discourse on modern bible translations

8/3/2019 Discourse on Modern Bible Translations

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Discourse On Modern Bible Translations:

Most translators of today carefully compare the base text they are

using for their translation carefully against many different

manuscripts, codex's, papyruses, etc. to to cross check and weed out

textural errors. Of course they do NOT put their hands on the

original manuscripts as these are under cover of an inert gas to

preserve them in most cases. However, photocopies of the original

manuscripts are available to modern translators to check and weed out

textural errors. Some of the readily available photocopies are the

Codex Alexandrinus in the same British Museum as the Codex Sinaiticus,

the Codex Ephraemi rescriptus in Paris, the Bezae Codices at Cambridge

England, the Papyrus Chester Beatty collections at Dublin, Papyrus

Bodmen at Geneva, various copies/versions of the Septuagint, etc.

For example, the translational team that translated T"he New English

Bible" consulted about 2,000 of these, and the same is true of the New

World Translation, An American Translation, American Standard Version,

La Biblica (Spanish), etc.

Here is a statement on The New English Bible (NEB):

"A presbytery in the Church of Scotland in 1946 recommended to the

General Assembly that a translation of the Bible be made in the

language of the present day because the language in the Authorized

Version [Authorized King James Bible] was archaic and less generally

understood. The General Assembly approached other churches. There was a

desire that a completely new translation rather than a revision and for

a contemporary idiom rather than a traditional Biblical English be used.

It was planned and directed by representatives of the Baptist Union of

Great Britain and Ireland, the Church of England, the Church of

Scotland, the Congregational Church in England and Wales, the Council

of Churches for Wales, the Irish Council of Churches, the London Yearly

Meeting of the Society of Friends, the Methodist Church of Great

Britain, the Presbyterian Church of England, the British and Foreign

Bible Society, and the National Bible Society of Scotland. The Roman

Catholic Church in England and Scotland sent representatives as

observers.

The translating was done by three panels drawn from scholars of British

universities to deal, respectively, with the Old Testament, the

Apocrypha, and the New Testament. A fourth panel of trusted literary

advisers was to scrutinize the translation for English style" [source -

Oxford and Cambridge Universities Presses (1970]).

Let's look at a comparison between Bible translations of one scripture,

"Genesis 1:1-2 in several Bibles and brief comments on these Bibles so

all can gain a better understanding of what sources are used and howtranslating is done

Genesis 1:1-2 in An American Translation, by Beck: (ATT)

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was

desolate and uninhabitable, and it was dark on the deep sea, but God's

Spirit hovered over the waters."


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Comments on this translation, "This is the work of Dr. William F. Beck,

whose cause was to simplify the English Bible for people of all ages.

There are almost 5,000 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament all over

the earth, plus many thousands of the Latin, Syraic, and other

translations. Dr. Beck felt that God wants us to have a passion for the

truth; to use all the best evidences from the manuscripts,

dictionaries, and grammars as light on the text; and to search with

burning hearts for its exact meaning.

The translator did his utmost to make both the Old Testament and the

New Testament the most accurate on the market, in regard to the best

text, the most thorough lexiographical, grammatical, and archaeological

evidence. His goal was to have God talk to the hearts of people in

their language of today and tomorrow.

The main purpose of the Bible is its saving doctrine. The translator

felt that the Revised Standard Version undermines the Heilsplan (plan

of salvation) by cutting down the prophecies of the coming Savior in

the Old Testament and the important truths about Christ in the New

Testament. The section "What Does the Text Say?" at the back of this

Bible gives examples of these changes in the Revised Standard Versionand the New English Bible and how they differ from the renderings in An

American Translation.

This translation has been acclaimed as the most significant Lutheran

contribution in the span of some 450 years since Martin Luther

translated the Bible into German. However, it is a Bible not only for

Lutherans but also for every English-speaking person. It is a faithful

translation, not a paraphrase.

As no translation is perfect, this third edition took into

consideration helpful suggestions, which were evaluated. These created

further demand for expertise in the original languages. Numerous

changes have been made as a result.

The New Testament in the Language of Today was first published in 1963

by Concordia Publishing House.

Leader Publishing Company (1976)

Genesis 1:1-2, in Darby Holy Bible. (DHB)

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth

was waste and empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the

Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters."

Comments on this translation. "This translation of the Old Testament

has been derived from a study of the common Hebrew text, and represents

at the same time a collation of the late J. N. Darby's German and

French Versions, he having himself revised the first few books within a

short time of his decease. Those who use this English translation mayaccordingly expect to find incorporated with it whatever is of special

value in the above-mentioned Versions, particularly the French, where

the common English Bible is defective.

The purpose of this translation is not to offer to the man of letters a

learned work, but rather to provide the simple and unlearned reader

with as exact a translation as possible. To this end, all available

helps have been used. The work is not a revision of the Bible in common


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use. The style of the Authorised Version [KJV] has been retained as far

as possible within the purpose of the translation.

Poetical parts are distinguished from the rest by a metrical

arrangement to which those are accustomed who use Paragraph Bibles.

However, this has been abandoned in the Prophets where the poetical

form is often complicated.

Elohim will in the text appear only in the name Jehovah Elohim;

moreover, when Elohim following immediately on Jehovah has a

grammatical adjunct, its place will be taken by the English word "God."

For the meaning of Jehovah, Yahweh or Yehveh, see Exodus 3:14,15;

Isaiah 40:28; for Jah, see Exodus 25:2. Ordinary spelling of proper

names has been adhered to, subject to numerous and necessary

corrections. Italics indicate emphasis.

In the first edition of the New Testament, the translator used the

Textus Receptus. But the Textus Receptus was itself often changed in

the text of the work. He decided to adopt its reading, not attempt to

make a text of his own. His object was a more correct translation: only

there was no use in translating what all intelligent critics held to be

a mistake in the copy.

Since the first edition, various new helps became available. However,

there has been little change in the actual translating. There have been

changes involving clarity, inaccuracies, and uniformity. [source - G.

Morrish (1923), (Tyndale House, Cambridge, United Kingdom]

Genesis 1:1-2, in An American Translation by Dr. Edgar J. Goodspeed and

a committee. (SGAT)

"When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was a

desolate waste, with darkness covering the abyss and a temptuous wind

raging over the surface of the waters."

Comments on this translation. "The Old Testament was translated by

Alexander R. Gordon (McGill University), Theopile J. Meek (University

of Toronto), Leroy Waterman (University of Michigan), and J. M. Powis

Smith (University of Chicago). The last person named was also the

editor. The New Testament was translated by Edgar J. Goodspeed

(University of Chicago)

.

There were basic reasons for the need of this translation of the Old

Testament. The control of the Hebrew vocabulary and syntax available to

the scholar at this time was vastly greater than that at the command of

the translators of the Authorized Version or of its revisers. The

science of textual criticism had made great progress in recent years,

and no translation of the Old Testament could afford to ignore its

results. There had developed a great interest in the stylisticqualities of Hebrew poetry. The English of King James's day was not

wholly natural or clear to the average person at this time.

The official Massoretic text was used as a guide. When it was necessary

to check elsewhere, a substitute along generally approved lines was

used.

Hebrew poetry was presented in poetic lines. Archaic pronouns (except

when used in addressing God), verb forms, and adjectives were made more


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modern. The Tetragammatron was rendered as LORD or GOD in small capital

letters.

The New Testament was written in everyday Greek. It, thus, was

translated into everyday English.

The translator used helps made available in recent years, including

Greek papyri, grammatical works, lexicons, and lexical studies. He

followed the Greek texts of Westcott and Hort, except in a very few

verses. In one of these, he followed the suggestion of Rendel Harris

that by an error of the eye the name of Enoch has dropped out of the

text of 1 Peter 3: 19. [source - University of Chicago Press (1931)]

Genesis 1:1-2, in the Lamsa Bible (LBP)

"God created the heavens and the earth in the very beginning.

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the

face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the

water."

Comments on this translation. "This translation of the Old and New

Testaments is based on Peshitta manuscripts which have comprised theaccepted Bible of all those Christians who have used Syriac as their

language of prayer and worship for many centuries. The Church of the

East and some noted Western scholars dispute the belief of modern

scholarship that the originals of the Four Gospels and other parts of

the New Testament were written in Greek. In any case, Aramaic speech is

an underlying factor and New Testament writers drew on documents

written in Aramaic. Syriac is the literary dialect of Aramaic. From the

Mediterranean east into India, the Peshitta is still the Bible of

preference among Christians.

George M. Lamsa, the translator, devoted the major part of his life to

this work. He was an Assyrian and a native of ancient Bible lands. He

and his people retained Biblical customs and Semitic culture, which had

perished elsewhere. With this background and his knowledge of the

Aramaic (Syriac) language, he has recovered much of the meaning that

has been lost in other translations of the Scriptures. There is a

section on the problems of translating from the Aramaic to the Greek.

Manuscripts used were the Codex Ambrosianus for the Old Testament and

the Mortimer-McCawley manuscript for the New Testament. Comparisons

have been made with other Peshitta manuscripts, including the oldest

dated manuscript in existence. The term Peshitta means straight,

simple, sincere and true, that is, the original. Even the Moslems in

the Middle East accept and revere the Peshitta text.

Although the Peshitta Old Testament contains the Books of the

Apocrypha, this edition has omitted them. [source - A. J. HolmanCompany (1957), (Tyndale House, Cambridge, United Kingdom]

Genesis 1:1-2, the New World Translation (NWT)

"In [the] beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Now the earth proved to be formless and waste and there was darkness

upon the surface of [the] watery deep; and God's active force was

moving to and fro over the surface of the waters."


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Comments on this translation. "It was translated from the Hebrew,

Aramaic, and Greek languages by a committee.

It was originally released in six volumes from 1950 to 1960. The

originals contained marginal references and footnotes. The revised 1961

edition had neither. This 1984 edition has been expanded to include

complete updating and revision of the marginal (cross) references of

the original edition.

It was released by the committee to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract

Society of Pennsylvania for printing, translation into other languages,

and distribution. The translators felt responsible to God to transmit

His thoughts and declarations as accurately as possible. [source -

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York (1984) ), (Tyndale

House, Cambridge, United Kingdom]

Genesis 1:1-2, in the New Century Version (NCV).

"In the beginning God created the sky and the earth. The earth was

empty and had no form. Darkness covered the ocean, and God's Spirit was

moving over the water."

Comments on this translation. "This translation of God's Word was

made from the original Hebrew and Greek languages. The translation team

was composed of the World Bible Translation Center and fifty

additional, highly qualified and experienced Bible scholars and

translators. Some had translation experience on the New International,

the New American Standard, and the New King James Versions. The third

edition of the United Bible Societies' Greek text, the latest edition

of Biblia Hebraica and the Septuagint were among texts used.

Several guidelines were used to make the language clear for any reader.

The Living Word Vocabulary, the standard used by World Book

Encyclopedia, was the basis for vocabulary. Concepts were put into

natural terms -- modern measurements and geographical locations.

Ancient customs were clarified in the text or footnotes. Rhetorical

questions were stated according to the implied answers. Figures of

speech and idiomatic expressions were translated according to their

meanings. Obscure terms were clarified. An attempt was made to choose

gender language that would convey the intent of the writers. The

Tetragrammaton was indicated by putting LORD and GOD in capital

letters. Hebrew parallelism in poetry and word plays were retained.

Images of ancient languages were translated into equivalent English

images, where possible. [source - Word Publishing (1987), (Tyndale

House, Cambridge, United Kingdom]

Now to know the truth, go to:

1) http://religioustruths.yuku.com/

2) http://www.network54.com/Forum/403209/

3) http://religioustruths.lefora.com/


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If you wish more information and/or wish to ask a question or what

ever, contact me by leaving a PM (personal message) at

http://religioustruths.yuku.com/

Your Friend in Christ Iris89

Francis David said it long ago, "Neither the sword of popes...nor the

image of death will halt the march of truth."Francis David, 1579,

written on the wall of his prison cell." Read the book, "What Does

The Bible Really Teach" and the Bible today!

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