What are the best Bible Translations?

by Londo111 49 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Londo111

  Growing up in a JW family, my parents and my grandparents had many versions of the Bible…not just the New World Translation. Sometimes I read these. But I always bought the hype that the New World Translation was the most unbiased and most consistent in rendering Hebrew and Greek into the modern language.

  But more and more I can see this is not the case. Still, I find myself constantly using the New World Translation, because for parts of four decades, it has been the one I was most comfortable reading and understanding. But I feel the need to explore other alternatives. Some translations I have picked up have obviously come from a translator with a doctrinal bias…maybe that is just my years of WTS programming. I want to reread the Bible again, this time, unclouded by WTS dogma. True, comparing many translations is the way to go, but it would be quite costly if I wanted to have these in print.

  It is obvious to me that where the NWT renders a word 'Earth', as in the sense of the globe or planet, 'land' is more often the obvious meaning in many cases. However, I do like the idea of rendering words like Sheol and Hades consistently. And while I did come to feel a tinge uncomfortable with the NWT's stance on putting Jehovah in the New Testament where there was no evidence for it, rendering a version of YHWH where it appeared in the original manuscript in Hebrew did make sense.

  So…what modern translations are the best? Which are free from preconceived doctrines? Which have the most consistent renderings? Which have the most accredited translators who know ancient Hebrew and Greek? (ie NOT one college dropout with a two-year degree in only one of the Biblical languages)
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  Knowsnothing

  Every try Biblegateway?

  It's funny that you are looking for "accreditation" when the actual writers were "illettered and common" people themselves.

  This is another cool site, bible.cc

  It compares many bibles at once with the same text.
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  Londo111

  I use Biblegateway quite frequently, but I am hoping for a single translation to be able to pick up in my hands and read in print.

  While the writers themselves were perceived of as 'unlettered and ordinary', I feel translators most knowledgeable in ancient Hebrew and Greek languages would best render the text as intended.
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  leavingwt

  You might enjoy the ESV.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Standard_Version
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  AGuest

  If you must depend on a Bible (John 5:39, 40), dear Londo (peace to you!), the NWT Reference Bible (the large brown one; NOT any of those "regular" or smaller sized black/green/maroon/blue ones... NOR the online version) is the "best" Bible translation out there. Like all of the others, there are many discrepancies, of course (there are discrepancies all the way back to the Septuagint, which is why Christ said, "Woe, to you... scribes!" Jeremiah 8:8); however, this version will direct you to various other documents, more accuration transliterations, and wording in Hebrew, Chaldean/Aramaic, Syrian, Latin, and Greek via its footnootes and appendices in a much more accurate manner than any other.

  They also had the foresight to include things that they've changed, ommitted, added, etc., in the footnotes and appendices (which is unfortunate for them due to what is exposed ABOUT them... and their teachings... as a result). You should endeavor to look up the citations, therefore (i.e., asterisks, pound signs, tiny triangles, etc.).

  You should read it along with other versions, of course, as well as with tools like Strong's, interlinears, and other lexicons. As dear Knows (peace to you!) pointed out, Biblegateway.com is a great place to find multiple Bible versions. Blueletterbible.org is a great place to find [some of] the original language (Hebrew/Greek); however, some things should be kept in mind:

  (1) Even those words are not always the original (for example, some parts of the NT were written in Aramaic and later translated to Greek, with things often getting lost in the translation;

  (2) Such words may also not even been what was originally state at all, whether in Hebrew, Greek, Aramiac or what have you;

  (3) As with English, many of the Greek words have more than one meaning and very often the wrong meaning was chosen.

  I have found that the best and easiest way to understand what most wish to (what God "wants", who He is, who Christ is, what happened, why, what's going to happen, why, etc.)... is to simply go to the source: Christ. In that light, I offer the following verses:

  John 5:39, 40 John 8:32, 36 John 14:6 John 7:37-39 John 6:48-58 John 10:1-15 John 15:1-7

  Indeed, if you can make the time John 14-16 might be helpful... depending on what (or who) it is you're looking for.

  I hope this helps and that you DO find what... or, possibly Whom... you're looking for!

  Again, peace to you!

  A slave of Christ,

  SA
• 

  Azazel

  Since i have started my own indepth study of the bible i have around 15 translations of the bible.

  So far i really have enjoyed reading from the Amplified bible.

  For serious study the Interlinear bible is great with strongs concordance numbers above the greek and hebrew words.

  A friend in germany sent me a link to this bible study program called e-sword . its free or paypal donation and has enourmous study features, i have now 29 bible translations and several concordances and atlases. You can parrallel as many bibles as you like to really see what the scripture says.

  E-sword "the word of the Lord with an electronic edge" www.e-sword.net
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  Black Sheep

  I quite like Moffat, who treated it like a collection of historical documents, but really, finding the best translation is about as important as finding the best translation of a Superman comic.

  Use the available tools concordances/diaglots/interlinears/dictionaries etc., to get a better understanding of whatever translation you have. Don't try to read into it anything that fits your pre-conceived ideas, especially if you are a born-in member of any high control group. Try to understand what the original author was attempting to convey while ignoring what modern religionists with an agenda would like to superimpose on it.

  If something doesn't make sense ...... maybe that is because it doesn't make sense.
• 

  moggy lover

  The problem that is endemic to this question is that there is no one-sentence answer available, insofar as one can say, this or that translation is the best there is. When approaching this question we must ask ourselves whether we want:

  1 A Bible that conveys as literally as possible the original language syntax so that I can see the text behind the translation

  2. A translation that is readable in a modern day English idiom that conveys the flavour of what it meant to the original readers.

  3. A translation that reflects the piety inherent in something that is holy.

  4. A translation that does not evaluate its textual probity from a translator's pre-conceived bias.

  There is no single translation that fulfills all four requirements even remotely, and that is the challenge, both for the craft of the translator, and the disposition of the reader. A translation that is more literal than periphrastic is wooden and defies easy reading. A translation that is "understandable" becomes indefinable as a clear reflection of the original.

  There is a sense in which every translation can be accused of being a product of a translator's "bias". For instance, if I translate Jo 1:1c as "The Word was God", am I reflecting the original [because that is what it says] or am I being biased by Trinitarian leanings [because one may argue that this not what it means]. If I translate Acts 20:28 "The Church of God which He purchased with His own blood" am I being Trinitarian in my bias, or am I being Unitarian biased if I say, "The Church of God which He purchased with the blood of His own [Son]"?

  If I transliterate the word "Hades" rather than translate it, am I being faithful to my function as a translator? Hades is in fact a personal name of the Greek God of the Underworld, so am I being "understandable" or ambiguous? What will the reader be left with? Am I reflecting some pagan mythical infusion into Christian protocol? Will the reader "understand" what I am translating? A single minded reader, reared in the closed conduit of Watchtower learning may have no difficulty, but then this supposes that one is translating the Bible merely for the purpose of reinforcing a pre-conceived doctrinal imperative.

  If I were indeed to translate "Hades" into an English equivalent, what should I say? "Abode of the dead"? "The Underworld"? "The place where the dead are consigned"? If I do this, I have on the one hand made, what I believe the Bible is saying, clear, but if I am suggesting to a non receptive reader such as a Watchtower follower that this implies some form of life after death, then I will be accused of a translator's bias.

  Thus one needs to be realistic, and accept the impossibility of attaining to the "most perfect" translation of the Bible. Does this mean that there is no answer? Not really. The best one can do is to invest in what is called a "Study Bible". There are several on the market today which reflect various scholastic opinions, from the Harper Collins NRSV Study Bible which incorporates extreme liberalism, while on the other hand The NASV is the product of the best conservative learning. And there are several in between. [ESV Study Bible, NLT Study Bible, HCSB Study Bible, NKJV Study Bible, NIV Study Bible etc] The Jewish Study bible is unique in that it provides several critical OT passages with a Jewish perspective [Ex Isa 9:6]

  These translations incorporate several footnotes which attempt to unravel the intricacies of the original. Probably the best Study Bible available today is free and available for download at the www.bible.org web site. The NET Bile that they produce has more than 80,000 footnotes on several passages that may cause difficulty.

  Then there are devotional Study Bibles that help one to see that one is not indulging simply in an intellectual pursuit, but that one is approaching something that is Holy. The are various "Life Application" Study Bibles, [ESV, NKJV, NIV etc] as well as "Spirit Filled" Study Bible [same as before].

  Cheers
• 

  cyberjesus

  NONE!

  There are no originals, so there is not even one translation, there is no way what was really written. Sorry for the bad news
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  wobble

  Spot on Cyberjesus ! all we have is some 3rd Century and later manuscripts that are copies of copies of copies ,and some of those are translations too !

  We have no way of knowing what the original writers put down for sure, and even if we did have autograph copies, we would have to take in to account the writers agenda, his motive, when it was written etc etc . The latter we can do a lot of, just as an example, many scholars feel the "Matthew" was written , at the earliest around the late 80's or 90CE, so, why write as though it is before the Temple destruction ? (Agenda/motive)

  Study of the Bible is fascinating, as is study of many ancient texts, see Leolaia's excellent posts on this over the years, but however clearly one comes to understand the writings we do have,( and the modern translators own theology may get in the way see the very poor NWT !) we can never claim that we have a text that is reliable enough to argue about every "jot and tittle" , and certainly to be dogmatic on any point of doctrine based on such poor source material is to make oneself look very silly.