Choosing a Bible Translation

Choosing a Bible Translation

by | Jan 1, 2022 | Bible Study, Strategic Articles

If we don’t read the original languages in which the books of the Bible were written – Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek –  we need a translation, and even scholars who can read those languages often don’t read all of them,  so ultimately everyone needs or can profit from a good translation.

 

But there are literally dozens of Bible translations or “versions” available in English – how can you  choose the “best” one for your purposes?  This article briefly considers some of the most widely used and recommended English translations and  gives a number of pointers to  help you select a good one for your own needs.

 

1. No Perfect Translation.   First, we need to realize that there is no such thing as a “perfect” translation, although some are certainly much less imperfect than others.  We often need to choose a translation based on our specific needs – perhaps  an easy reading version for daily study or perhaps a more precise, though not as easy to read version to check scriptures regarding doctrine or important details. Ideally, we might find a single translation that works well for both needs, but often it is a good idea to have two translations (see point 2) if possible,  and we should check several translations to decide important questions.

 

2. Words vs. Thoughts.   Next, it’s important to understand that translation can be done in two ways – what we might call a “word-for-word” (technically called the “formal equivalence“) approach, versus  a “meaning for meaning” or “phrase for phrase” (“dynamic equivalence”) approach.  While an exact word for word translation might seem desirable, we can’t always do that without actually clouding the meaning.  For example, the Hebrew Bible uses the expression “God’s nostrils enlarged” and even the King James Version, a “word-for-word” translation, had to use a meaning for meaning  approach for this expression which means  “God became angry.”  On the other hand, while this approach works for translating idioms, if we just translate for “meaning” all the time, we run the risk of the translator’s understanding of the meaning entering into the picture, so that what is translated is not really in the text at all.  The New International Version, for example, translates Ephesians  6:6 to say that slaves should “Obey [their masters] not only to win their favor…” But the word “only” is not in the original Greek, and this addition changes the meaning considerably.    More extreme “meaning” based versions such as the Living Bible or The Message Bible are really paraphrases – often using different words entirely to try to convey the meaning.  While they are easy reading, these are not usually recommended for serious study.

 

3. Balancing Act. One way we can balance accuracy with readability is to use two translations – a word-for-word version such as the English Standard Version, and a more dynamic version such as the New International Version. While this approach might work well in theory, in practice it is often tedious and time consuming to have to switch back and forth between versions when we just want to read.  However, some recent English versions try to balance between formal and dynamic equivalence in their translation. The results are not always perfect, but some of these versions are very good. The Christian Standard Bible is one example, liked by many as it does a good job of carefully translating the meaning of a verse in a readable manner. The Berean Study Bible and New English Translation are also excellent versions of this type.

 

4.Safety in Numbers.  It’s usually best to not choose a translation done by a single person or by a religious denomination as a primary study Bible, as the results are almost always going to be affected by the beliefs of the individual or group.  Many translations by single individuals, while they may be  very readable,  are paraphrases which  convey only the general meaning of a verse and simply cannot be trusted  for accurate understanding.  While it is often said that committees can never agree on anything important, the most trustworthy translations are nevertheless produced by large committees of biblical scholars who balance each other and try to arrive at the best understanding of the original meaning of the text. Most of the major translations mentioned in this article were produced by a large team of scholars – several  of the teams being  in excess of 100 members. Committee translations include the English Standard Version,  Christian Standard Bible, New International Version and others.

 

5. Newer May be Better.   The venerable King James Version, although much loved and still a wonderful version to read, is often hampered as a study Bible by its age.  Sometimes it is because the English language has changed a lot since 1611 when the KJV was made.  The word translated “conversation” in the KJV, for example, means “conduct” and unless we realize that we can misunderstand what is being said. Also, many ancient manuscripts of the Bible, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls,  have been found since 1611 which help clarify some difficult verses.  As a result,  the New King James Version, which maintains much of the beautiful language of the old KJV, updates the English where needed and includes manuscript evidence now available.  On the other hand, some newer versions use gender inclusive language substitution (e.g., “person” for “man” or “they” for “he”). Sometimes this is helpful, but sometimes it changes the intended meaning and is misleading.

 

6. Older May be Good.  The King James Version with its “thee” and “thou” forms  is often very precise. “Thee,” “thou,” ”thy,” and “thine” refer to one person.  “Ye” and “you” mean more than one person, so when a modern translation dispenses with the older forms of address we can lose meaning.  For example,  in the NKJV, Exodus 16:28 states: “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?’ “ which sounds like God is talking to Moses, whereas the old KJV “… How long refuse ye to keep my commandments…?’ ” shows God was actually  talking about the Israelites in general.  Modern translations must be careful with the lack of precision which is part of modern English.

 

7. Notes May or May Not Help.   Many people like study bibles with lots of articles, notes,  etc.; but there is little point in  taking great care to choose an accurate translation then bringing in notes with information that may be dated, confusing or inaccurate.   It’s certainly not a good idea to choose a Bible on the basis of its notes alone, and sometimes safer to just get a good version without a lot of additional material, especially if the notes are of a doctrinal nature.  Important  questions can be researched far more thoroughly  in multiple commentaries and other more extensive works.  Notes which show other translation possibilities are certainly useful, as are cross references to related scriptures, maps, and some other helps, but the quality of the translation itself should always be the main concern.

 

Putting It All Together.   To reiterate what was said at the outset, no translation is perfect.  Individual needs and circumstances must guide the selection of the “best” translation for each person and for particular uses, but the points given above should help in making choices.  An excellent option, if possible, is to have a good word for word translation such as the English Standard Version or New King James Version and a version such as the New International Version or Christian Standard Bible closer to the thought for thought side of the spectrum. When the wording of a section of scripture needs to be studied in detail, however, it is still a good idea to consult a number of translations using resources such as the BibleHub.com or BibleGateway.com websites. You can use these sites to compare versions to find one that works well for you, and you can freely download several of the Bible versions discussed in this article, and others, from the FreeChristianEBooks.org website.

 

 

This chart shows the relative positions of some of the English versions  discussed in this article across the spectrum of translation – from very literal to not literal at all.  Generally speaking, while extreme thought for thought versions may be easy to read,  a Bible on the word for word side of the spectrum, or in the center of the range, is recommended for serious study.

 

Escaping from “Hell” – Twice!

Escaping from “Hell” – Twice!

by | Dec 1, 2021 | Persecution

The story of  Eun Hye is one that is typical of many who have come to believe while living in repressive and anti-Christian cultures.  Eun Hye is not her real name, which has been kept secret by the Christian organizations that have helped her in order to protect her and her North Korean relatives.  When Eun Hye’s parents travelled to China to try to find two of their daughters who were missing, Eun Hye ended up in a crowded official “camp” for street children where conditions were abysmal. Forced to learn to hunt rats (which were plentiful), the sixteen-year-old was barely able to survive and began to pray to “Hananim,” the  invisible God who her grandmother had told her about.

As reported by Christian organizations that have worked with her, one day, the camp guards sought volunteers for work in the mountains and Eun Hye heard a voice in her head urging her to volunteer. She did, and while in the mountains she and another girl were left alone just long enough to escape.   After an arduous journey – without supplies – hiking through mountains, swimming across a reservoir, and tunneling under an embankment with their bare hands, Eun Hye finally reached her hometown where she was reunited with her family. Her father had become a Christian and explained to her who the God Hananim was.  Soon after, the family swam across a border river and escaped to China where they were able to join an underground church. But the group was betrayed and Eun Hye and her family were arrested and transported to a detention center in North Korea.  There, Eun Hye suffered frostbite, her parents were brutally interrogated, and the father confessed to being a Christian. Yet miraculously, the family was released and returned to their home.

Eventually, as the family did not have enough food for everyone, Eun Hy and her mother swam across the river into China, somehow surviving as the North Korean guards fired at them.  Eun Hye was able to settle in China,though she has been in continued danger of betrayal and miraculously escaped several attempts to capture her. At one point the truck sent to take her back to North Korea broke down and she was somehow released.  Her father eventually died from his interrogation injuries, and her brother remains trapped in North Korea.  However, Eun Hye married in China and was able to flee with her husband to South Korea, where she lives today.     

Eun Hye is a fortunate Christian.  She is one of the few who have escaped – and the very few who have escaped twice – from the horrific situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, where the only gods people are permitted to worship are the nation’s brutal rulers: Kim Jong-un and his family. Most believers suffer – and a great many die as a result of their faith. 

For nearly two decades, the totalitarian communist state has been named the worst place in the world to be a Christian by Open Doors, the Christian charity which tracks persecution of the faith around the globe. The organization estimates that there are around 300,000 Christians (about one per cent of the country’s total population) living in constant fear in North Korea, and of those 300,000, Open Doors believes some 50,000-70,000 are imprisoned in brutal labor camps where inmates are treated horrendously, and most are eventually worked to death.

For those of us living in the nations of the Western world and in many other areas around the globe, it is hard to really comprehend the suffering that is ongoing for Christians in North Korea and other repressive nations – but we must not ignore it.   As the book of Hebrews reminds us, we have a responsibility toward those who are suffering for their faith: “Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering” (Hebrews 13:3).  Remembering the persecuted in our prayers is something we can all do to help them.  The other thing we can do is to support organizations like Open Doors and to pray for the work they are doing to help those who, despite all they are enduring in places like North Korea, are remaining faithful.   

All in the Family – Understanding the Story of David

All in the Family – Understanding the Story of David

by | Nov 1, 2021 | History & the Bible

Detail, Michelangelo’s Statue of David

King David’s life and reign  are so well documented in the Bible that the many people involved – truly a cast of hundreds – can be confusing at times. But the identity of some of these individuals is important for understanding David’s story.

For example, the individual Zeruiah is named a total of twenty-six times (twice as many times as Nehemiah, for example) in four separate books of the Old Testament. Zeruiah also had three prominent sons: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel (2 Samuel 2:18).  But who was Zeruiah?

The answer to this question is found in the genealogy of David, recorded in 1 Chronicles 2:3-16. This genealogical summary records that David had seven older brothers (also mentioned in 1 Samuel 16:10-11) and two sisters. Zeruiah was one of David’s two sisters, and the three sons of Zeruiah (Joab, Abishai, and Asahel) were David’s nephews.  This explains a number of otherwise puzzling events or circumstances in David’s reign.

For example, 2 Samuel tells us that when David’s son Absalom attempted to forcibly take the kingship and sought to kill his father, he made Amasa the commander of the Israelite army (2 Samuel 17:25).  Even though Amasa led the forces that tried to overthrow and kill David at this time, once Absalom had been defeated King David retained Amasa as commander of the army in place of the previous commander Joab who had disobeyed David by killing Absalom.

We might wonder why David would trust Amasa,  but the answer to this question is found in 2 Samuel 17:25 and 1 Chronicles 2:16–17.  Amasa was the son of a woman called Abigail (not David’s wife by that name).  This Abigail was David’s other sister in addition to Zeruiah (1 Chronicles 2:16).  So Amasa was David’s nephew. This is why David asked Amasa, “Are you not my own flesh and blood?” (2 Samuel 19:13).

Unfortunately for Amasa, Joab (the son of Zeruiah) killed his cousin to regain his role as head of Israel’s army.  The fact that Joab was David’s nephew explains  why David would not execute him despite his crimes, but had Solomon kill him – as Solomon did not have the same direct familial ties to the commander.

Royal politics, as with many other aspects of life in the biblical world, were often driven by such family connections and relationships.  Responsibilities to close family members were particularly strong, and it was rare for individuals in power to kill or even punish close relatives unless they were perceived as a direct threat. In the cases we have looked at here, David not only would have had to break this societal attitude if he had executed his nephews Amasa or Joab, but also he would have disgraced his own sisters by doing so.

The identity of David’s two sisters helps us to understand David’s actions or lack of action on several occasions and looking at the family connections involved can often help us to understand the story of this and other Old Testament kings.

The Bibles You Can’t Read – And Why it Matters

The Bibles You Can’t Read – And Why it Matters

by | Sep 1, 2021 | Great Commission, History & the Bible, Updates

When we think of Bible versions we can’t understand, most of us might think of Bibles in the original languages of Hebrew or Greek, or perhaps a medieval Latin Bible.  But we often don’t realize how much our own language has changed over the centuries and how difficult it would be for us to read a Bible in English from several hundred years ago.  Below, we give the  example of the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6 – as it looked in English Bibles every two hundred years from the thirteenth century to today.  Before the thirteenth century very little of the Bible was translated into English at all.  The first complete English-language version of the Bible dates from 1382 and was credited to the translator John Wycliffe and his followers, so we begin with that time point.

Thirteenth Century –  Manuscript in the Library of Cambridge University:

Fader oure that art in heve, i-halgeed be thi nome, i-cume thi kinereiche, y-worthe thi wylle also is in hevene so be an erthe, oure iche-dayes-bred gif us today, and forgif us our gultes, also we forgifet oure gultare, and ne led ows nowth into fondingge, auth ales ows of harme.

Fifteenth Century –   Manuscript  in the Library of  Oxford University:

Fader oure that art in heuene, halewed be thy name: thy kyngedom come to thee: thy wille be do in erthe as in heuen: oure eche dayes brede geue us to daye: and forgeue us oure dettes as we forgeue to oure dettoures: and lede us nogte into temptacion: bot delyver us from yvel.

Seventeenth Century –  The King James Version of 1611:

Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdome come. Thy will be done, in earth, as it is in heauen.  Giue vs this day our daily bread.  And forgiue vs our debts, as we forgiue our debters.  And lead vs not into temptation, but deliuer vs from euill: For thine is the kingdome, and the power, and the glory, for euer.

Nineteenth Century –  The English Revised Version:

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Twenty-first Century –  The Christian Standard Bible:

Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

The differences between these Bible versions become more noticeable the further we go back, of course, and considering that most of us know what the examples above say before we started to read them, we would probably agree that we would find it difficult to read a whole Bible of the thirteenth, fifteenth, or seventeenth centuries –  even if it is in English.

While it may be interesting to see and realize the difficulty we would experience in reading a Bible in our own language unless it were of recent date, we can draw a useful lesson from this.  Often, Christians think that the major work of Bible translations into other languages is essentially done. The Bible has, after all, been translated into over 700 languages, and the New Testament has been translated into well over 1200 languages. 

While it is true that this means the Bible has been translated into most important languages, it is still equally true that there are many thousands of dialects of these languages that still have no Bible translation.  We may think that local dialects are  relatively unimportant – for instance, someone in the United States speaking a southern dialect can fairly easily understand someone using an Appalachian dialect – the differences in our dialects are relatively small. But in many language groups the various dialects are just as, or even more, different than what we see in an English Bible of today and an English Bible of the thirteenth century – that you and I would find extremely difficult to read.

The moral of the story is simple. While a great deal of Bible translation work has been tirelessly accomplished by dedicated translators over the past century or so, there are many millions of people who still have no Bible in their own language or only one in a related dialect that is very difficult for them to understand.  Understanding this situation can help us to pray more, and more intently, for still-needed translations, and to see the need to support the ongoing work of Bible translators in whatever way we can.

Five Things You May Not Know About Saying “Amen”

Five Things You May Not Know About Saying “Amen”

by | Aug 15, 2021 | Prayer, Strategic Notes

We are all so used to hearing people say “Amen” at the end of prayers and saying it ourselves that we seldom think about the word, but the following points may show you that there is a lot about that small word you don’t know.

1) “Amen” doesn’t just mean “may it be so.”  Many people think of amen as a kind of spiritual punctuation mark – something we put at the end of prayers to mean “the prayer is over.” Those who understand the word better think of it as meaning “may it be so” and being a way of adding our agreement to what was said, but the word means much more than that and actually has a number of meanings.  Amen comes from a Hebrew root which in its various forms can mean: to support, to be loyal, to be certain or sure, and even to place faith in something. At the most basic level, the word can mean simply “yes!” as we see in Paul’s statement: “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 1:20). But the central meaning of the word has to do with truth, as we will see.

2) Amen was not usually used to conclude prayers in the Bible.  Although it is found many times in the Bible, its main use was to affirm praise for God (Psalm 41:13; Romans 1:25; etc.) or to confirm a blessing (Romans 15:33; etc.) –  either by the speaker or the hearers.  The “amen” found at the end of the Lord’s Prayer in some manuscripts of the New Testament  affirms the expression of praise that concludes the prayer. Perhaps because of this, over the course of the centuries it became common practice to use “amen” as the conclusion for prayers.

3)  Amen is used as a characteristic of God in the Old Testament.  Although the English Bible translation you use may not show it, in Isaiah 65:16 the Hebrew text speaks twice of “the God of Amen,” and this clearly uses amen as a characteristic or even a title of God.  Because many translators feel this would be confusing in English, they choose to render the text as “the God of truth,” and although that is not a bad translation, it does somewhat obscure the original sense of what was written.

4)  Amen is used as a characteristic of Jesus in the New Testament. Just as God is referred to as the God of Amen in the Old Testament, so in the New Testament in Revelation 3:14 “Amen” is used as a title for Jesus Christ “These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.” The combination of Amen with “faithful and true witness” clearly show the connection between amen and truth.

5) Amen was used uniquely by Jesus.  Jesus usually used the word amen at the beginning of his statements, and in those cases, it was sometimes translated by the Gospel writers into Greek as “truly” (Luke 4:25; 9:27; etc.).  The NIV translates this in turn as “I assure you …”   But a completely unique use of amen by Jesus in the New Testament is recorded by the apostle John ,whose Gospel shows us that Christ frequently doubled the word at the beginning of particularly important statements. In the King James Bible this is translated “Verily, verily,” in the ESV as “truly, truly,” and in the NIV “Very truly.”   The doubling of amen was not only used by Jesus, however. In the early 1960’s part of a Hebrew legal document dating from the time of Jesus was found in which an individual declares “Amen, amen, ani lo ashem” meaning “Very truly, I am innocent.”  It is possible, then, that Jesus borrowed this doubled form of amen from legal language of the day.  But knowing that Jesus used this expression to signify important things he wanted to stress can help us see their importance in our own study of his words. The full list of occurrences of amen being doubled in John’s Gospel is: 1:51; 3:3, 5, 11; 5:19, 24-25; 6:26, 32, 47, 53; 8:34, 51, 58; 10:1, 7; 12:24; 13:16, 20, 21, 38; 14:12; 16:20, 23; and 21:18.

It is interesting that while the New Testament writers often left untranslated certain Hebrew or Aramaic words such as abba, “father,” but immediately followed the word with a translation into Greek, they invariably left “amen” untranslated in its Hebrew form. This could possibly have been because they felt the word amen was known and understood by all their readers, but it is more likely that they knew that the word represented a range of meanings and they felt it better to simply include the word and let the reader or hearer consider the possibilities. If this is the case, we can draw a lesson from the fact. That small untranslated “amen” we read in our Bibles can mean more than just “may it be so.” We can often profitably think about what it most likely means in a given context or the intended force with which the expression was used.  Finally, we should remember that “amen” certainly is not just a spiritual punctuation mark or a simple exclamation – wherever we use it we should think of it as a solemn affirmation that we are giving our personal guarantee that what was said is true!