I have written in other places about how the Bible was written TO be translated. Some of the ideas, concepts and doctrines (teachings) are difficult to render perfectly from one language to another. There are phrases that just don’t work in one language that sound perfectly fine in another. In English as well, we have idiomatic phrases such as, “throwing in the towel”. A phrase like this might not communicate easily across thousands of years and thousands of cultures and languages. Even now there will be some people who know that 'throwing in the towel' means to 'quit or give up' but they may not know it comes from the sport of boxing. When a boxer has had enough, his trainer will throw a towel into the middle of the ring as a signal to stop the fight. But that said, the teachings of the Bible are intermeshed in such a way that if a thought is communicated weakly by translation in one place, it is communicated strongly in another.

 

 The Old Testament of the Bible was written in Hebrew and Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Greek. The Bible was later translated to Latin and many other translations came from translating the Latin. The original Bible languages have idiomatic phrases also that were just common sayings back in their time. Some of these phrases have a basic meaning but also have a historical context or background that may not be conveyed in the translation. Some English versions work to bring out the nuances from behind the scenes, others just translate the words.

 

   The most famous English language translation of all is the King James Bible from 1611 (about the time of the Pilgrims coming to America and the time of Shakespeare) The King James was intended in its day to be a Bible for the everyday common person to read. Ironically, it comes across to many people today as a version read by scholars, intellectuals and snobs. The language that was normal and common in those days has changed over the years to where many words and phrases simply do not mean the same thing today as they did back then. It is very cumbersome to go line by line reading something from the Bible and then re-stating the same thing in other words to explain what was meant. It is easier to simply say what was meant in the first place.

 

    As noted above, there are two basic types of English versions of the Bible. The first is called a ‘Translation’. This is a word-by-word rendition into English from the original languages by using equivalent words. The second is what are called, ‘Paraphrases’. These versions attempt to render what is actually meant by a particular phrase rather than translate each word. The phrase above, ‘Throw in the towel’ would be ‘TRANSLATED’ by taking the finding exact words in the language being translated to for THROW, IN, THE and TOWEL. A paraphrase would simply say, ‘Quit or give up.’ There are obviously two camps on this issue. Some feel that the word-for word rendition is the only way to maintain the integrity of the Bible. Others say that the point is to communicate the meaning.

 

   The other big consideration is which ‘Original’ text is being used for translation. While there are numerous ancient manuscripts of the Bible in existence, the absolute originals no longer exist all we have are copies of copies. The two main manuscripts used to translate from are the Textus Receptus in Latin and the Alexandrian Texts. These two ancient manuscripts are essentially the same but with a few key differences. The King James comes from the Textus Receptus. The New International Version (NIV) comes from the Alexandrian Texts. Those who favor the Textus Receptus translations like the King James Version tend to be quite hostile when confronting people who use versions like the NIV accusing the translators of a conspiracy to water down and corrupt the word of God.

 

 They point to differences between the two versions and declare that the texts were deliberately changed. If one reads the NIV however, they will see that the translators are VERY honest and are careful to footnote every point where there is a difference between the two texts and tells what the other version has at that point. The reader can then decide for him or herself what is the best way to understand it.

 

   I believe that the creators of these various translations and paraphrases have worked very hard and with good faith to accurately and carefully communicate in English what was written in the original texts. I personally like to read key passages in my study in several versions to see the various nuances of meaning that can be drawn out of the various versions. I do not believe the Bible is a multiple choice book abd that anything goes but I also believe that the Holy Spirit will guide the person truly seeking to know what God's word is even across the limitations of the translator's skill and language itself.

 

   The key to remember here is that the Bible was intended by God to be translated. No pillar of faith, no key concept, no central doctrine, no overriding theme rests on one single verse of scripture that could be fouled up by a translation error. If there were a couple of ways of translating a phrase and the two ideas were somewhat different, the total context of the Bible itself would clear it up and the teaching of scripture would remain intact.

 

   As a person who has struggled to learn a foreign language and strove to teach the Bible cross-culturally, I can assure you, the whole argument of which of the many fine English Bible Versions is the best, is a luxury! Many languages have one version, or only a partial version provided to them through the heroic efforts of missionaries who have given their entire lives to bring the message contained in God’s word to far away tribes and cultures. I have personally seen hundreds, even thousands of lives changed by the word of God as translated from transitions on foreign mission fields.

 

   I believe there can be honest debate regarding which text is the best starting point or whether direct translation is better than paraphrase, but even if I prefer one over the other I certainly don’t despise the efforts of those who labor on the other side of my opinion on the matter. I have found that the people who tend to be the most emphatic and dogmatic on which version of the Bible is THE ONLY English Bible that can be called the word of God, tend to be people who are merely parroting the lines of others and have never really looked into what is involved in translation or tried to do translation work in another language themselves. If they had, they may still think the King James is best but they would certainly be merciful and respectful to others in their disagreement.

The following is the best link I am aware of to delve into this further. If you follow this link it will open up even more links and you will have access to about anything a person would ever want to know of the Subject of English Bible translations.

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