How much trust do you have in Bible translations?
I primarily use the New International Version when I read and study the Bible, but I have at least a dozen more English translations to compare and to study from. I’m no scholar in ancient languages, but I really enjoy a good word study now and then, so I have excellent Greek and Hebrew reference material at hand as well. What really provoked this question for me (“How can I trust the translation I’m reading?”) was this rendering of a verse from a fairly familiar chapter:
Men took him away roughly and unfairly.
He died without children to continue his family.
He was put to death;
he was punished for the sins of my people.
Isaiah 53:8 NCV
I believe that — every word, as the translator rendered it — but I don’t believe it’s a good translation. Specifically, I do believe Jesus “died without children to continue His family”, but I don’t believe that’s what this verse says. It perhaps implies it, but that’s not what it directly says.
Many popular “versions” of the Bible aren’t, in fact, translations; they’re paraphrases. This particular one though — The New Century Version — is a translation. I believe there’s a place for both on the bookshelf of any Christian, and I believe there’s a place for both in any Christian’s serious study of the Bible. Sometimes comparing one rendition to another opens our hearts to possibilities we hadn’t considered before. Sometimes we have what I term a “hermeneutical epiphany”.
I’ll share more of my hermeneutical epiphanies with you in the days to come, but whether you agree with me on the Isaiah 53 passage or not, I just wanted you to think about what you’re reading, and if something pops out at you that you’ve never considered before, read it again. And again. In several versions of the Bible, if you have that luxury. If you’re reading this blog, I assume you have the luxury of an internet connection. Whether you have physical copies of several versions of the Bible or not, there are online resources you can use. Bible Gateway and Studylight are two excellent examples.
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Posted on June 18th, 2008 by Bob Mathews
Filed under: Bible study, Faith, Growth, Word study
