Better Bible Translation?

by Sofia Lose 16 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  Spectre

  According to JW urban legend, Alex Trebek said it was the NWT.

  .....but then they went and changed it. Someone better tell Mr. Trebek there has been nulite and to update his info to the NNWT.
• 

  JamesThomas

  No Bible translation, no words on a page, are better or can come near the exquisite lessons of reality and truth that moments silently alone in nature can teach and share. But use your short time here as you see fit.
• 

  Driving Force

  This is something I find very useful for study.
  

  Greek / Hebrew interlinear Bible software

  http://www.scripture4all.org/
  
• 

  smiddy

  Sofia Lose

  I have two for you to view ;

  The Atheist Bible

  and

  The atheist Bible Companion

  That is , if you want a truly balanced view of the Bible and what it contains.

  Their are two sides to every story , two sides to every coin

  Just saying

  smiddy
• 

  menrov

  I use:
  https://lumina.bible.org/bible/Matthew+1 --> NET, has very good footnotes.

  and this resource:

  http://studybible.info/compare/John%203:16

  and biblehub.
• 

  Splash

  Makes you wonder why God has allowed millions of sincere truth seekers over 2 thousand years to struggle to even know which version of the rule book is accurate.

  Maybe it's not as important as we think.
• 

  kepler

  Hi, folks. It's been a while ( several months) since I logged on last. Part of the reason was that the re-boot of the web site caught me unawares; partly due to other priorities.

  But all the same, I do enjoy throwing around these ideas around the metaphorical campfire...

  As to whether there is a best translation, I suspect that there are only qualified answers in the sense that certain translations give you certain perspectives, the best that the money and authority of the sponsors can buy. Wherever there is ambiguity, then the sponsors are going to argue in behalf of their perspective, especially if they have centuries of time invested in the outcome. We have our own biases in research, but that is the reason why we open up the book in the first place.

  So given that, I would argue that rather than relying on one version of the Bible, it would be well worth looking at at least several differing translations with differing antecedents. Plus, the commentaries associated with the books.

  Maybe this sounds daunting, but it seems a lot more interesting than simply relying on what one finds in a motel room Gideon next to the telephone book.

  So having said that, let's consider:

  If the Bible as a word is derived from the Greek biblia, which is plural of books, then what is the word or words used by the Jews in their ostensibly Hebrew truncated version known as the Old Testament? Hint, these days its an acronym based on three divisions of the books, which Christians seldom acknowledge or have shuffled for their own devisings.

  Secondly, where do chapters and verses come from and how accurately do they represent the beginning and end of an "inerrant" text? How accurately are they placed in the first book to denote a first and second chapter? If a monk had denoted the story about Nephilim with a chapter between 5 and 6, would you think about it differently? Or would the story still leave entirely too much to conjecture? Perhaps with a better translation?...

  Another issue is whether translation into the English language has rendered anything any clearer than efforts of native speakers of any other modern tongue (e.g., French, Greek, Italian, Arabic). In many cases the trail to the original text or meaning is confused by accounts in Hebrew centuries after the presumed event, much like the Iliad by "Homer". Aramaic chapters appear in Daniel and deuteron-canonical texts ( adhered to by Reformation documents ) are in Greek. Events in the New Testament with exceptions such as Christ on the cross crying out in Aramaic are all related in koine Greek...

  Faced all with all these issues and remembering when I used to do the high school homework of translating Caesar, I could sympathize with the biblical translator. One could leave things in the literal mess my teacher found in my papers or one could be bolstered by an assumed meaning.

  We assume inspiration in the Bible, or else we would all thrown it away. But can we assume universal inspiration in translation and transcription when the manuscripts are filled with disconnects and glosses?

  And how about this one: Jeremiah 8:8.