Subject: NIV bible |
Bible Note: Mawxsix: If you find parallel editions of the Bible helpful, fine. They may be useful for those who can abide them. I owned a parallel once. As I recall, it had four versions. I ended up giving it away. It drove me nuts. It was like trying to listen to four people tell me their version of the same story all at the same time. My mind works best running on one track at a time, and it's hard enough to keep it on that one track, much less two or four! ..... I started out using the King James exclusively -- not that I've ever been a member of the odd bunch called the KJV Onlyists -- because back then the King James Bible was the only one in town. Later on I switched to the Revised Standard Version and used it for a couple of decades. Then along came the New King James Version. I test drove it, liked it, and adopted it as my version of choice. Most recently, however, I've grown to like and trust the NASB. I have found it to be what it's advertised to be, the most literally accurate translation in the English language. It has its warts and lumps and its occasional odd turns of phrase. It isn't perfect, but no translation is, notwithstanding what the rooters for the KJV may say about it. The perfect translation is yet to be made. Formal, word-for-word translators have a tough go of it to reproduce a transparency of the original manuscripts while at the same time producing standard English that is both clear and readable. The NASB is not as smooth as the NIV, but the NASB translators did not allow themselves in a word-for-word translation the same liberty that the NIV translators allowed themselves in a so-called dynamic equivalency translation. I believe it is not inaccurate to say that the greater the leaning toward paraphrase the greater the opportunity and the temptation to insert into the text interpretation and commentary. Hence, we are in some danger of being told less of what the passage actually says and more of what the translators think it means. One has only to pick up a copy of the "The Living Bible" or "The Message" to get the feel of how loose paraphrasing can add a disturbingly different flavor to the biblical text. --Hank |