10-3-22<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are many Holy Bibles \u201cin the market,\u201d in stores and online. It seems there are new translations every year. Actually there are, certainly if you count the world\u2019s many languages and dialects. It is hard to comprehend, but the number of languages including sign-languages, and distinct dialects are more than 3300 that have translations of the Bible, in whole or in part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are approximately 1700 versions of the Holy Bible available online alone. Christians rejoice at this evidence of evangelism. Skeptics will suggest that the message of Gospel likely is diluted or manufactured during such processes. Are Bible translations like the parlor game of \u201ctelephone,\u201d where mistakes are rife and misunderstandings endemic?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is an odd word, \u201ctranslation,\u201d when I focus on new (and ever newer) versions<\/em> in English. A very incomplete list of English-language \u201cversions\u201d of the Bible available today include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n King James Version, New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, The Holy Bible in Modern English, Young\u2019s Literal Translation, Douay, The Geneva Bible (\u201cBreeches\u201d), Knox Translation, Today\u2019s English Version, The New English Bible, The Moffatt Bible, New International Version, The English Standard Version, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible, Contemporary English Version, Good News Bible, The Living Bible, The Amplified Bible, Phillips Translation, The Message\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am not including the plethora of Commentaries and Concordances like time-honored, multi-volume Strongs, or excellent study Bibles like Ryrie and the Expositor\u2019s Study Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For centuries the Roman church forbad any translation of Scripture from Latin; indeed it frequently opposed the personal reading or ownership of the Bible, even in Latin, to anyone but clergy. These policies were enforced under penalty of death, and the list of martyrs, both famous in history and anonymous, is long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The honor roll of those who believed God wanted every believer to have access to God\u2019s Word (and were cruelly persecuted) is long: Wycliffe, Tyndale, Hus; Luther\u2019s offense was not only criticizing the corruption of the papacy, but daring to translate the Bible into German. He escaped the death sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the first English translations followed Luther\u2019s, that of the Frenchman living in Switzerland, John Calvin. It was his \u201cGeneva Bible\u201d that was standard in English and was relied upon by the King James translators \u2013 and was the Bible carried by the Pilgrims and read by the Colonists in North America; those who designed our government<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was honored to be on the editorial team that produced, after centuries, the first reprint (changing nothing but thee<\/em>s and thou<\/em>s and grammar) of the 1599 Geneva Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reverting to the inevitable carping of skeptics, the great number of translations, versions, and updates is not necessarily evidence of a diluted message, but rather the reinforcement of truth and integrity. How the Bible came to be, so to speak, is either a miracle, an implausible coincidence, or proof of Holy Spirit inspiration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bible includes 66 books, written by many different people over different centuries and on different continents. Yet they have common themes and references; prophecies and predictions made and fulfilled; and \u2013 when you think about it, maybe the most profound distinction \u2013 this Book has affected millions of people. Changed lives. \u201cSpoken\u201d to multitudes from wildly disparate backgrounds, circumstances, and\u2026 languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is a Miracle Book, a book of miracles, written in so many ways \u201cunder the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.\u201d Inspire means to \u201cbreathe into\u201d; God whispered to the hearts and minds of those who wrote Scripture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I will confess here that I am not a fan (not quite a rejectionist, but sometimes close) of recent translations. Some projects are so concerned with contemporary readers\u2019 inability to understand big words; or they are so motivated by Political Correctness, that they corrupt Scripture. It is not yet the case that the Ten Commandments are being changed to the Ten Suggestions\u2026 but, for instance, \u201cgender neutral\u201d translations are dangerously close to claiming that \u201cIn the beginning, He, She or It created heaven and earth\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n No, the message is simple. The Eternal God created everything; His children incline toward sin and rebellion; we cannot be reconciled with a perfect and a just God without a remedy; He provided means of forgiveness, redemption, and sanctification by offering His Son as a sacrifice to put the punishments we deserve upon Himself; and by believing that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died for our sins, rose from death, and ascended to Heaven\u2026 we are assured of eternal life with Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, that is pretty simple. Humankind \u2013 those darn intellects and pride and jealousies \u2013 make it complicated. Denominations get in the way. Publishers need product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the 1930s, the Limited Editions Club published, unbelievably after several centuries, the first major Holy Bible in the original King James format \u2013 that is, without verse numbers, citations, notes, and superscripts. I read \u201cthat\u201d Bible (there have been others since) and was thunderstruck. Study-formats can help us, yes; and bless us. But reading only<\/em> the texts \u2013 God\u2019s story; His conversations; in many places reading like a novel \u2013 was like reading some familiar passages for the first time. I recommend it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was a little snarky above about the motivations of Bible-revisionists. As with the Geneva Bible reprint project, it can be useful to have access to contemporary language and grammar. Of course. I have a set of Shakespeare\u2019s folios, and the spelling and language of those times make them virtually inaccessible, requiring modernization. But, again, that is the language, not the message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So. People try to change the Bible for a variety of reasons, some good, some bad; some sensible, some questionable. But I pray that we never lose sight of the very pertinent issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n