2007-04-30 15:07:39 · 17 answers · asked by JCsSake 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Each translation team naturally thinks that theirs is the best translation. The KJV is based on fewer and inferior manuscripts, was translated before we had a better understanding of Koine Greek, and is translated into a form of English we no longer use. The philosophy of dynamic equivalence used by the NIV translators takes too much liberty with the text and is not that highly esteemed by scholars. I think the best translation we have in English is the New American Standard. It has a more wooden style than some of the other translations such as the NIV but I think it is more true to the original intent of the authors of Scripture.
2007-04-30 15:52:16 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Good question. Did Moses (author of Pentateuch) speak Hebrew? What do / did Egyptians speak? Since he was fetched from his basket in the Nile, he was taught by Egyptians. Was all the Old Testament written in Hebrew. I've heard Job is the oldest story in the Bible. What did they speak, or the person who eventually wrote it down? I think I'll take a look in the Bible and see if there are any notes on this. I don't believe the Bible was written in Aramaic, although Jesus spoke that language. The New Testament was definitely written in Greek. None of the Bible is just old stories, but "all scripture is God-breathed--inspired' and full of life and application as we read it.
Also, consider that today we have the Dead Sea Scrolls which will be on display at the San Diego Natural History Museum for 6 months. I've heard that these are Isaiah. I will want to see these. God bless
2007-04-30 15:23:15 · answer #2 · answered by Cordelia 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Those that are the most like originals are those reproduced in the original languages. Everything else is a translation.
Translations have to translate for exact word or exact meaning and there is often a difference for example directions were given in reference to facing the sunrise so how do you translate do you give the direction as "to the right" or just word "right" or do you translate as "south"?
The New Century Version does the best for giving the meaning the American Standard Version does the best on literal word translation but most other translations will fall between the two poles of translation.
2007-04-30 15:45:54 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Tora the Jews use is translated directly from Hebrew into English but you'll only get the books Moses wrote at the begging of the Old Testament not the whole Bible.
2007-04-30 15:17:32 · answer #4 · answered by saxman232001 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
...The Dead Sea Scrolls proved that the today's Old Testament is virtually the same as the original text. It was written in Hebrew and carefully preserved; it was copied by hand.
...The New Testament, written in Greek, boasts more full copies and fragments than any 10 pieces of antiquated literature, and was written soon after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. It is 95% pure, and minor differences change not one article of faith.
...Use a good word-for-word translation: KJV, NASB, TEV are the best. I also use the Amplified Version.
2007-04-30 15:19:06 · answer #5 · answered by carson123 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
KJV has interlinears and concordances for cross-checking. It is very close to the original. I use the NKJV because it clears up some of the mistranslated words and replaces the archiac thees and thous.
The closest copies we have to the original would be the Dead Sea Scrolls. They contain extremely few errors over a period of 2,000 years of meticulous copying. So much for corrupted text.
2007-04-30 15:13:40 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
The KJV is the best Bible for English speaking people. If you really want to know the history of the Bible check out these two resources.
2007-04-30 16:37:07 · answer #7 · answered by Kerri 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
i like the amlified because it is a greek and hebrew translation and it has explanations included like having a preacher help you study, also the gideon is nice too, the nkj is nice also, don't care for the niv because you have to read all the footnotes to get a clear understanding. also the american standard and the world english are nice. these are the bibles i recommend to anyone i love which is everybody,
2007-04-30 15:16:54 · answer #8 · answered by grace 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The way your question is worded doesn't make sense.
The oldest manuscripts that have been found are said to be written around 200 BC.
2007-04-30 15:15:06 · answer #9 · answered by supertop 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The original Hebrew and Greek translations.
2007-04-30 15:13:54 · answer #10 · answered by Christy 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋