Bible Translation

vitrael3 · 2025-03-02T13:20:59+00:00

I recommend you read this: What's the best Bible translation? And more importantly, why?

I have read extensively in ESV, and also NIV, NLT, KJV, but lately have been using only NASB1995. It's not as poetically brilliant as the ESV (compare John 1:3 for example), but it gets the facts right more often.

ESV takes some quite inappropriate liberties, especially inserting words that just aren't there in the source text to offer a clearer "interpretation." Romans 12:2 is one of the offenders from my list of memory verses that really soured me on this translation.

Proof-Reveal-2980 · 2025-03-02T14:08:12+00:00

Look up "Bible Translation Chart" on google which I find generally helpful. It will show you where various translations land on the spectrum of "word-for-word" and "paraphrase". That being said, I use the NASB.

WritingCold1749 · 2025-03-05T15:28:46+00:00

Justin Martyr in 130 A.D. says the Jews changed the Hebrew Old Testament to obscure references to Christ (see "Dialogue w/ Trypho").

In the late 1800's, two not-even-believers Anglican Priests named Wescott & Hort introduced a new way of interpreting Greek manuscripts and suggested flip-flopping words in the New Testament around (so, like, for 1800+ years we had one thing we called the New Testament, and then these guys introduced a brand-new paradigm allowing us to have multiple versions of THE GREEK TEXT that underlies the English New Testament).

For this reason, I use the Orthodox Study Bible. It uses the LXX (Septuagint) as it's Old Testament text which is older than the Masoretic Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts we have, and it uses the NKJV for the New Testament that is based on the Greek Textus Receptus of Erasumus which he received from the Eastern church who preserved the original Greek (as opposed to the Western church which preserved the Scriptures in Latin).

nostepsnek_esq · 2025-03-02T09:40:51+00:00

ESV and KJV, and there’s a reason why both. KJV is beautifully poetic and consistent in its word usage without any modern spin, but lacks in certain respects in that they only had the Septuagint (Greek) version of the Jewish Bible (the Old Testament). The KJV was translated prior to the discovery of Aramaic and ancient Hebrew texts of the Old Testament in (among other places) the Dead Sea Scrolls.

A good example of a significant translation difference is found in Deuteronomy 32:8… ESV says “according to the number of the Sons of God” but the KJV says “according to the number of the children of Israel”…

There are plenty of videos on YouTube discussing this particular passage, but it is one which I think highlights the importance of examining and cross referencing other translations.

No one translation has everything perfect.

rocknrollchuck · 2025-03-02T12:47:22+00:00

I use the 1611 King James Bible after many years of using the NIV and the NKJV. The 1611 has shown itself to have power in my life that other translations have not had.

Also, as just one example compare the accuracy of 2 Samuel 21:19

ESV: “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.”

KJV: “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.”

We all know David slew Goliarh. The KJV gets it right. Also, God's word gets lots of push back and hate. Pay attention to the negative comments I get about it "not being the most accurate" and "it's archaic" and ask yourself why a translation that has stood the test of time for over 400 years and has sold more copies than any other book in history gets so much opposition.

Title	Bible Translation
Author	Boykalma
Upvotes	3
Comments	15
Date	March 2, 2025 6:40 AM UTC (1 year ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/RPChristians
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/RPChristians/comments/1j1kqp9/bible_translation/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/RPChristians/bible-translation.1545384 https://theredarchive.com/post/1545384

Comments