What are the most respected religious texts English translations?

Question

Of any religious texts, which English versions do you think best convey the intended messages of them and are the most accurate translations? Please be as specific as you can. Thanks.

RJ, for the most part, understanding old English seems to come naturally to me. Understanding some archaic words and those that have not become relatively common outside of some regions, do not.

Answer 1

The Book of Mormon. It was originally translated into English from a now dead language through power given to Joseph Smith Jr. While this is true, even if you don't believe that he translated it, but if you erroneously believe he wrote it, it's still the first language it was presented to us. The error occurs as a work is translated into more and more languages. So while you will find the Book of Mormon in many other languages, they occasionally go through the translation to make sure the words and phrases used are accurate. Sometimes corrections are made. But since the work was originally translated into English, no changes need t be made.

Answer 2

Douay-Rheims

"The Douay-Rheims Bible is a scrupulously faithful translation into English of the Latin Vulgate Bible which St. Jerome (342-420) translated into Latin from the original languages. The Vulgate quickly became the Bible universally used in the Latin Rite (by far the largest rite of the Catholic Church).

St. Jerome, who was one of the four great Western Fathers of the Church, was a man raised up by God to translate the Holy Bible into the common Latin tongue of his day. He knew Latin and Greek perfectly. He was 1500 years closer to the original languages than any scholar today, which would make him a better judge of the exact meaning of any Greek or Hebrew word in the Scriptures. Besides being a towering linguistic genius, he was also a great saint, and he had access to ancient Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the 2nd and 3rd centuries which have since perished and are no longer available to scholars today. St. Jerome's translation, moreover, was a careful, word-for-word rendering of the original texts into Latin.

In their translation, the Douay-Rheims translators took great pains to translate exactly. Contrary to the procedure of the modern Bible translators, when a passage seemed strange and unintelligible they left it alone, even if obscure, and "let the chips fall as they may." The modern Bible translators, on the other hand, will often look at an obscure passage, decide what they think it means, then translate in words that bring out that meaning. The result is that the English is usually (not always!) easier to understand, but it is not necessarily what the Bible says; rather, it is their interpretation and understanding of what the Bible says. Moreover, the Holy Ghost may have hidden several additional meanings in the passage. Those meanings may well be completely translated out!

Sometimes the question is raised: Why translate from a translation (the Latin Vulgate) rather than from the original Greek and Hebrew? This question was also raised in the 16th century when the Douay-Rheims translators (Fr. Gregory Martin and his assistants) first published the Rheims New Testament. They gave ten reasons, ending up by stating that the Latin Vulgate "is not only better then al other Latin translations, but then the Greek text itself, in those places where they disagree." (Preface to the Rheims New Testament, 1582). They state that the Vulgate is "more pure then the Hebrew or Greek now extant" and that "the same Latin hath bene barre better conserved from corruption." (Preface to the Douay Old Testament, 1609)."

From http://www.marianland.com/bible20.html

Answer 3

Hard question to answer for the Bible because you gave two different requirements. The ones the "best convey the intended message" are not always the "most accurate translations". Reason being that the Greek and Hebrew grammer is so different from English that an absolutely word for word accurate translation would be almost impossible to understand. the Greek, for example, places the noun before the adjective, meaning they say "house yellow" instead of "yellow house". They indicate pronouns by altering the end of the verb rather than writting the pronoun separately like in English, meaning instead of "he said", they would write "saidhe". They use "a" where we would use "the" and "the" where we would use "a".

There are several excellent translations, such as Young's Literal Translation, that are word for word accurate, but almost impossible to read. Some publishers have actually gone in and placed superscript numbers over the words to help you turn them around into English grammar to help with the reading.

More accurate yet are the Interlinear Versions of the Bible, where they have the original Greek or Hebrew on one line, and a word for word English translation under the words. Again, because of grammar difference, most of them will have the superscript numbers to help you turn the Greek or Hebrew grammar into proper English order. (especially helpful with Hebrew which reads right to left, not left to right like English)

"Best conveys the message" is another issue. The King James Bible is one that has stood as a standard for almost 400 years. Most people, whoever are not aware that the KJ Bible that you can purchase everywhere today is not the version originally published in 1611. It has undergone over 80 revisions and alterations since it was first published. The majority were to correct errors made by the original printer. Others had been because the alphabet has changed since 1611. For instead we now make the letter "s" like "s" and not like "f" as was used in the original. Same with "u" and "v", which have switched since 1611. Still others because of changes in the spelling or meaning of words.

Here is John 3:16 has originally written in 1611 "For God so loued ye world, that he gaue his only begotten Sonne: that whosoeuer beleeueth in him, should not perish, but haue euerlasting life." (Thank God we don't have to decipher that today it order to read the Bible.)

The version of the KJ Bible most people use today was updated in the 1790's by Cambridge and Oxford univerities. Even still, the version is unfortunately showing it age. Many of the words in the KJ version have changed mean since 1611 (or 1790). Such as in Romans where Paul writes that "satan has let him come to Rome" - where "let" actually means satan hindered him from coming to Rome. So while it is an excellent translation, it can not longer be considered "best to convey". It is reaching the point where we to often have to translate that translation. (Which is too bad because it is my favorite. Use it regularly).

So looking at "best convey" version, that is also as accurate as possible, I would say the New American Standard. I can read the original Greek, so I have some knowledge of what it says. And I agree with most language scholars that the New Amercian Standard in the closest translation I have seen that is still easily readable. It stays as close as possible to the original word for word.

For "best conveys", I would rank the New King James, which does and excellent job of keeping as much of the KJ wording as possible, but updates as needed to current English words and grammar. Or the "New Internation Version".

But almost any version on the market today (assuming it is actually a "translation" and not a "paraphrase" like the Message Bible or the (New) Living Bible) can be considered "accurate". The people who produce Bible translations all go back to the same set of early manuscripts for their translations. So what little variation there is in the translations is more often a matter of style then scholarly dispute. For example, the Greek and Hebrew languages do not put the " 's" on the end of a word or possession like English does. They always say "the bowl of Joseph". Yet in proper English we would day "Joseph's bowl". Both mean exactly the same thing. They are both accurate translations. Just a difference in style.

Personally, when reading, I use either the KJ (1790 version) or the New King James. When doing an in depth study I use a version which list the KJ with 5-8 rendings of the same verses choosen from 26 of the top translation. And it is often hard to find 5-8 different renderings for each verse because the majority are word for word the same, or minor style differences.

So you should be able to pick up almost ANY translation being sold in Christian bookstores today, and have confidence that what you are reading as a faithful and reliable translation designed to convey the meaning as clearly as possible.

Answer 4

King James Version
Amplified Version

Answer 5

For the Bible, I believe it is the King James Version. It is the one that has stayed truest to the manuscripts from which it has been copied and has not been altered or changed throughout the years.

Answer 6

King James and the most beautiful Psalms.

Answer 7

KJV is great, but only if you understand old english. Many words were used in different ways than they are now.

Answer 8

KJV