Why So Many Translations? · Brief

Translations as Tools

Most of us read God's Word in translation, and the differences between Bibles can raise a quiet worry: if the Bibles don't agree, which one can I trust? This first lesson of Abide 102: Illuminate answers that worry. The many English translations are not a reason to doubt your Bible. Faithful scholars toiled over them, their differences come from four illuminating reasons, and a few translations side by side help you see God's Word more clearly.

The lesson begins with an official from Ethiopia who could read Isaiah but needed a guide, and with the teams of scholars who are our guides today. It then walks through the four reasons translations differ: the approach (word for word or thought for thought), the interpretation of a word, the manuscripts behind the text, and changes in English. Each reason comes with an example, and each turns out to be a reason for confidence. It closes by helping you build a translation toolbox, so that Study and Apply, like Meditate and Obey and Hear and Do, rests on a clearer view of what God has said.

Which Bible Can I Trust?

• For some 300 years the King James Version was the Bible of the English-speaking world. Now "today’s Bible reader is faced with dozens of translations," and many readers wonder which one to trust.
• An official of the queen of the Ethiopians could read every word of Isaiah, yet he asked, "How can I ... unless someone guides me?" (Acts 8:31, BSB). The Spirit sent Philip, who "began with this very Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus" (Acts 8:35, BSB).
• Every reader of an English Bible already has guides: the translators who carried God's Word out of Hebrew and Greek. Different translations are more guides beside you in the chariot.

The People Behind Your Bible

• Translation is nothing new: "even Jesus and the apostles utilized the Greek Septuagint in their reading of the Old Testament." The Gospel writers translated too. Mark keeps Jesus' Aramaic "Talitha koum!" and then gives its meaning (Mark 5:41, BSB).
• Most translations come from "years of painstaking committee-based research and debate," by experts in the original languages, textual criticism, translation theory and English. Committees from many traditions give "a hedge of protection from theological prejudice." Differences "occur due to legitimate points of view that come into play in the process of translation."
• Ezra "had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, to practice it, and to teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel" (Ezra 7:10, BSB). When he read the Law to Israel, the Levites read it "explaining it and giving insight, so that the people could understand what was being read" (Nehemiah 8:8, BSB).

Four Reasons Translations Differ

• "There’s almost always a good reason why translations may differ on any particular passage." The textbook gives four, taught here in this order: the approach, the interpretation, the manuscripts and the English.
• Many differences are matters of style. A big difference acts like a red flag, "indicating difficult exegetical or textual issues that warrant further investigation." It's a clue, not bad news.

Reason 1: Word for Word or Thought for Thought

• Translations sit along a translation spectrum, from word for word (formal equivalence) through balanced to thought for thought (functional equivalence). The BSB calls itself "near the middle of the range." "Also, “literal” doesn’t necessarily mean “accurate.”" (Here "literal" means word for word, not the Literal guardrail.)
• Idioms show the difference. "Let these words sink into your ears" (Luke 9:44, BSB) keeps the picture; thought-for-thought Bibles give the meaning, listen carefully. In Amos 4:6, "cleanness of teeth" stands beside "all your towns with lack of bread" (BSB): the second line explains the first.
• The good eye from Abide 101 shows why one translation isn't enough. The KJV and NKJV keep the eye in Matthew 6:22, Matthew 20:15 and Mark 7:22; the LSB gives the literal words in footnotes; the BSB keeps the picture in Matthew 6 but gives the meaning (envy) in the other two.
• A paraphrase retells the Bible freely: "Therefore, if you consult a paraphrase, treat it as you would a commentary."

Reason 2: The Same Words, Read Two Ways

• Sometimes a word could mean more than one thing. In Psalm 8:5 the Hebrew elohim becomes "a little lower than the angels" (Psalm 8:5, BSB), heavenly beings in the ESV and God in the NLT.
• The textbook: "Clearly, any of the three translation choices could work, and a good argument can be made lexically and contextually for any of them." Footnotes often show the other option.
• Hebrews quotes the psalm and applies it to Jesus, "who was made a little lower than the angels" (Hebrews 2:9, BSB): Scripture helping explain Scripture.

Reason 3: Different Manuscripts, and Why We Can Trust Them

• "Many English Bible readers don’t realize that transmission precedes translation, and the two are quite distinct." The original pages are gone; we have thousands of copies with small differences, called variants.
• "But don’t be dismayed; variants are usually exegetically insignificant, and no area of Christian doctrine rests upon a textual variant."
• Three Greek texts lie behind English New Testaments: the critical text (most modern translations), the Textus Receptus (the KJV and NKJV) and the Majority Text (the MSB).
• The KJV reads, "In whom we have redemption through his blood" (Colossians 1:14, KJV); most modern translations don't. The phrase "is found in only a few late New Testament manuscripts yet is represented in the Textus Receptus." It is secure in Ephesians 1:7: "In Him we have redemption through His blood" (Ephesians 1:7, BSB).
• The LSB keeps later passages in brackets, marking "words probably not in the original manuscripts." Nothing is hidden.

Reason 4: English Keeps Changing

• The KJV reads, "Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles" (1 Peter 2:12, KJV). The Greek anastrophē "does not infer verbal communication, but rather the broader elements of human conduct and behavior." The BSB: "Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles" (1 Peter 2:12, BSB).
• "Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia" (2 Corinthians 8:1, KJV) becomes "Now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the churches of Macedonia" (2 Corinthians 8:1, BSB).
• "This, of course, isn’t to indict the KJV as a poor translation of the Bible." Its own translators wrote, "Therefore, as S. Augustine saith, that variety of Translations is profitable for the finding out of the sense of the Scriptures."

What's in Your Translation Toolbox?

• Keep a Bible you love: "there’s nothing wrong with having a preferred translation of the Bible for devotional reading, teaching, or preaching." "Read the preface and the translator’s notes, as they will reveal the underlying translation theory and textual base behind that translation."
• For study, open three or four from different parts of the Translation Map: one close to the words, one that carries the flow of thought, and one that follows a different Greek text or has good notes. The Scholar's Set and the Devotional and Discipleship Set are two places to start.
• When translations differ, ask why: interpretation, translation theory, a text-critical issue, or a change in English. A big difference becomes one of your questions for the passage.
• At Pentecost each heard "in his own native language" (Acts 2:8, BSB): "we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" (Acts 2:11, BSB). "God is more intent on revealing himself to you than you are to get to know him."

Reflection Prompts

Instructions: For reflection, group discussion, or written response. Answers are not provided.

1. God Wants to Be Understood: Using Acts 8:26–35, the Gospel writers' "which means" (Mark 5:41; John 1:38, BSB), and Pentecost (Acts 2:5–11), explain what Scripture shows about God's desire for His Word to be understood, and what that means for the many translations on the shelf.

2. The Picture and the Meaning: Compare word-for-word and thought-for-thought translations, using Luke 9:44, Amos 4:6 and the good eye (Matthew 6:22; 20:15; Mark 7:22). What does each kind of translation show you that the other might hide?

3. Confidence in the Copies: Explain transmission, variants and textual criticism in your own words. Using Colossians 1:14 and Ephesians 1:7, show why the textbook can say "no area of Christian doctrine rests upon a textual variant."

4. Words That Drift: Using 1 Peter 2:12 and 2 Corinthians 8:1 in the KJV, explain how English has changed, and why the King James translators themselves encouraged readers to compare translations.

5. Your Toolbox: Choose three or four translations from different parts of the Translation Map and explain why you chose each. Then read one short passage, such as Ephesians 1:3–14, in all of them, mark one difference, and say which of the four reasons is at work.

Key Vocabulary