Which Holy Bible translation is the most accurate and least accurate?

Answer 1

Most accurate- Dhouay- Rhiems and Latin Vulgate

Least accurate- King James....for starters, they removed a bunch of books!

Answer 2

The Morris Literal Translation is the most accurate, as it has the exact Strong's number references with the English translation of the Hebrew and Greek. The downside of this is that the words are in their original sequences. Therefore, the words are out of order in the English.

As far as a readable Bible, any Bible that uses the Textus Receptus (or majority text) as its source has the most accurate information in it. Those that use the United Bible Society's Greek New Testament, edited by Wescott & Hort (the Alexandrian text) as a source, are missing some data, but only 40 or so lines of text are disputed between the two.

The least accurate translation is either The Living Bible or The Message, because they take some liberties with the text, it misses the mark on accuracy. These were meant for readablility, and not so much accuracy.

Answer 3

You are going to run across people who are fanatical in favor of the King James version.
They have a good point. It was translated from extremely accurate source documents. And some other versions of the Bible have the problem of "leaving passages out." But I'd say that the translating of the KJV itself leaves a lot to be desired.
A lot of words changed meanings in the past few cebturies since its translation. And there is some bias in places. And on top of that, it's just not the English we speak today. It's beautiful language, but the wording and sentence structures make it hard to follow.
A suggestion: Look at several translations at once and piece together what makes sense.
You might even get a computer program or a website that lets you look up the original Greek and Hebrew words.
Good luck.

Answer 4

It depends on if you are looking for word for word translations or thought for thought.

Example: In Spanish "Yo tengo hambre" means "I am hungry".
Word for word would read, "I have hunger".

Word for word - English Standard Version

Thought for thought - I like the New Living Translation.

I use the New International Version the most as it is the most widely used bible translation in the churches I have been involved in.

I think the least accurate is many people's favorites, the King James Version. It is also the most difficult to read.

Answer 5

From what I've read, no english translation is perfect. Each one has their weaknesses and strengths. When I was trying to pick a translation a few years ago, by far the NIV was rated the best. The KJV (usually the one everyone refers to) of 1920 is one of the poorest for a modern reader. The new KJV, I think it's labeled MKJV (Modern KJV), is supposed to much better than the earlier one. I also have read that there is a new NIV coming out. I don't know how they rate comparing to other versions, but I'm sure they are both good translations. I personally use the NIV because it reads well to me and I understand it better. If your looking for a Bible to purchase, find the version that speaks to you the best, that determines the best version for yourself. Hope this helps!

Answer 6

That can be a tricky question. By accurate do you mean word-for-word or thought-for-thought, or just outright error.

The most accurate word for word is most probably the NASB, or NKJ, or HCSB.
The best thought for thought is the NIV-no contest.
The least desirable is the NRSV.
Then there are paraphrases which don't count because they are not considered Bible. NLT, Message, both are good tools.
The NWT is corrupt.
The NAB is Catholic-may be good-I don't know.
That should cover it.

Answer 7

Yes, the King James Version is the most accurate.

Answer 8

Bible Scholars through out the Earth will tell you the "new world translation" along with many other modern translations are more accurate than the King James Bible.

"whynotaskdon" personally I would not ask the guy anything about the Witnesses, he knows nothing about them, but he most certainly has something against them, makes you wonder what it is.

Because they think it's God Sent, it has hundreds of errors, and it was not the first Bible printed in English, it just happen to have King James backing.
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People in the English-speaking world use and accept the King James or Authorized Version than any other single Bible translation. In fact, so highly esteemed is this translation that many persons venerate it as the only true Bible. This raises some questions.

Do these countless persons who use the King James Version know why, despite objections from churchmen, modern translations keep rolling off the presses? Do they know why the King James Version itself was once opposed by the people? Do they know why, despite vigorous protest and opposition, the King James Version entered into the very blood and marrow of English thought and speech? Do they know what illuminating document is probably missing from their own copies? In short, do they really know the King James Version?

The purpose of Bible translation, then, is to take these thoughts of God, originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, and put them into the common languages of today. Bible translation makes God’s Book a living Book. So true Christians read the Bible, not to be entertained by clever turns of expression, unusual words, excellency of style, striking rhetorical devices or felicities of rhythm, but to learn the will of God. It was for this reason that the King James Version came into existence. That was in 1611.
From almost every quarter the King James Bible met opposition. Criticism was often severe. Broughton, a Hebrew scholar of the day, wrote to King James that he “should rather be torn asunder by wild horses than allow such a version to be imposed on the church.”

The translators, not unaware that people preferred to keep what had grown familiar, knew that their work had unleashed a storm. They tried to calm the people down. They wrote a “Preface of the Translators” to explain why the King James Version was made. This preface is called by the Encyclopedia Americana “a most illuminating preface describing the aims of the translators which unhappily is omitted from the usual printings of the Bible.” Thus most Authorized Versions today, though they contain a lengthy dedication to King James, omit the preface. Its presence would clear up many misunderstandings about the purpose of the revision. The reader would learn that strong opposition was expected.

The reader would learn that the King James Version was a revision of earlier works made with a modest hope of improvement and no thought of finality, In time the clamor died down, and the King James Version prevailed over the Geneva Bible. For more than two and a half centuries no other so-called authorized translation of the Bible into English was made. Little wonder that many people began to feel that the King James Bible was the only true Bible. Like many people who once objected to any change in the Geneva Bible, many persons today object to any change in the King James Bible. They oppose modern translations perhaps as vigorously as the King James Version itself was once opposed.

King James Bible has already been changed; today no one reads the King James Version in its original form. Explaining why this is so the book The Bible in Its Ancient and English Versions says: “Almost every edition, from the very beginning, introduced corrections and unauthorized changes and additions, often adding new errors in the process. The edition of 1613 shows over three hundred differences from 1611. . . . It was in the eighteenth century, however, that the main changes were made. . . . The marginal references were checked and verified, over 30,000 new marginal references were added, the chapter summaries and running headnotes were thoroughly revised, the punctuation was altered and made uniform in accordance with modern practice, textual errors were removed, the use of capitals was considerably modified and reduced, and a thorough revision made in the form of certain kinds of words.”

So many changes have been made, many of them in the readings of passages, that the Committee on Versions (1851-56) of the American Bible Society found 24,000 variations in six different editions of the King James Version!

What, then, of the objections raised by persons who say they do not want the King James Bible changed? Since the King James Version has already been changed, they lie on a crumbled foundation. If these persons do not want it changed, then why do they use, instead of a copy of an edition of 1611, an edition that has been changed?

They appreciate, perhaps unknowingly, the improvements the later editions have made. They do not like the odd spelling and punctuation of the 1611 edition; they do not want to read “fet” for “fetched,” “sith” for “since” or “moe” for “more,” as the edition of 1611 had it. Thus improvement, when needed, is appreciated, even by those who say they object to any changing of the King James translation.

One of the major reasons the Authorized Version is so widely accepted is its kingly authority. There seems little doubt that, had not a king authorized this version, it would not today be venerated as though it had come direct from God

Answer 9

In philosophy and logic, the liar paradox encompasses paradoxical statements such as:

* I am lying now.
* This statement is false.

Analyzing the statement "I am lying now", if what the speaker says is true, then the statement "I am lying now" is false, that means when the statement was said, the speaker was actually lying. But then, on the contrary, if it is true that the speaker is lying, then the statement "I am lying now" is false in that the statement turns out to be true.

To avoid having a sentence directly refer to its own truth value, one can also construct the paradox as follows:

The following sentence is true. The preceding sentence is false.

Answer 10

The KJV is by far the most accurate.

Most distorted--- impossible to say because each revision of many keep getting changed. Possible the KJV as published by The Watchtower....devious, because it is twisted to accomodate their thinking.