Question:
With all the different bibles out there, how do you discern the meanings of the verses from one to the other? I’ve noticed some of the verses are condensed or paraphrased older bible verses. They don’t mean the same thing a lot of times. Help!
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Dear Friend,
Thanks for writing. What I believe you’re asking about is why it is that a verse in one translation can sometimes seem quite different from the same verse in another translation. This is a great question; and it’s something that a lot of folks wonder about.
Let me affirm at the outset that you can absolutely trust almost all of the more popular translations of the Bible—NIV, ESV, NASB, NKJV (and the KJV), the Holman CSB, the NLB, RSV. The scholarship behind each of these is sound and reliable. There are differences between them in some points, of course; but in my opinion, these differences are not so great as to put the main themes of the Christian faith into any doubt whatsoever. They come about, not because of an imperfection in God’s word, but because of the limitations of the translators. And I would even argue that the differences are helpful to know about. When we compare different translations and see the differences in a particular verse, (1) that can help us to know that the verse in the original language may have been difficult to translate—and that it requires special care in our interpretation and application; and (2) it can add to our understanding of how that verse might be understood. In the church family were I fellowship, I really like it when—in our Bible Study groups—we share from different translations. It adds greatly to our insights together.
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But how do you sort through those differences and get to the best and most accurate meaning of that verse? I mentioned the limitations of the translators; and there are several that they have to overcome.
(1) There’s the limitation of the ‘time and culture barrier’. Each translation has to take what was said in the past—two to three thousand years in the past; and often in very different cultural contexts than our own—and translate the original words into words that have meaning to people in our own time today. It’s not usually hard for scholars to understand what was meant back then; but it’s often very hard to transfer that same meaning completely into modern forms and ideas.
(2) There’s the limitation of the ‘translator barrier’. Each translation is—to some degree—an interpretation on the part of the translator. Some Bible translations self-consciously rely more heavily on the interpretive element—such a the NIV or the CSB or the NLB. They have adopted a translation philosophy called ‘dynamic equivalency’—that is, they try to reproduce in the modern reader the same experience that the original reader would have had in reading the same verse. Others rely very heavily on an accuracy of language—such as the NKJV (and the KJV), or the NASB, or the ESV, or the RSV. These have adopted a ‘word-for-word’ translation philosophy—that is, they try to reproduce the the meaning of each word in the original language into its closest equivalent in English. Often, the theological commitments of the translators can’t help but show up in their work. One of the most famous examples is how in Romans 7 the word “flesh” (in the NKJV for example) is translated “sinful nature” in the NIV. This was largely a theological decision on the part of the translators of the NIV—one that may or may not be a good one, depending on your theological commitments.
(3) There’s also the limitation of the ‘language’ barrier. The words in the original language are always the same; but the ability to translate those words into modern English can be challenging. There might be several English words that would do the job—but which word is the best one? The translators have to make a choice as best they can—and different translators may settle on different choices. And sometimes, English language itself changes—and so an English word that worked well in one generation might not work so well in another. 1 Corinthians 16:13 in the KJV says “quit you like men”—which makes absolutely no sense to us today. The NIV gets the meaning accurately when it translates it “be men of courage”. But what a problem! What would have communicated ‘courage’ to the reader of the Bible four-hundred years ago sounds like a call to be ‘quiters’ today.
(4) And finally, there’s the limitation of the ‘texual criticism’ barrier. Over the past two-and-a-half centuries, a great deal of work has been done by scholars in catagorizing the differences that show up in different copies that were made of the original text—and in sorting through those differences in such a way as to arrive at what was most likely the original meaning. But some sets of translations were based on a certain groups of copies of the ancient text, and other translations were based on other groups of copies. Don’t let this alarm you; because these different groups of copies are in remarkable agreement with each other. But there are some differences between them in minor points. (Most of the main translations I mentioned above will tell you what those differences are in the footnotes.)
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So; to answer your question, one of the things that you need to do is to be aware of why there appears to be differences between the translations. Don’t be bothered by them; because they aren’t exposing some fault in the original text of Scripture. Rather, they are showing us that there are obvious limitations that all human translators are under. (And as I said, I think these difference can actually be very helpful in adding to our understanding of what the Bible says.)
There are a couple of ways that you can help yourself with these differences, though. First, I would make use of an ‘interlinier’ Bible. This is a copy of the Bible that has the English translation interfaced with the original language—Hebrew for the Old Testament, and Greek for the New Testament. You can usually find bound copies of this in a Bible book store; but an on-line version of this can be found on the Internet (http://biblehub.com/interlinear/ is an example). This helps you compare the English translation with what it says in the original language; so that when you see the differences in the English translations, you can compare those differences with what the original text says.
Another big help would be to make use of Bible commentaries. There are commentaries that are what you might call “devotional”—that is, that ‘preach’ to you and feed your soul. But there are also commentaries that are what are called “critical”—not in the sense that they criticize what is said, but rather that help you understand the different interpretational issues and offer sound solutions to understanding the differences. I feel both types of commentaries are important to use. Again, you can find these in a book store; but more and more of them are becoming available on the Internet. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/ provides a variety of different options. Another good resource is http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/.)
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Whenever you see those differences, I hope you won’t let yourself be discouraged or too frustrated by them. Rather, I hope they will encourage you to find out why the differences are there. I believe that if you do so—and if you always pray and ask for God’s help in studying His word—you’ll find your understanding of Scripture expand and become very fruitful.
I hope this helps.
Blessings!
Pastor Greg