Troublesome Topic: HERE’S WHAT AN EXCLUSIVELY WORD-FOR-WORD TRANSLATION LOOKS LIKE PART 3

Many in Christendom have been debating whether we should have translators that give us the “literal” meaning, or ones that help us understand the intended meaning. But the real question should be, “How far from the original text is the right amount?” That is where the debate lies. Somewhere in the middle is best, but that exact spot in the middle is up for discussion. However, we all need to admit that a true word-for-word translation would be unintelligible enough of the time as to make it an unacceptable option.

Is the Amplified Bible Closer?

It is not intended to be a word-for-word translation; it is intended to provide greater richness through understanding the fuller meaning of key words. Therefore, it sometimes offers various optional meanings, but only those that work in that context, not every option.

Is 11:6 is basically the same in the amplified Bible as in other Bibles.

Here is Haggai 2:13 in the amplified Bible. Then Haggai said, “If one who is [ceremonially] unclean because of [contact with] a corpse touches any of these [articles of food], will it be unclean?” And the priests answered, “It will be unclean.” [Ceremonial uncleanness, like sin, is infectious.]   Notice that it says “corpse” as if that is what the text says, and then it gives commentary on uncleanness.

Rev 3:19 in the Amplified version: Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I rebuke and discipline [showing them their faults and instructing them]; so be enthusiastic and repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, your sinful behavior—seek God’s will].  Notice, it does not give the original meaning of repent as “turn around”; it says “repent”, then takes to preachin by telling us how to do it.

What About an Interlinear Presentation?

Supposedly, the closest thing to a truly literal translation is an interlinear text, which gives you the Greek or Hebrew words with the corresponding English word above or below them, and other info. However, even they often rely on a major version such as the KJV or the NASB for much of their English wording. Because they rely on the English text of a major version, interlinears usually supply assumed words to fill the gaps for things that are left out, and they clean up a text like the ones demonstrated above. So even most interlinears are not word-for-word presentations of the original! No word-for-word presentation is sold today, and if there were, quite a bit of it would be unintelligible.

In Isaiah 11:6, the Hebrew wording often includes a word picture of a word picture. But the English presented in the interlinear gives you the final word picture, not the first one. That is what I mean when I say that the interlinear presentation relies on a major version of the Bible for its wording.

In Genesis 11:3, where the Hebrew says  “Let us whiten white”,  the English of this interlinear says “let us make bricks”. Where the Hebrew says, “and they had whites for stones”, the English says “and they had bricks for stones,”

In Haggai 2:13, the English cleans up and fixes this verse quite a bit. A novice would look at the interlinear and think he now knows the possessive form of the word for “a dead body or a corpse” because an English word under a Hebrew word tells us the meaning of the Hebrew word, right? – no, it is not that simple. It tells us how the chosen English version rendered that word in that context. The chosen version did a good job at conveying meaning, but it makes the interlinear appear unclear at best and deceptive at worst.

Online Charts Are Not Helpful

There are numerous charts on the internet that attempt to show the differences between various versions of the Bible regarding how close each one is to the original languages. They usually call it accuracy. As such, this is not a measure of the differences in the English words used in different versions to express each thought, but a measure of how close the English words are to the Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek words in the original language. Most of them look something like this, where T stands for translations and P stands for Paraphrases.

These charts show the versions of the Bible spread out and the one they consider most literal to be very close to the original languages (on the left). Note that there is considerable distance between each version.  It seems to me that these charts were developed to make the Bible versions look very different from each other in hopes of getting people to buy a specific one that is located in just the right spot on the spectrum.  “We’re different from all the rest, we win!”

Here is my chart showing what I think is a more accurate portrayal of how much difference there is between various translations and paraphrases regarding closeness to the original languages.

The answer is “not much difference.” In my opinion, all the translations are very close together, while the paraphrases are slightly more spread out, but still close together. None of them are very close to the original languages because lots of interpreting must go on for it to make sense. As they should, all of the translations and paraphrases are shooting for a spot close to the middle – a balance between what the text says (its literal meaning), and what it strives to communicate to the reader (its intended meaning).

Despite all this, Our Bible Is Reliable.

Despite these challenges, despite the difficult choices a translator must make, we can still be confident that we have a reliable Bible. Why can we make that claim? How is it possible to have a reliable Bible if so much interpretation and decision-making is required?

Most of the Bible versions available today that I am aware of were translated by very capable people whose intentions were right. There are differences in wording, but most of them point in a similar direction for any given passage. All of the Bible versions I have seen are helpful in some ways and also have things I disagree with. Thankfully, the problems are few compared to the 31,103 verses.

If you look for problems you will find them; if you look for spiritual impact, you will find it.

So, Which Bible is the Best?

I heard a preacher once say, “The best Bible for you is the one you can understand.” I agree with him.

God can use any of the Bible versions available today to speak to someone’s heart.

The next lesson is Question the Bible But Do It the Right Way