A Look at Translations
August 2, 2010 at 1:40 pm (Bible, Religion) (Bible Translations, Christianaty, King James Version, KJV, LXX, New International Version, New King James Version, New Revised Standard Version, NIV, NKJV, NLT, NRSV, Septuagint, The Bible, The Message, Translations)
A lot of people know that there are different translations of the Bible everywhere in every language. Just the English translations include the KJV, NKJV, NIV, The Message, NLT, etc, etc.
Many times I’m asked the question “Is there one translation that’s the best?” The most typical answer you’d get is that the King James version is the most accurate (mostly because it’s the first translation).
I do not agree. The KJV, while a beautiful and poetic translation, is probably more inaccurate for many reasons. The first is that it was written in a period of time where influence and opinion of the Kings and religious leaders of the time could sway that translation into different interpretations. Also, there was less understanding about the Hebrew language (what the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, was written in).
So are the newer translations, such as the NIV and the NLT more accurate? Well, no. While we had more understanding of the Hebrew language, they were paraphrased more than anything else. Though, contrary to popular belief, they were NOT translated from a translation. They, like the KJV, were translated from the original Hebrew texts, and not the Septuagint (or the original Greek translation).
However, they were still translated by religion-oriented scholars, so interpretation can still make it’s way in there (Keep in mind that I’m mostly talking about the Hebrew Bible/OT).
I personally use the NRSV, or the New Revised Standard Version. A lot of people probably haven’t heard of this version for a simple reason: it was translated by secular Biblical scholars. I like that because it was translated without bias. It is still flawed because it is a translation, but I believe it is the least opinionated version we can get.
Plus (here is the most controversial belief I have), I believe that the Bible itself, in it’s original translation, has flaws. I don’t quite believe it is the handed down word of God, I believe it is a witness testimony to God (which still makes it vastly important to my faith).
Imagine a bank robbery happens. Hundreds of people witnessed it, but are all their stories are going to be exactly the same? No! Each and every person has a different viewpoint on the robbery with different opinions and different beliefs. The stories simply won’t be the same. The Bible is the same thing – hundreds of authors talking about culturally relevant things of the time with their own interpretations of the stories and events they experienced or heard about.
There are going to be some inconsistencies. Man still wrote it (God didn’t just “hand it down”), and man is flawed. Yet, this witness testimony to God is still incredibly important because the message is all the same, which is what we should be paying attention to anyway more than anything else.
What do you guys think? Tell me about it in the comments.
~James
