No such claims were made for it at the time it was written. Some people foolishly insist that the late and embellished manuscripts that were used in the KJV are more "accurate" than the earlier manuscripts that have been more recently discovered. Because of this, there are several translations based on these late and embellished (the correct term is Byzantine) manuscripts. All translations in this category should be avoided! The most common one is the New King James Version. It's fairly common, but not very popular. It's too "modern" for lovers of the KJV, and not modern enough for some of the rest of us. There are some nice Study Bibles that have appeared based on this version, though. Other versions in the category include: the Defined King James Bible, the Third Millennium Bible, the Modern King James Bible, the Literal Translation of the Bible, etc. These are all: (a.) more difficult to read than other modern translations and (b.) not based on our best knowledge of the original Biblical text. Hard to read and inaccurate is a bad combination.

The most commonly available modern translation is the New International Version. Many churches have this in their pews. There are many different editions and Study Bibles available in this translation. It is reasonably accurate, and it's English reads pretty well. But, I've been using the NIV for many years and now I'm frankly tired of it. The NIV has a couple of annoying qualities. (1.) The translators sometimes inject their own theology into New Testament passages making a thorough mess of them. (2.) The translation has a bias toward using the terms "man" and "men" in several passages where "people" or "human beings" would actually have been a more accurate translation. This translation is still a fairly good choice, but I am personally ready to move on. But, I?m still using it 90% of the time, because of its great popularity.

There is now an alternative called Today?s New International Version (TNIV) which employes more inclusive terminology for people. I?m glad this has appeared, and it certainly removes one of my objections to the older NIV.

The New American Standard Bible (NASB) is an attempt at a "literal" translation. It is so "literal" in its translation that it doesn't read like normal English. I like to have this one around for comparison, but I wouldn't use it for public reading. A literal translation like this can be helpful for verse-by-verse Bible studies. If you are thinking of purchasing a Study Bible, see if its available in this translation.

I'm slowly warming up to the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). I was excited when it came out. (Actually, I liked the old Revised Standard Version.) I do use it, but I'm not as enthusiastic as I'd like to be. This is the translation that scholars tend to prefer. This translation has become unpopular with some people because of its use of "inclusive" language for people. Personally, I like that aspect of it -- most of the time (see above). But, it contains many odd translations ? in both the Old Testament and New Testament. As I said, I am slowly warming up to this translation. I'm using it more & more in personal study. Some people are highly recommending the English Standard Version (ESV). This is an update of the old Revised Standard Version. I am definitely interested in the ESV, but cannot speak about it from personal experience.

The American Bible Society has released a version called the Contemporary English Version. This is a "plain English" version that is highly regarded, and worth looking at. This is a replacement for the older Good News Bible (that is in the pews at some churches). I admit that I have not used the CEV a lot, but on the few occasions that I have dipped into it I did not personally agree with the translators? decisions. So, I cannot recommend it myself, but it does have some fans.

This gets us into the paraphrases, like the old Living Bible and Eugene Peterson's The Message. These are good for comparison or maybe as "beginners Bibles" ? but not as primary Bibles. They are attempts to restate the meaning of the Bible in modern terms. They are not appropriate for verse-by-verse study. Naturally, in paraphrasing the Bible the author injects his own interpretation into the paraphrase. So, you get translation and the author's interpretation woven together. When the author is a man of the spiritual stature of Eugene Peterson I don't complain ? but really it's not strictly a translation!

The Living Bible has now been replaced by The New Living Translation. A team of 90 Biblical scholars worked on this to make this version more accurate than its predecessor. Their intention was to produce a thought-for-thought translation rather than a word-for-word translation. I have not used it at all, so I cannot comment in any depth. Expect this to be a fairly ?free? translation.

There are other translations you may see from time to time. The New English Bible is an interesting translation from many years ago, but it's hard to find where the verses begin and end. The Philips translation is an older paraphrase of the New Testament. The Jerusalem Bible is a pretty good, modern Roman Catholic translation. The New American Bible is a more recent Roman Catholic translation.

The realm of Bible translations has currently become so complicated that it is impossible to cover the field in one article. You might find Henry Neufeld's Bible Version Selection Tool interesting. It compares 28 different translations.

And, the IBS has a handy chart that compares several translations on a scale from ?word for word? through ?thought for thought? translations to paraphrases. That?s rather interesting, too.

It?s quite old now & hard to find, but The Amplified Bible is nice for comparison purposes. The translators attempt to give you every possible nuance of meaning of every word that appears in the entire Bible. (It can be a little overwhelming, though.) In Bible Study groups, it's nice if someone brings a copy of the Amplified Bible to the study for comparison. If you find one of these at a Garage sale, pick it up.

Which brings us to the topic of Study Bibles and special interest devotional Bibles. These are Bibles with comments and study aids included in them. There are so many of them today it is impossible to mention them all. There are Study Bibles for men, women, dieters, recovering alcoholics, families, singles and most anyone you can think of. (But, I'm still waiting for the Bald, Over-the-Hill Pastors Who Think They're Intellectuals Study Bible.)

There are two I will mention, though. The NIV Study Bible is the main "conservative" Study Bible ? but really it is also the best Study Bible for the general reader. There are lots of helpful comments and cross-references, etc. A lot of the comments are devotional thoughts, designed to help you in your daily Christian walk. The Oxford Annotated Bible is the main "liberal" Study Bible. The comments are sparing, but helpful. This Bible seems to be more aimed for scholars, students, intellectuals and pastors than for the general reader.

We live in an exciting time. More and more Bibles are being sold all the time. Because there are so many special interest Bibles, people often own several Bibles. Years of painstaking research by many scholars have brought us a knowledge of the Biblical text far more accurate than at other times in history.

You can find a Bible that you can read and understand.

And if you don't want to read you can listen to the Bible on tape!

But, whatever you do, let the Word of God through Scripture enrich your life!

? Craig L. Adams

Some of the pics in this article were taken from Matt Jones? Blog. Thats quite a Bible collection he has.