![]() ![]() Their Bible translation of choice is CEV. He says, “In my wife’s new United Methodist church plant, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning worship is full of new converts and families with young children. John Hobbins is married to Paola Benecchi, pastor of The Family Church in Neenah, Wisconsin. Most word-for-word versions require at least a New York Times reading level. These use words and grammar understandable to people who read at a third to sixth grade level. Thought-for-thought Bible translations include NLT, Contemporary English Version (CEV), the Good News Bible (aka Today’s English Version), New International Reader’s Version (NIrV), and The Message. Nida’s approach is known as dynamic equivalence, functional equivalence, phrase-for-phrase, and thought-for-thought. These Wycliffe translators worked among indigenous Central Americans who understood “white as yucca” better than “white as snow” and among Africans who prized goats and despised sheep. Nida trained teams at the Summer Institute of Linguistics to translate the Bible into new languages on the mission field. In the 1950s, Eugene Nida asked translators to focus not on what the words are but what the text means. The italics show where Ryken says the translation goes beyond what the psalmist actually wrote. Thus “You anoint my head with oil my cup overflows” (Psalm 23:5, ESV) becomes “ You honor me by anointing my head with oil. Ryken charges that some translators insert their commentaries into God’s Word. Ryken laments, “English readers have no way of knowing that they have been given a substitute” instead of a many-layered image. Leland Ryken, in his books Understanding English Bible Translation and The Word of God in English, argues for translations “transparent to the original text.” Sticking close to what biblical writers actually wrote preserves scripture’s full interpretive potential, theological precision, literary qualities, dignity, and beauty.įor example, many New Testament writers describe the Christian life as “a path down which one walks.” The NASB, ESV, KJV, and NKJV preserve this metaphor in 1 Thessalonians 2:12 as “walk in a manner worthy of God” or “walk worthy of God.” But the NIV, Today’s NIV, New Living Translation (NLT), and Revised English Bible (REB) change walk to the more abstract live. Hobbins says formally equivalent translations work well “if worship in your congregation includes music, hymns, and prayers from the greater Christian tradition, and the preaching is expository.” He explains that essentially literal translations let congregations read “ along with believers of generations past and present….and with theologians, hymn writers, poets, and novelists.” Ordinary people still use biblical phrases such as “the way of all flesh” and “there is a balm in Gilead.” Word-for-word translations also help Christians read across language barriers. Hobbins, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. ![]() ![]() “In my congregation, a legacy church, we use the RSV in worship,” says John F. This philosophy is known as word-for-word, formal equivalence, or essentially literal translation.Įxamples include the King James Version (KJV), New KJV, New American Standard Bible (NASB), English Standard Version (ESV), Revised Standard Version (RSV), and New American Bible Revised Edition of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (NABRE). Until the last century, most Bible translators aimed to reproduce the word order or wording of ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek manuscripts. But no one speaks those languages in the same way anymore. The Bible was originally given in forms, structures, word plays, and languages that its first audiences understood. ![]() Christians wonder which version is most authentically God’s Word. So many outlets covered Bible translations that Religion Newswriters Association members voted the topic a 2011 Top Ten Religion Story of the Year.Īll this attention to English-language Bible translations raises questions about how to choose Bibles for church worship, study, and personal use. The CEB wasn’t released till summer 2011 yet ranked 10 th in the number of Bibles sold all year in Christian retail stores. They noted the swift rise of the brand new Common English Bible (CEB) translation. They got into gender language details of the updated New International Version (NIV 2011). Mainstream media journalists reported on the 400 th anniversary of the King James Bible. Bible translations made the news a lot in 2011. ![]()
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