People have been debating which Bible translation is the most accurate for hundreds of years and probably will continue to do so for many years to come. This topic is important because many people want to make sure that they read God's Word, and not a human interpretation of His Word. They want to go as close to the original as possible.
With this investigation I would like to focus on two major questions:
The first question I would like to ask is: How many ways are there to say the same thing?
Think about it, how many times can you change a single sentence before changing what it means? How many times can you change something, before it becomes something different? The reason I ask this is because there are over a hundred different English translations of the Bible alone, not to mention other languages. To get copyright on a book it needs to be at least 10% different from the original. This then entitles you to make money from your product. So once again I ask: How many times can you change something, before it becomes wrong?
The second and most important question I want to ask is: Are we sure that all the Bibles are being translated from the right manuscripts? Let's look at excerpts from the Bible that shows that something isn't quite right:
Who killed Goliath? David right? Not according to the English standard version (Focus on the bold print)
With this investigation I would like to focus on two major questions:
The first question I would like to ask is: How many ways are there to say the same thing?
Think about it, how many times can you change a single sentence before changing what it means? How many times can you change something, before it becomes something different? The reason I ask this is because there are over a hundred different English translations of the Bible alone, not to mention other languages. To get copyright on a book it needs to be at least 10% different from the original. This then entitles you to make money from your product. So once again I ask: How many times can you change something, before it becomes wrong?
The second and most important question I want to ask is: Are we sure that all the Bibles are being translated from the right manuscripts? Let's look at excerpts from the Bible that shows that something isn't quite right:
Who killed Goliath? David right? Not according to the English standard version (Focus on the bold print)
King James Version And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. - 2 Samuel 21:19 | New International Version In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod. - 2 Samuel 21:19 | English Standard Version And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam. - 2 Samuel 21:19 |
What about the Tribe of Judah, in the book of Hosea, did he say the tribe of Judah is with or against God? According to the New International Version they were against God:
King James Version Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints. - Hosea 11:12 | New International Version Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, Israel with deceit. | English Standard Version Ephraimhas surrounded me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit, but Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One. - Hosea 11:12 |
And at the end everything, before we eat of the tree of life and enter into the city, does God want us to do His commandments or does He want us to have clean clothes?
King James Version Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. - Revelation 22: 14 | New International Version Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. - Revelation 22: 14 | English Standard Version Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. - Revelation 22: 14 |
Whether you like it or not, you can't even try to say that the examples above teach the same thing. Now I know that when we look at the central truths, most Bible versions have the same message, but if I am going to live my life according to a manual, then I want to make sure I use the right one.
If this is something you see as important as I do, you have to start asking what happened to the Bibles and how do we know which Bible version is correct? Well let's look at the facts and the origin of the Bible itself.
For the sake of this article, I will not be giving all the minor details and only give the broad outline. Should you feel you would like to delve deeper into the history feel free to do so, The video below also gives a lot of interesting information on the topic.
Basically and very simply put: Bibles are translated from ancient manuscripts that were written and copied over thousands of years. This is not a problem because the copying process was done very meticulously and precise. Now, there are basically two major sets of manuscripts that Bibles are translated from:
Older does not mean better. There is a reason the older texts were not copied. They are inferior to the Majority Texts and are riddled with corrections that had to be made. This is why Codex Sinaiticus was found in a rubbish bin about to be burned, and why Codex Vaticanus was found in the Vatican library.
It needs to be said that I do not have a problem with the Bible being translated into a more understandable English or any other language for that matter, but then one needs to be translating the correct manuscripts. So the question is not which one is translated the most accurately. The question we should be asking is: Which Bible version is translating the correct manuscripts?
I would like to end this article by saying the following: Read the Bible translation you can understand! If you can understand the KJV, then read it. If not, then read the one you can understand, there is no use in reading the Bible if you do not understand it. But, when it comes to creating doctrines or analyzing the Bible word for word, then we have to have an absolute Bible we can trust. We can't do what so many people do and just look for the translation that says what they want it to say.
If we choose to live our lives a certain way, then surely we have to make sure we are using the right manual.
Here is a short video for those of you who would like to know a bit more detail on the subject:
If this is something you see as important as I do, you have to start asking what happened to the Bibles and how do we know which Bible version is correct? Well let's look at the facts and the origin of the Bible itself.
For the sake of this article, I will not be giving all the minor details and only give the broad outline. Should you feel you would like to delve deeper into the history feel free to do so, The video below also gives a lot of interesting information on the topic.
Basically and very simply put: Bibles are translated from ancient manuscripts that were written and copied over thousands of years. This is not a problem because the copying process was done very meticulously and precise. Now, there are basically two major sets of manuscripts that Bibles are translated from:
- The Majority Texts (Textus Receptus) - Compiled by using over 5000 manuscripts found at that stage that mach perfectly with each other (Currently there are over 64 000 that all match). It is also very important to note that these manuscripts do NOT have deletions, additions or amendments.
- The Minority Texts (primarily the Westcott and Hort translation of the Greek Text), based primarily on manuscripts named: Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Vaticanus). Only a handful of copies were found and they don't completely match each other and they don't match the Majority Texts. The Minority Texts are filled with deletions, additions and amendments. It also needs to be mentioned that Wescott and Hort who translated the Minority Texts did not even believe the Bible to be inspired by God or that Jesus was God in the flesh. For more on them please follow this link.
Older does not mean better. There is a reason the older texts were not copied. They are inferior to the Majority Texts and are riddled with corrections that had to be made. This is why Codex Sinaiticus was found in a rubbish bin about to be burned, and why Codex Vaticanus was found in the Vatican library.
It needs to be said that I do not have a problem with the Bible being translated into a more understandable English or any other language for that matter, but then one needs to be translating the correct manuscripts. So the question is not which one is translated the most accurately. The question we should be asking is: Which Bible version is translating the correct manuscripts?
I would like to end this article by saying the following: Read the Bible translation you can understand! If you can understand the KJV, then read it. If not, then read the one you can understand, there is no use in reading the Bible if you do not understand it. But, when it comes to creating doctrines or analyzing the Bible word for word, then we have to have an absolute Bible we can trust. We can't do what so many people do and just look for the translation that says what they want it to say.
If we choose to live our lives a certain way, then surely we have to make sure we are using the right manual.
Here is a short video for those of you who would like to know a bit more detail on the subject:
|