Was the question "What is the most accurate translation of the Holy Scriptures'? asked recently on Jeopardy?

Answer 1

For an analysis of the various translations of the bible see:
http://faith.propadeutic.com/questions.html

For accurate translations of the bible at the literal level I recommend you use the NASB or ESV translations.

Answer 2

I prefer the New Revised Standard Version. More about that at the end. The people who say that the KJV is the closest translation to the original are just wrong, and there are objective reasons for this. First of all, the KJV was published in 1611, since then we have more transcripts to work from, including the dead sea scrolls which help scholars do a better jobs of resolving the minor differences in the text. Secondly, we know ancient languages much better than the scholars of 1611 did. Remember that Hebrew was a dead language that was revived in the 20th century. The scholars in 1611 didn't know Akkadian, an early Semitic language that pre-dates Hebrew. As a result, modern scholars can do a much better job of translating the Old Testament than the scholars of 1611 could. I have a years worth of graduate level biblical Hebrew and some studies in Greek as well, so I know what I am talking about here. The KJV is a good translation, but it is not, as many argue, the best translation. In Divinity School, the translation we used the most often was the New Revised Standard version. It does a great job of pointing out all of the translation issues and discrepancies in the text. And one more point for the folks who talk about the changes that have been made to the text, are you aware that the great Isaiah scroll found with the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 50's is an almost word for word copy of the book of Isaiah we use today. In today's world, reading the KJV makes it sound as if we should refer to God only with pronouns such as "thee" and "thou" and not "you" and "your's" But the original Greek and Hebrew pronouns are the same pronouns you would use to refer to anyone else. If we translate them into modern English, it should simply be "you" and not "thou." You may prefer the latter, but it is not more correct. Another important difference is that both Biblical Greek and Hebrew use the masculine plural to refer to groups of mixed genders. So, for example, when the angels say "peace on earth good will to men," what they meant was "peace on earth good will to people." Isn't it more important to get the meaning correct than it is to get the word for word translation correct? I think it is. Anyone who has studied biblical Hebrew knows there is no "literal translation." The Hebrew language is simply not that precise. For instance, in Hebrew you would say "King Saul ate lunch with David" and "King Saul ate David for lunch" exactly the same way. There is no difference. We have to go as far at the first clause in Genesis before we find a significant translation program. The King James translates the Hebrew phrase "bresheet bara elohim" as "In the beginning God", the problem is that the "the" is not there. If it were, breshit should read as brasheet" but it doesn't. It appears that the introductory clause is actually in a possessive relationship with the verb "bara" (to create), so it should read something like, In creation's beginning, God created the heaven's and the earth." That's as close as we can get in English, but notice we had to use create twice even though it is not there. There is another example in Ruth. The text is full of examples like this, and there are entire passages that are simply our best guess as to the translations. Many modern translations such as the NIV and NRSV acknowledge these problems and offer the reader alternate translations. With all of this said, I prefer the TNIV and NRSV, because I believe they translate the original gender neutral nature of masculine plural nouns better. The NRSV also provides excellent translation notes. I am a Baptist, but not Southern Baptist.

Answer 3

Absolutely not. After a Jehovah's Witness posed a question on Yahoo Answers alleging this (which she subsequently deleted), I disproved this by going to the Jeopardy messageboard and searching through the official list of questions asked on the show. You can read my question (and the true best answer) here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ao37Ki_kHmTQZ0D1bj_v1FDsy6IX?qid=20070412104536AAuCVdv

If you are a JW, I urge you to investigate this issue yourself.

Answer 4

Yes, I get all my religious dogma from television. Oh, and Yahoo Answers.

Pre-digested and served at room tempature.

Answer 5

I doubt it because the answer is subjective.

Answer 6

IDK.