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NASB | Romans 5:12 ¶ Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned-- |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Romans 5:12 ¶ Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread to all people [no one being able to stop it or escape its power], because they all sinned. |
Subject: Is sin inherited from father and mother? |
Bible Note: Disciplerami: OK, friend, I'll say it and hope it warms your heart and makes you feel better. :-) I'm already on record as saying that I prefer (for my own use, at least) a more word-for-word approach to translation of Scripture than a so-called dynamic equivalency (which is merely a fancy way of describing a paraphrased rendition). Any translation effort involves the translator in a certain number of interpretive challenges, whether the translator tries for a literal or a paraphrased rendering, but a paraphrased rendering gives more room for injecting interpretation into the text, I believe. Perhaps paraphrasing even invites interpretation in passages where a literal translation would not. Translation of the sacred text places an enormously heavy burden upon a translator whose goal it is to produce a transparency of the manuscripts he is working with; but it places a even heavier burden on the translator when he is called upon to produce in modern English, not the words, but the thought and meaning of the original scribe, along with the impact that his words had upon his readers -- readers who lived in a far distant land and in a far distant past. They were people of a cultural biome quite unlike our own. Who can know with certainty whether the translator has met that formidable challenge with any degree of precision? So, at one end of the translation spectrum we have the absolutely literal translation, but it will be choppy and cumbersome to read, if not downright incomprehensible. It will not have the natural flow of word and phrase that good English writing ought to have. At the other end, there's the loose paraphrase with all its pitfalls and shortcomings. Few translations have been able to achieve a satisfactory blend of literal accuracy and good literary form. The one monumental work that has blended both desirable qualities so well is what Lowes called "the noblest monument to English prose." He was, of course, speaking of the King James or Authorized Version of the Bible. Though I routinely use a half dozen versions, I always fall back on "the Bible my mother read to me," the King James Bible. Once one learns to read it with understanding -- and it doesn't take long to master the archaisms and Jacobean syntax -- it presents a richness of beauty and poetry that no other English version has ever been able to equal or excel. Moreover, it has met the test of time admirably, not only as a supreme work of art, a literary masterpiece, but also as a reliable translation of God's word.... But I will append something I've said before on these pages. I am old enough to have lived at a time when the King James Bible was essentially the only Bible there was in English. So I was brought up on it. And I have a solid background in English, including Elizabethan (or Jacobean) English of the time of Shakespeare and the King James Bible. I recognize that there are those, especially among the younger generations, whose background does not equip them to read the King James with a great deal of understanding and appreciation. The old rhythms will seem strange and distant to them. And there are those who have limited capacities for understanding written English for various reasons. And others who, for reasons of their own, may not wish to gain familiarity with the out-dated language of an older translation. It is to those that I would say to look around for a version that you find readable. "Test drive" various ones until you find one that you can handle well. But if you, young or old, are willing and can afford to spend the time and effort necessary to learn to read the King James with ease and understanding, you will have acquired the key to unlock a treasure that will shower you with riches in abundance all your days. --Hank |