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Why So Many Translations?


Dennis1209

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What translation of the Bible do you use, and why? I think that's a legitimate question.  

First off, I'm by no means knocking any translation of the Bible whatsoever. 

I often see and hear the question, "why are there so many Bible translations"? I've often heard because there was a need for a different translation to keep up with the times and general understanding. Rather than rely on others opinions, I did a little digging on my own. I wasn't surprised when I came to the conclusion of the age old adage: 'follow the money'.

Even today, the Bible has been the number one selling book of all time. With the exception of the 1611 King James AV, most Bible's of today are copyrighted. Exactly what does that mean? It means you may not reproduce, share or distribute the translators work without a royalty or permission paid (money). I'll withhold of what I think about that.

My percentage may be off a little bit, but to obtain a copyright to a translation of the Bible, it must differ by at least 15%. Fifteen percent from what? Anything that differs, is altered or omitted by 15% from something that is 100% accurate, you get the point. In my opinion the AV King James Bible is the most accurate version ever translated to English. And speaking of 'English', old English is not that hard to comprehend and has an elegance to it, and those ye, thy and thou's make it more accurate than our English modern vernacular, he be, she be, it be... 

If we have difficulty understanding certain word meanings, we have a number of convenient references to look them up; such as Strong's complete dictionary of Bible words.

https://support.biblegateway.com/hc/en-us/articles/228180227-Why-are-modern-Bible-translations-copyrighted-

I'm interested in the translation you use and why? I'm open to learning something new. 

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23 minutes ago, Dennis1209 said:

What translation of the Bible do you use, and why? I think that's a legitimate question.  

First off, I'm by no means knocking any translation of the Bible whatsoever. 

I often see and hear the question, "why are there so many Bible translations"? I've often heard because there was a need for a different translation to keep up with the times and general understanding. Rather than rely on others opinions, I did a little digging on my own. I wasn't surprised when I came to the conclusion of the age old adage: 'follow the money'.

Even today, the Bible has been the number one selling book of all time. With the exception of the 1611 King James AV, most Bible's of today are copyrighted. Exactly what does that mean? It means you may not reproduce, share or distribute the translators work without a royalty or permission paid (money). I'll withhold of what I think about that.

My percentage may be off a little bit, but to obtain a copyright to a translation of the Bible, it must differ by at least 15%. Fifteen percent from what? Anything that differs, is altered or omitted by 15% from something that is 100% accurate, you get the point. In my opinion the AV King James Bible is the most accurate version ever translated to English. And speaking of 'English', old English is not that hard to comprehend and has an elegance to it, and those ye, thy and thou's make it more accurate than our English modern vernacular, he be, she be, it be... 

If we have difficulty understanding certain word meanings, we have a number of convenient references to look them up; such as Strong's complete dictionary of Bible words.

https://support.biblegateway.com/hc/en-us/articles/228180227-Why-are-modern-Bible-translations-copyrighted-

I'm interested in the translation you use and why? I'm open to learning something new. 

I read the NKJV. I like it. It is easy to read and it does not have the old English in it like the KJV. It also had Jesus's words in red which I like.

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43 minutes ago, missmuffet said:

I read the NKJV. I like it. It is easy to read and it does not have the old English in it like the KJV. It also had Jesus's words in red which I like.

Yeah, there's a number of considerations to take into account when purchasing a Bible. I have purchased many and also like the red letter print of Jesus' words. I finally figured out what I needed most out of the construction of a Bible. Not withstanding the quality of the binding, leather, paper and quality... I need wide margins all around for note taking. Now I'm trying to figure out how to transfer those many important study notes to another Bible? Maybe find someone to hire and pay to transcribe the many notes to another Bible.

Any ideas on how I can be more efficient with my notes? I want them in my Bible because it's with me everywhere I go and easily referenced. 

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I like to read the KJV cross-referenced with the Amplified Bible, which expands on the word usage. Pretty meaty stuff!

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I pretty much do the same thing.I use a Bible with 4 translations.extra meaty!  Lol

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1 hour ago, Dennis1209 said:

I'm interested in the translation you use and why? I'm open to learning something new. 

I primarily use the USB4/NA27 Greek texts (which both have a nice apparatus for alternate readings) and an older LXX with parallel English in the margins.  I started learning Hebrew this year so hopefully in a few years some of my OT reading will move over to that.  When I last used English as my primary Bible, I used NIV for NT and ASV for OT.  I've read the Bible through in KJV, ASV, RSV, NASV, LB, TEV, NIV, JB, and NVI (Spanish).   Before I learned Greek, I just compared a number of translations and used Strong's and Thayer's a lot.  Now I tend to use BDAG, LSJ, and more technical resources as well as doing more extensive word searches across the GNT, LXX, and using Project Perseus to find how words were used by other ancient Greek authors.

The main reason I've worked on learning original languages is so that I don't have to have to rely on translations.  That is certainly not for everyone as it does require a serious commitment over a long period of time.  My opinion is that most translations are fine to use for one's main devotional reading, memorization, and the like; and that a combination of versions should be used for in depth study.

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2 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

old English

I can't understand the king james version, and I don't want to get into the strongs concordance, I use the NIV I'm not saying it's the best, but I've been using it over 20 years, and that makes it easy to find something, I don't like the people who own the translation, they changed it a number of years ago to make it less gay friendly, I don't know what they did, but we're all guilty by the law.

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On 1/17/2018 at 4:45 PM, Dennis1209 said:

What translation of the Bible do you use, and why? I think that's a legitimate question.  

First off, I'm by no means knocking any translation of the Bible whatsoever. 

I often see and hear the question, "why are there so many Bible translations"? I've often heard because there was a need for a different translation to keep up with the times and general understanding. Rather than rely on others opinions, I did a little digging on my own. I wasn't surprised when I came to the conclusion of the age old adage: 'follow the money'.

Even today, the Bible has been the number one selling book of all time. With the exception of the 1611 King James AV, most Bible's of today are copyrighted. Exactly what does that mean? It means you may not reproduce, share or distribute the translators work without a royalty or permission paid (money). I'll withhold of what I think about that.

My percentage may be off a little bit, but to obtain a copyright to a translation of the Bible, it must differ by at least 15%. Fifteen percent from what? Anything that differs, is altered or omitted by 15% from something that is 100% accurate, you get the point. In my opinion the AV King James Bible is the most accurate version ever translated to English. And speaking of 'English', old English is not that hard to comprehend and has an elegance to it, and those ye, thy and thou's make it more accurate than our English modern vernacular, he be, she be, it be... 

If we have difficulty understanding certain word meanings, we have a number of convenient references to look them up; such as Strong's complete dictionary of Bible words.

https://support.biblegateway.com/hc/en-us/articles/228180227-Why-are-modern-Bible-translations-copyrighted-

I'm interested in the translation you use and why? I'm open to learning something new. 

The King James Bible was written for the contemporary reader of the day. It's not a strict translation of the Hebrew or Greek text. Therefore the multiple meanings that are packed into for instance, one Hebrew word is missed without looking at the original text and consulting the original language. The verses in the Psalms and Prophecies can be clunky and puzzling to a great extent.. and therefore more difficult to match the old testament verses with the new testament.

The KJB is not 100% accurate. Taking into account that the apostles original writings were lost so all Bible copies have been compiled out of damaged copies. The KJB's translations of the various Hebrew idioms through Latin and Greek to English, are by far, inaccurately done. And there's the matter of deleted or unauthorized additional text. As well as the shortening of sentences from the previous Bibles which the KJB translators thought was verbose.

So who's being faithful to the original text, and who isn't?

Because of the things I've mentioned there is therefore not anything wrong with any subsequent Bible version (no less authorized).. and actually more appealing in using updated and contemporary English.

I'm grateful to my parents who didn't advise us kids to shun the other various Bible versions with such reasons as given in your post.

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11 minutes ago, Joulre2abba said:

The King James Bible was written for the contemporary reader of the day. It's not a strict translation of the Hebrew or Greek text. Therefore the multiple meanings that are packed into for instance, one Hebrew word is missed without looking at the original text and consulting the original language. The verses in the Psalms and Prophecies can be clunky and puzzling to a great extent.. and therefore more difficult to match the old testament verses with the new testament.

The KJB is not 100% accurate. Taking into account that the apostles original writings were lost so all Bible copies have been compiled out of damaged copies. The KJB's translations of the various Hebrew idioms through Latin and Greek to English, are by far, inaccurately done. And there's the matter of deleted or unauthorized additional text. As well as the shortening of sentences from the previous Bibles which the KJB translators thought was verbose.

So who's being faithful to the original text, and who isn't?

Because of the things I've mentioned there is therefore not anything wrong with any subsequent Bible version (no less authorized).. and actually more appealing in using updated and contemporary English.

I'm grateful to my parents who didn't advise us kids to shun the other various Bible versions with such reasons as given in your post.

Hey Joulre2abba,

I'm not shunning or disparaging any translation of the Bible, see the second sentence disclaimer. I asked for opinions and I respect yours, and learning what others think as I go. 

Do you find my 'reasons' inaccurate or misleading in any way? You don't see a profit motivation as one possible reason for all the copyrights and translations?

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On ‎1‎/‎17‎/‎2018 at 2:09 PM, missmuffet said:

I read the NKJV. I like it. It is easy to read and it does not have the old English in it like the KJV. It also had Jesus's words in red which I like.

My sister.    I thought we had been through this.   the KJV is not old English it aint even middle English, but early modern English.

Surely dear sister you don't think I am smarter than you .    I can understand the KJV quite well.   and of course the words I did not understand

I got a old English dictionary.    Any way sister .  You knows that I loves ya. 

You have inspired me to bring you a present .  its a beauty so let me go find it .

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