Bible translations/versions?

[Guest Jesse R. Bassett]

I use the New Living Translation. It is easy to understand for me, and it isn't biased like the NIV is.

[Times]

How about the "New King James Version" or the New American Standard." They all say they are translated from the original manucsripts, or as some say the "best manuscripts."

[thechild]

you r money would be better spent on a strongs concordance and learning some greek and hebrew. it is not hard and every word is numbered. a lot gets lost in every translation. god chose those languages for a reason, not because something better hadnt come along yet.

God Chose Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. One small passage in a Persian language. God did not choose 1611 King James. 1611 Kjv is not the oldest translation of the scroptures into English, and it certainly is no better than a few of the modern translations.

and chaldean, but maybe that is what you meant by persian. i have no love affair with king james or his translators. it is hady for me and i think many others because it is traditional, most of us are familiar with it, and it is that version that strong used to number his concordance. there are some beautiful works in there as well that one would not want to be without. they did a very nice job with the psalms, for example. the epistles of paul, however leave a lot to be desired as one of the low points. traditions from before were used in the king james and the king james is still used as the template for most modern english translations. study of the original language is a must to obtain some of the understanding god has conveyed to us through his word.

strongs, of course, is a crude and elemental work, but plenty for the average person to keep busy with for years. i have gesenius' lexicon as my main hebrew root word reference, along with several other lexicons, several interlinear texts, the septuigent, thayer for the greek(a unitarian bias but very thorough), and the beautiful work of w.e. vine, alond with an exhaustive hebrew concordance and one for the greek as well. they can all be used with strongs numbering system and are easy to navigate freely with a simple memorization of the greek and hebrew alphebets.

[thechild]

you r money would be better spent on a strongs concordance and learning some greek and hebrew. it is not hard and every word is numbered. a lot gets lost in every translation. god chose those languages for a reason, not because something better hadnt come along yet.

I'm not being sarcastic here, I really want to know "God chose those languages for a reason"?

there is some evidence that hebrew is a much more ancient language than scholars are willing to give it credit for. i suspect that it may be the original language and may certainly predate the flood and be the one from which all other languages came after the tower of babel. greek certainly seems to be a direct offshoot of hebrew.

the hebrew language , the written portion, was never intended to be read aloud. it is a picture language much like the egyptians had. each letter is a picture of something. the first symbol, aleph, is the head of a bull, the beginning principle, whatever begins a thing. beth, is a shelter and it is also the word in hebrew for house(bethel is house of god) and it is the container principle, the thing inside being more important than the thing itself.

hebrew is a shorthand for the language of god, which is visual only. dreams are always in the language of god. that is why it took people familiar with god in order to properly interpret dreams. it goes without saying that all language comes from god, otherwise he would not have been able to dole so many of them out to confuse the people in the world. it was probably at this time that the emphasis began to go from picture to sound in order to communicate.

the hebrew and the greek i liken to genetic code. the hebrew being the male and the greek being the female. the child that comes out of a marriage of these two languages is a type of the child of god. if only one or only the other are used, no life can be begotten.

Edited June 1, 2006 by thechild

[Capella]

I use the New Living Translation. It is easy to understand for me, and it isn't biased like the NIV is.

Jesse,

What is the bias of the NIV?? Just curious. A gal at work at had a Women's Devotional Bible in that version/translation (which is correct?) that I was able to look at briefly.

Thanks,

Deb

[CSLewis]

I prefer the NRSV with appocrypha.

Easy to read yet very scholarly.

KJV is very beautiful - I love the flowing poetry and sentence structure.

[Christian]

Capella,

Blessings to you sister

As you anticipated we all have our own preferences, none of them wrong from what I have read so far. It's just a matter of preference. I myself use the New(or Modern) King James Version, King James Version, and a New International Version

One suggestion I have for you is to download a free program called e-sword ( www.e-sword.net )

It is a magnificent bible program which allows you to download many various translations of the Bible. It is very easy to use and it also offers you a "compare" and "parallel" option which will put up combination(s) of a verse(s) at one time so you can cross-reference what you're reading.

In your case here it would certainly allow you to see immediately how each different translation reads and help you decide which you prefer.

The best to you in your search

Blessings to you

Christ's servant

-CC-

[tah]

I Love e-sword...

it has the ESV too...

[Capella]

You all are just great. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this with me. I really appreciate the link to the software. I'm loading it now. I will never part with my original King James Version, but I know I need to spend a lot more time in the Bible. For those who don't know, I more or less ran kicking and screaming from the church *quite* a number of years ago. I've come home now. Studying in a version written in a style of English I'm more familiar with I believe will help me gain greater insight and understanding. There were just so many choices I felt I just had to touch base to make sure that a translation hadn't been written that most had strong feelings against. I don't really see that in your responses. I realized it would be personal choice. All your input is greatly appreciated and you've given me a great reference for my shopping trip, to select a Bible for my personal study.

God bless you all,

Debbie

[CellShade]

My sword of choice is the KJB and unless something drastic happens will always be the version I read and preach from.

Jesus did not speak in King James English nor did he speak in "modern English" either.

"It is not impossible that in the providence of God another universally accepted standard translation could be produced. However, given the lateness of the hour, the lack of spiritual scholarship, and the fact that our language no longer has the depth and vitality it once had, this seems most unlikely. All indications point to the KJV as the Bible God would have His people use in these last days before the Second Coming of Christ. God has preserved in the King James Version His original work of inspiration. The flower has not faded! The Sword is as sharp as in the day it was first whetted!"

Jack Moormon from "Modern Bibles-The Dark Secret"

I think I agree maybe.

KJV is also similar to greak due to it's use of words, I prefer KJV, just hope they would also have translated to spanish