Necessary Tool For Bible Study

The Protestant Bible

The protestant Bible ( from here on, referred to as the Bible) came from documents written long in the past. The manuscript considered to be the oldest, and therefore closest in time to the events written about, is a a tiny papyrus fragment of the Gospel of John. It is considered the oldest "manuscript" of the New Testament. This manuscript has generally been dated to ca. A.D. 125.

Written in the past

The Bilbe is written in three extinct languages that must be translated into Modern English for the benefit of the reader of the Bible. An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers.

Extinct Languages vs Dead Languages

Extinct languages may be contrasted with dead languages, which are no longer spoken by anyone as his or her main language. The job of the translator is to determine the original meaning of the words in the original language and cause them to be understandable to the reader in Modern English, all the while preserving the original meaning.

Dead or Extinct

The change from a dead to an extinct language happens when a language undergoes what is known as language death. This death occurs when the language in question is replaced by a different language. As an example, some of the original north American native languages were replaced by English. Thus the process begins that ends in the death of a language. .

Language extinction

Language extinction can also happen when the language in question evolves into a new language or family of languages. An example of this was Old English, a forerunner of Modern English.

On the other hand a dead language may remain in use for many reasons, especially in some cases ecclesiastical functions. Latin is a dead language that is being used as a sacred language.

The Languages in question

The languages here in question are Hebrew (most of the Old Testament), Aramaic (a sister language to Hebrew used in half of Daniel and two passages in Ezra), and Greek (all of the New Testament). Must people alive today are not familiar with these languages beyond their names. However, others have a deep and exacting education in at least one language for the express purpose of Biblical translation and Biblical scholarship. The remainder of us depend upon these scholars for our translations of our Bible.

Fruitful Bible Study

The first need for the reader who wants a tool for fruitful Bible study is several ( More than two) "good" English translations of the Bible

Good?

The first basic tool in Bible study is good translation. No matter if you are reading the Bible daily in your quiet time or if you are involved in vigorous study of the Bible, you need to have a good translation to work from. You will come to find out that it is better for your study to have not one, but several good translations.

Reasons

The reason being that if you use only one translation, you are only getting the point of view from people who subscribe to one concept of translation.

Let it be said here this is not saying that these have a theological ax to grind. Rather they use a certain method of language transference than others.

It is good to look at other translations, note the differences and note the reasons behind the differences. Translators have often had to make choices as to what the original language In the passage you are reading was intending to say.

For the purpose of illustration here are several translation into the English language from the source text available at time of translation.More will be said about this later. The difference being in these cases, the principal or theory of language translation is different in each case. Usually it is better for your study to select Bibles that have the translators notes on the page of the text to explain why the path was taken in each of the problem areas.

Comparing some translations

King James Version (KJV), New King James Version (NKJV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), New Living Translation (NLT), English Standard Version (ESV), Today's New International Version (TNIV).

1 Corinthians 7:36:

Analyze these translations

First of all, it must be pointed out that the NKJV is very literal.

The question is this in all these examples given: What is meaning and purpose of the term "virgin"? What is the relationship between the "man" and "his vir­gin". Are all these translations equally meaningful to you? Would you be missing something by sticking to one version and rejecting the rest of them?

Normally the word virgin in English is defined as a : A chaste or unmarried woman; a maiden.

One of the problem illustrated by these examples, especially the NKJV, the relationship is not absolutely clear.

The other problem Did the writer of the original text, in the original language mean for the confusion of words to take place? Which of the above translations was the original meaning?

Please note that any of these translations are acceptable, in the view of the translator who performed the translation. In each, the words transported into Modern English is support in scholarship and acceptable.

However, only one of then can be correct in expressing the authors original intent.

For a number of reasons, the TNIV reflects the best exegetical option here.

However, if you regularly read only one translation, the NASB for example, you may be committing yourself to a view not intended by the original author. Go back and compare the two passages. There is a huge difference in meaning. If you were reading two or more translations with notes, the reasons for the choices would be made known to you.

And this kind of thing can be illustrated hundreds of times over. So, what to do?

Some suggestions

For your main use in reading the Bible, say, during you quiet time it is acceptable to select and read one translation. Do your research. Know the problems with the translation you select, knowing all translations have problems. By being consistent in reading the one you select will help you commit to memory the verses you read.

In the selection you make for the Bible that will be your regular reading translation, you would benefit from not only knowing about the recognized problems associated with your selection. It would be better to have one that makes extensive use of notes. The one what has both footnotes and margin notes will convey more information to you .

“ Ah so” moments

These notes will point out the problems you may already know about since you did some research before you bought the Bible.

Notes besides the text on the page has brought many “ Ah so” moments to reading the scriptures. Sometimes just when you need it, a light of enlightenment will flash in your mind.

What is Good?

Sometimes you will be told that this translation or that translation is good, or is better than some. This is well meaning advice but it is sometimes hard to define exactly what “good “ means. usually “Good” may be defined as satisfactory in quality, quantity, or degree.

In one sense, all translations are considered good. It would be said that none of them are “bad”, but others are better than others.

When saying the word “all”, here is a list of Bibles that are considered good in the respect they do not have a ax to grind, that their methods of translations are generally accepted as correct, and they are not produced with the express purpose to display a certain theological doctrine.

This list may not / is not be complete. None of the translation listed here are considered bad, or evil, or to be avoided. However, again let it be said, some are better than others in universal problem areas of translations common to all. I suspect that these all were undertaken prayerfully and with the best motives possible.

Some of these English translations are “out of date” in the respect that the language they were translated to is no longer used. For example, the English of the 1600’s is no longer spoken today and many of the words have dropped out of use or changed in their meaning. The same can be said for the English language of the 1800’s, but not to the same extent.

Here is the list of “Good” translations:

• 21st Century King James Version
• American Standard Version
• Amplified Bible
• Common English Bible
• Contemporary English Version
• Darby Translation
• Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
• English Standard Version
• GOD’S WORD Translation
• Good News Translation
• Holman Christian Standard Bible
• King James Version
• New American Standard Bible
• New Century Version
• New International Reader's Version
• New International Version
• New International Version - UK
• New International Version 1984
• New King James Version
• New Living Translation
• The Message
• Today's New International Version
• Worldwide English (New Testament)
• Wycliffe Bible
• Young's Literal Translation

As can been seen, there are many to choose from. Yet, they are described as being good translations. Then how can some be considered better than others?

Speaking to the point

The advice given so far is for reading daily and ordinary use, pick one that you can consistently read, comfortable with the use of the language, that you know the recognized problems of translation and has extensive notes on the pages.

Serious Bible Study

If you are engaging in serious Bible study, you should have at your hand more than two Bibles at hand. You should do your own research to aid your understanding why and how these translation differ. In a future article the selection of a good commentary will be addressed.

The Translation

Some translations are the work of one man while others are a product of vast committees.

Each Case

In each of these cases, there are choices to be made. When the work is of a single individual, sometimes the personality of that person comes through the fabric of the translation and the choices made. When a large committee produces a translations, sometimes the result is less personal.

Regardless how the translation is produced, the translator(s) are faced with two types of choices. They are textual and linguistic.

Textual

Textual has to do with the word Used in the original text.

Linguistic

Linguistic has to do with the translator(s) own theory of meaning of the word used.

What about the original text?

In each case of translation, group effort or solitary individual, the effort is to use a word that has the closest meaning in today's English (2011) language as possible as the word used in the text.

Not as simple as it sounds

Here is the problem. We do not have any original copies of the manuscripts of the books of the Bible. Maybe, just maybe the closest thing that we have is part of the Net Testament book of John that comes in at 125 AD Even that is speculation.

We do know that the texts of the Bible were hand copied over and over again by scribes for hundreds of years. For the most part these scripts are with out variations. A few of them contain variation attributed to human error.

For one example, in one transcription of the ten commandants one scribe left out a word and the command was” you shall commit adultery.” These kinds of errors are easy to spot. Others are not so clear cut.

 There are thousands of hand copied manuscripts in existence, produced up to the time of the printing press. The printing press solved many problems of uniformity. Before the time of the press, all manuscripts were copied by hand, a human hand, with all the potential for errors. In spite of all of this these manuscripts are substantially identical. That being said, there are many variations between manuscripts Some of the variations occurred because of the source of the translation from. Many variations from the earlier transcripts recently discovered and were hand copied and stored away at a much earlier time in history.

The problem for the modern translators is to determine which of the variants represent which one most likely represents the original text.

This is a large task.

Textual Criticism

These problems have created what is known as The Science Of Textual Criticism. For many reasons textual criticism has been now classified as a science and rightly so.

If we all are on the same page, we would all agree with the definition of the word science:

Science: The word science comes from a Latin word meaning knowledge. Science implies a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions.

Textual criticism is considered a science. It examines the text from which translations are taken. The science of textual criticism is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts handed down to us though out out the years. The scribes who hand copied these texts made errors when copying manuscripts by hand. Human errors, but errors never the less.

The science of textual criticism is this: Given a manuscript copy,one copy, several copies, or many copies, the translator seeks to reconstruct the original text.The problem is selecting the manuscript containing a text most closely approximating the original. Some times there is not much of a choice and some times there are many choices. In short, this is the science that attempts to discover the original texts of ancient documents.

The problems that the individual translator or the group (committee) translators encounter are reflected in the notes on the page with the texts in the Bible you select. These notes will give the reader a background of why a particular word was used and even an alternative word.

The marginal notes in your translation that say, "Other ancient authorities add ..." or, "Some manuscripts do not have ..."

Textual criticism is a science. All scholarship and careful controls that applies to science applies to this endeavor.

What Evidence exists?

The translators depends on two type of evidence. The first is external evidence. External evidence is the quality and preservation of the manuscripts that come down to us. The quality of the dead sea scrolls were much better than fragments found written later on. The seconds type of evidence is internal evidence. Internal evidence includes the mistakes the scribes make when hand copying what was before them.

The Choices

The choices made are decided upon with much thought and consideration. Every piece of evidence at hand is studied and considered in making any decision. It all comes down to a deliberate decision by one person or a group of people after consideration of the quality of the manuscript,the history of the manuscript, how old is the manuscript, and what are the word variations, if any. Of course another hugh consideration is where the manuscript came from.Did it come down to us as a Masoretic text or did it come down to us from Greek translations. There are a ranges of choices to be considered. Sometimes it is found that variations are supported equally from all evidence.

The Science Of Translation

The science of translation combines the best choices based on external evidence combined with the best evidence based on internal evidence. This combination produces an extraordinary reliable and readable text. We know that the correct path has been taken when recent discoveries unearth older translations and there is no significant difference from what we already have.

Additional Study

If you feel you want more knowledge on the subject of problems of translations, here are a few references:

• Textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible by Emanuel Tov.
• Emanuel : studies in Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, and Dead Sea scrolls in honor of Emanuel Tov by Shalom M. Paul ... [et al.] ; with the assistance of Eva Ben-David.
• The Bible as book : the Hebrew Bible and the Judaean desert discoveries.
• by Edward D. Herbert and Emanuel Tov.
• Textual criticism : recovering the text of the Hebrew Bible.
• by P. Kyle McCarter, Jr.
• Text, translation, theology : selected essays on the Hebrew Bible by Bertil Albrektson.

Summary of this section

With all that being said, one point needs to be made. Although textual criticism is considered a science, it is not an exact science. Some of the inexactness is due to the number of human variables encountered.

The definition of an inexact science is something that is not strictly accurate or precise.

Found in the foot notes

Occasionally, especially when the translation is the work of a committee, the translators will themselves be divided as to which variant represents the original text and which is (are) the scribal error(s). Usually at such times the majority choice will be found in the actual translation, while the minority choice will be in the margin. This should emphasize in your mind why it is better to study two or more translation that contains notes.

Sometimes the reason for the uncertainty is either that the best manuscript evidence conflicts with the best explanation of how error(s) came about. Sometimes the manuscript evidence is evenly divided. In these cases humans must make choices. Again these are common problems to all versions of the Bible. The best Bible to own is the ones that explain the problems faced by the translators in the notes to the texts.

The King James Version of the Bible.

This is a special section devoted to remarks about the The King James Version of the Bible.

No one can deny that the KJV helped shape the English language. There are churches and organizations that demand the use of Kings James only.

I have talked to some who believe with their whole heart that Jesus spoke KJV English. The loyalty to this version is that strong.

This will be a brief discussion of the King James Version and its most recent revision, the New King James Version.

Differences

When it comes to discussing the difference between the KJV and NKJV, misinformation causes deep entrenchment of positions taken.

The KJV for a long time was the most widely used translation in the world. The KJV is the classic expression of the English language. It was the only widely used Bible in some churches for a time. The followers of either the King James Version or the New King James Version are known for vigorous in their affections.

The KJV

The KJV has changed the English language. Ever heard of or used the phrase "coals of fire"? How about the phrase "the skin of my teeth". Another contribution of the KJV translators is the phrase "tongues of fire".

It must be emphasized that the English language was used more precisely in the 1600′s, the time when the KJV was translated.

In 1611, the only Greek text available was based on late manuscripts, which had accumulated the mistakes of over a hundreds of years of copying. The KJV was written entirely based upon the exclusion of the Alexandrian Manuscripts.

It has been found since 1611, through research and study that the Alexandrian manuscripts are much older and closer to the time the originals were written. It also has been found that after careful consideration and a careful comparison of the Alexandrian manuscripts with those of the Middle Ages the conclusion can be drawn that a more accurate and careful job of copying was done by the Alexandrian scribes. A large group of conservative scholars believe that the text based upon the Alexandrian manuscripts is, as a whole, superior to the text based upon manuscripts of the Middle Ages.

There are mistakes.

There are mistakes in the KJV, to be sure. There are mistakes in all translations. It cannot be helped. It is the nature of translation. The makes that exist in the KJV make no difference to doctrine. But they do make a difference in the meaning of certain texts.

The portion of the New Testament that has any substantial variation between the various manuscripts is only about one word in a thousand. As said before, these variations in no way change the teaching of the New Testament on any doctrine.

The English of today,( 2011) is less ridged than the English standards of 1611. The NKJV often appears to be saying something different when comparing the versions. From this, the reader may get the the impression that one or the other is more accurate.

The English of the KJV is no longer a living language. Some modern readers, who support the KJV, and reject other more recent translations, wanted to see an updated KJV.

An updated product

In producing a translation for those who wanted an updated product, the Alexandrian Manuscripts where included. This was done in the name of being accurate. But translation from the Alexandrian Manuscripts are usually rejected out of hand by most of the KJV followers.

The translators of the NKJV sought to eliminate the KJV of its "archaic" English expressions. In doing so, they succeeded in doing away with some of the best loved features of the KJV. Some of the best known, most loved and memory laden expressions of the English language.What they did ignore during this process was the newer most up to date available texts. Texts that were not around for the original translation of the KJV.

If you plan in engaging in serious, thoughtful study of the scriptures, almost any modern translation should be used along with the use of the KJV or the NKJV. Your understandsing of the texts will be fuller.

Another choice faced by translators

One of the choices facing the translators is how to approach the time difference time difference between the two languages. This involves concepts of words, the grammar involves, the phrases used, the then current history, the culture of the writers and a multitude of choices like these choices listed here.

Historical Distance

The problem of historical distance can be readily seen in the challenge of translating weights (i.e. talents vs. pounds, etc.), measure (i.e. cubits vs. meters, etc.), money (shekel vs. dollar, etc. and euphemisms (i.e. toilet vs. water closet, etc.)

There is a question of Language

If the translator is not choosing literal meaning of the words faced with, then other choices have to be made.

Literal Method

A method known as the literal method attempts to translate the writers grammar, the writers language and style with no attempt to bridge the historical distance between the two languages. Some of the choices presented to the translators are Noteworthy. One outstanding consideration is the fact that words, terms, phrases of one language may lack any complement in another. This type of translation is hard to read and easy to misunderstand.

More useful methods.

Dynamic equivalence and formal equivalence are currently the two accepted approaches to overcoming problems in translation of the Bible.

Dynamic equivalence attempts to convey the thought expressed in a source text.

Dynamic equivalence may change the literalness of the original language. Dynamic equivalence also may change the original word order of the text to the word order of the language it is being translated into.

Another feature under consideration is the source text's grammatical voice.

Formal Equivalence

On the other hand, formal equivalence attempts to render the text word-for-word. Formal equivalence is the attempt to keep as close to the "form" of the original language both words and grammar. The goal is to put the “forms” into understandable English. This may in many cases alter the natural expression used in English.

The two approaches represent emphasis on readability and on literal fidelity to the source text. Actually there is no sharp boundary between dynamic and formal equivalence. Some translations are in a gray area between the two methods. In the broad view,these two methods represent a spectrum of approaches in translation.

These is one more method used in translation. The Free translation. The Free translation will be discussed shortly.

If the goal of the translator is to stay as close as possible to the original language (idiom) the translation become more literal. This method of performing translations will keep historical distance intact at all points.

Functional equivalence

Functional equivalence is a translation method in which the translator attempts to reflect the thought of the writer in the source language rather than the words and forms. Functional equivalence attempts in keeping the meaning of the original language by putting the words into what might be the normal way of saying the same thing in English.

It happens something like this. First the one who is translating reads the sentence, or thought he needs to express into English. Then the translator will try to put his understanding of what he just read into English. The form of the original is not important and seldom kept intact.

Methods of Translation Review

Literal

In this discussion, it was been stated that the literal translation is an attempt to keep the exact words or phrases of the original. This grows out of the theology that God preserved the Bible for all mankind and the method that God used was to make sacred each individual word preserved for all later generations. This belief holds that God preserved the very words of the manuscripts. Therefore, the literal translation makes the effort and is faithful to preserve the original text. Because historical distance is not bridged between the languages involved, a literal translation is very hard to read and very easy to misunderstand.

Dynamic Equivalent

A second method presented here is the Dynamic equivalent translation. This attempts to be a thought for thought translation. The translators try to keep the historical distance constant. But, on the other hand, it tries to make the style and grammar easy to read and understand by the modern reader.

Free

The last translation method to be discussed is called the Free or paraphrased translation. In this method, the translator used the ideas from the original text but pays no attention to the original words. Seeks to do away with all historical distance. These translations are very readable, but the translation may not be exactly what the original author said in original text.

Chart of some of the currently popular translations

• FORMAL EQUIVALENCE (LITERAL)
• FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENCE (DYNAMIC)
• FREE

• King James Version (KJV) 1611.
• Modern Language Bible New Jerusalem Bible The Message.
• English Standard Version (2001).
• Revised English Bible (REB).
• The Living Bible (TLB).
• Revised Standard Version (1952).
• Today's New International Version Contemporary English Version.
• New Revised Standard Version (1989).
• New International Version (NIV).
• New English Translation.
• New King James Version (1982).
• New American Bible God's Word Translation.
• 21st Century King James Version.
• Holman Christian Standard Bible.
• Young's Literal Translation 1862.
• Green's Literal Translation (1985).
• New American Standard Bible (1995)

A word on Historical Distance

A decision has to be made when words in translation have to do with weights, measures and money. The choices hinge on how to express the intent of the words from one language to another. Should the terms be transliterated to English, or should the English equivalents be used?

If you are going to use equivalents, then what units do you chose? American or European methods of weights and measures? If you use the American units, will the translation be awkward to some one living in France? Is this that important?

Some translations are not consistent in these matters. The culture and customs of the modern world are changing so fast, will any of these be accurate in a few years? No matter what version (s) you select for your use, it would be more than helpful to select the versions that make use of extensive notes.

In Closing

What you have to choose from.

How many English Bibles are there?

No one can, with certainly, give you the number of English translations and paraphrases of the Bible printed since Tyndale’s New Testament of 1526.

Some of this is due to to the difficulty of determining what should be defined as a new translation, and what is only an update of an old translation.

Sometimes the updated version contain very little changes.

In determining the the number of English Bibles ever produced, a problem is what is: what to include in the count. The complete Bible translations are counted. How about just the New Testament translations? Do they count at the “English Bible”? Another question is what about the single books of the Bible that have been produced over the years for one reason or another? What about a group of Biblical books, but not the whole Bible? Most report the numbers as being about 900.

Further resource on this subject:

Catalogue of English Bible Translations compiled by William J. Chamberlin

It must be noted that there were 75 translation of the New Testament that appeared in the last 100 years. The list in this article only covers a small number of available of English translations.

Summary

There are many many translations on the market. We have covered many that are on the market that are popular. This does not mean that you should not consider others. But that you should look for in the reviews are the philosophy of translation used, and the use of notes. You need to do your research.

The recommendations are as follows:

1. Do your research. You know yourself better than anyone.
2. Select at least two translations.
3. Select translations that has extensive notes.
4. Know the theory of translation of the volumes selected.

Which translation, then, should you read? My favorite is the TNIV is as good a translation as you will get.

Summary of various Biblical volumes

Today's New International Version (TNIV Bible)

The Today's New International Version (TNIV) is a thoroughly accurate. This Bible can be trusted in accuracy, clear and useful because of the extensive notes. The translation is a "thought-for-thought" translation and has constant regard for the contextual meanings of words.

Good News Translation (GNT)

The GNT (also known as Today's English Version or Good News Bible) is one of the first meaning-based aka functional equivalent translations.It was first published in 1976. It was later revised in 1992. This version presents the Bible in a level of English that is common to most of the English-speaking world. The GNT is still used widely in youth Bible study groups and in less formal worship services.

New American Bible (NAB)

The NAB was published in 1970. The method used is meaning-based The New Testament was revised in 1986, shifting more toward a word-for-word or formal translation. This translation is used primarily by American Catholics.

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The NASB, was first published in the 1960's. This is a “word-for-word” translation.This is a good version to use along side of others in Bible study. The original form of the original language is maintained This version was revised in 1995.

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The NRSV is a 1989 revision of the Revised Standard Version (1952). The NRSV is now the latest authorized translation in the King James tradition. This version is readable. Besides being readable, it aims to keep the words and phrases from the KJV which are familiar and loved by most. This translation is in the gray area of being meaning-based and form-based translation.

This version is used in in seminaries and colleges.

New American Standard Update (NASU)

In the 1960s, the Lockman Foundation updated original ASV.This decision was due to new findings of Old Testament texts. A further revision was developed in the past decade, now known as the New American Standard Update (NASU), changing only a few things in the translation.

Revised English Bible (REB)

The REB is a revision of the New English Bible (NEB). This translation has a British flavor. The REB removed much of the British influence and replaced it with an American flavor. The REB is a meaning-based translation. Much of the traditional language and style has been retained.

Afterword

Total reliance upon the Holy Spirit during Bible study is completely necessary for any study of the Bible.

Before the Bible study:

Before Bible study follow the recommendation in this article.

There is one last recommendation to be made.

The most importation you can make is to realize that you have a purpose: To seek God. The seeker must prepare the mind to that end.

To find Him one should:

Pray for God’s self revelation during the study. The faith displayed by the reader must be child-like and trusting. Let His love, His grace, His mercy and His justice draw the reader toward eternity and into eternity. Open the heart wide to receive God so that He can fill it with Himself. Seek His guidenance in everything.

Remember you have come to study the word of God. Keep in mind there is a principle of Bible study that cannot be neglected or done away with, This principle is indispensable. You do not want to take it for granted. Do not be guilty of substituting that which is helpful for that which is indispensable.

The principle is: The total reliance upon God’s Holy Spirit.

If you desire to have God make Himself known to you in and through the study of the Bible, you must come to Him as a Child. Only God can reveal God. He delights to do it; He longs to show Himself to our hearts.

The next time we will cover how to learn the context of what is being read and apply the lesson to the letters of the New Testaments.