Keep reading about the best and most accurate Bible translations according to scholars. Have you ever thought about the Bible translations? It is a very interesting topic and now Insider Monkey has published an article about it. As a Theologian I have not only thought about it but I studied it. These two languages are really difficult to learn but it was extremely exciting for me to study the Bible. I must say that transalting these texts always mean hard work as in the ancient times there was not space left between two words as parchment was very expensive.
The Holy Bible consists of two parts, Old Testament written in Hebrew and New Testament written in Koine Greek. At the University of Theology we had to learn both languages. I really enjoyed learning it. There are lots of translations to English and each version can be analyzed through two views of how translation should be. First, we have a literal translation, which means that every word should stick as closely as possible to the original version of Hebrew and Greek. This may sound as a very logical solution, but we should think twice. Not every word has an equivalent in another language, and what is more, the construction of sentences differs as well. Therefore, if we use literal translation in the end we could have a real mixture of just thrown words on the paper, without making any sense. It can be, however useful in close studies.
Now we have picked two translations from Insider Monkey’s list. Other name for King James version of Bible is Authorized Version. It came out in 1611, and since then its editions changed a lot. Even though its languages is very archaic and difficult to understand it is still very popular. According to Mark Noll, KJV had a big impact on English: “Almost all of these words and phrases were used in translations before the KJV. But because they appeared in that version, they were in the English language for keeps.” It belongs to the literate translations. New English Bible was conceived in 1946, however it wasn’t finished until 1970. According to Daniel B. Wallace, it is one of the most beautiful versions of the 20th century, as it is very readable and therefore comprehensible. On the other hand, it is not the best example for study work. This article is really worth reading it and I am telling you as a Theologian.
For any further interesting information read Insider Monkey’s article about 5 best and most accurate Bible translations according to scholars.
