Subject: What is the best version of the Bible? |
Bible Note: By and large I incline to agree with the subjective dictum that the best version of the Bible is the one the reader understands and trusts, but with a caveat. What George Orwell said in "Animal Farm" -- "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" -- might well be said of today's bumper crop of Bible translations. The translator bug continues to go around still and it appears no one has found an antidote for the urge to translate. This is both good and bad. It is good in the sense that the Bible is still deemed to be of vital importance in the lives of human beings. It is good in the sense that new translations, armed with fresh up-to-date language and new knowledge about Bible languages and Bible times, remove a great deal of the shroud of obscurity about God's word in which the older versions unwittingly encased us. It is bad in the sense that the vast sea of translations virtually threatens to drown us. We are most of us utterly bewildered from time to time about which translation from the many choices available to us will be "our" Bible -- the one we carry to church, read from, study, meditate upon, memorize, hide in our hearts. The choice is not always easy. Concerning the caveat I mentioned, I submit a few questions that you might find reasonable to ask of any translation you consider. Do the translators hold the Bible to be the verbal, plenary, inerrant and infallible Word of God? Is their rendering faithful to the biblical manuscripts? (This answer will have to come from trusted reviewers unless one has a thorough knowledge of the ancient texts). What is their philosophy on translation -- as literal as possible, a loose paraphrase, or somewhere in between, e.g., a "dynamic equivalence" that attempts to cast the ancient languages in a thought pattern that purports to impact the reader of a modern languages in virtually the same way that the original message did to its readers. This philosophy of translation places an incredible responsibility on the translator. Is the translation obviously made by and primarily for adherents to a specific sect or cult? Is the translation rendered in clear, standard English (or whatever the receptor language may be)? Does it give honor to God and affirm the Deity of Jesus Christ? Finally, all things considered, is this a translation that I can live with, learn to feel at home with, and one that I can understand well enough come to a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, to know Him more clearly, to follow Him more nearly, and to love Him more dearly? |