For a faith with such a simple message of salvation, our selection of Bibles is quite complex! If you’ve ever struggled to know which Bible to read from, then you’re in the right place. In this article, we will give you a detailed explanation of the world of Bible translation and of individual Bibles. If you’d like, bookmark this post for future reference!
When looking at how translating the Bible got started, we go all the way back to the beginning. The Bible was originally written in a combination of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. This meant that only those who learned those languages had any access to the Bible, leading to a major disparity between the educated and the uneducated. Around 382 AD the Pope commissioned his secretary, Jerome, to produce a new translation in Latin. Jerome set about the task with reported trepidation, but also with great seriousness. The remark, attributed to him, that ‘ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ’ reveals something of his passion. The resulting translation, produced in the Latin of the people, is known to us as the Vulgate.
As the years went on, different groups of people have translated the Bible into their own languages and have also translated them differently. One of the reasons we see different versions of the Bible is because of the number of manuscripts available. There are over 5,800 Greek New Testament manuscripts known to date, along with over 10,000 Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts and over 19,000 copies in Syriac, Coptic, Latin, and Aramaic languages. Most Bible translations are done with teams of scholars in various languages who can ensure that the content is properly translated.
Once the manuscripts have been assembled, this team of scholars begin to determine what translation philosophy they will use. There are 3 main philosophies: formal equivalence, functional equivalence, and paraphrased.
Literal translations are often the closest English form of the Hebrew or Greek word. In this process, translators painstakingly review every single word to ensure they are as accurate as possible, called formal equivalence. This form of translation is extremely helpful for academic study. However, the biggest drawback to word-for-word translations is that modern readers might misunderstand figures of speech, literary devices, and cultural references.
English Standard Version (ESV): To achieve the greatest possible accuracy in an English translation of the original Hebrew & Greek texts, the translators of this readable, modern Bible version attempted to write, as much as possible, a “word for word” rendering of the text while modernizing archaic language and correcting certain errors in key portions of text.
New King James Version (NKJV): Commissioned in 1975 by Thomas Nelson Publishers, 130 respected Bible scholars, church leaders, and lay Christians worked for seven years to create a completely new, modern translation of Scripture, yet one that would retain the purity and stylistic beauty of the original King James. With unyielding faithfulness to the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts, the translation applies the most recent research in archaeology, linguistics, and textual studies.
Need more context? Looking for an easier read? Dynamic translations place a higher emphasis on summing up the biblical authors’ thoughts while still respecting the text. These thought-for-thought translations balance accuracy with approachability, perfect for light reading or a devotion. After all, the Bible is for the common fellow. The drawback though is that every tweak in the name of understandability is a step toward someone else’s textual interpretation. But if you want to draw your own conclusions about every matter, stick with the ‘literal’ category.
New International Version (NIV): Striving for faithfulness to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts of the Bible, scholars from five English speaking countries labored to make this contemporary version of the Scriptures readable in style and international in scope. Begun in 1965, published in 1978, and revised in 1983 and 2011, the NIV, has become one of the most popular English Bible translations. The translators’ goal was to produce a work of clarity and literary quality that would be well-suited to private and public reading, memorization, teaching, and preaching. This is the version used by All Nations Church.
New Living Translation (NLT): The New Living Translation is an authoritative Bible translation rendered faithfully into today’s English from the ancient texts by 90 leading Bible scholars. The NLT’s scholarship and clarity breathe life into even the most difficult-to-understand Bible passages—but even more powerful are stories of how people’s lives are changing as the words speak directly to their hearts.
In your mind, paraphrased translations might already have a bad reputation; we would argue that there is a time and place for every type of Bible out there. Paraphrased Bibles focus on getting the general idea across with clear language, useful for those new to the Faith or new to reading. Sometimes, a paraphrase is nice because it’s an interpretation; you can use it to gain a fresh perspective on a passage you’re reading. Typically, Bible paraphrases aren’t necessarily meant to stand alone, so keep that in mind.
The Message (MSG): This translation is a unique Bible-reading experience, a paraphrase by author Eugene Peterson of the traditional Bible text. With no formal language, The Message reads like a letter from an old friend. Because it’s easier to understand, you can better connect what you’re reading with what it means for your everyday life. The Message is not meant to replace your current version of choice. Rather, it is designed as a reading Bible that can give you a fresh perspective on a familiar phrase or passage.
