differences in bibles?

Question

What are the differences in all of the bibles, i.e the NIV, KJV,NKJ, NCV, etc.... I mean, the bible is the bible, right? So what is the differences in the versions? Have things been changed in each one? I don't understand.....

Answer 1

Accuracy !!

Old Testament:
In fact, the New World Translation is a scholarly work. In 1989, Professor Benjamin Kedar of Israel said:
"In my linguistic research in connection with the Hebrew Bible and translation, I often refer to the English edition as what is known as the New World Translation. In doing so, I find my feeling repeatedly confirmed that this kind of work reflects an honest endeavor to achieve an understanding of the text that is as accurate as possible. Giving evidence of a broad command of the original language, it renders the original words into a second language understandably without deviating unnecessarily from the specific structure of the Hebrew....Every statement of language allows for a certain latitude in interpreting or translating. So the linguistic solution in any given case may be open to debate. But I have never discovered in the New World Translation any biased intent to read something into the text that it does not contain."

New Testament:

While critical of some of its translation choices, BeDuhn called the New World Translation a “remarkably good” translation, “better by far” and “consistently better” than some of the others considered. Overall, concluded BeDuhn, the New World Translation “is one of the most accurate English translations of the New Testament currently available” and “the most accurate of the translations compared.”—Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament.

“Here at last is a comprehensive comparison of nine major translations of the Bible:

King James Version, New American Standard Bible, New International Version, New Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, Amplified Bible, Today's English Version (Good News Bible), Living Bible, and the New World Translation.

The book provides a general introduction to the history and methods of Bible translation, and gives background on each of these versions. Then it compares them on key passages of the New Testament to determine their accuracy and identify their bias. Passages looked at include:

John 1:1; John 8:58; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:15-20; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:8; 2 Peter 1:1

Jason BeDuhn
Associate Professor of Religious Studies, and Chair
Department of Humanities, Arts, and Religion
Northern Arizona University

(Please note that according to Dr. Jason BeDuhn, only the NWT translated John 1:1 correctly)

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Answer 2

There are 2 main texts that these versions come from. The Majority Text is an extremely accurate set of documents that has historically been used by the true church, those Christians who have been persecuted all through history. The Minority Text is full of errors...most of it was compiled by Origen in the 4th century when Emperor Constantine made Christianity the state religion (Origen's job was to make a state bible to go with the religion). He chose gnostic documents, and as a result there are a ton of serious doctrinal errors in the minority text.

The KJV is pretty much the only translation that we have from the Majority Text today that is in use. Other versions from the Majority Text include the Wycliffe Bible, Tyndale's work, Geneva Bible, Miles Coverdale's Bible, etc. and they are all quite old, written in the middle ages. Anyways, the KJV is doctrinally accurate.

The other "modern" versions come from the Wescott and Hort text, which was translated from the Minority Text. These new versions, such as the NIV, NASB, etc., have some serious doctrinal errors in them as well as some ridiculous contradictions that you won't find in the KJV. The Catholic Bible is a Minority Text translation (actually, it was the catholic church who used the Minority Text throughout history...).

The differences in the versions are doctrinal differences. Things have been changed in the new versions, some radically and some not so much (the NKJV doesn't have as many changes in it). The thing with those versions is that the people behind each version have to change x number of words or their work won't qualify as a new version of scripture and they can't make money off it. I kid you not. Bunch of moneygrubbers. Anyways, yeah, the doctrinal errors in the new versions are serious.

Answer 3

It comes down to the translators, their method (literal translation, paraphrase, etc.), and the manuscripts available to the translators. For instance, the translator for the KJV didn't have many Greek manuscripts available (it's been a while, but I believe he only had 2, and one was very late. His primary source material were latin translations). Newer translations, like the NRSV, were compiled by translators who had access to many more Greek, latin, etc., manuscripts by which they could make decisions on what was the best translation which would conform most closely to the original (which we don't have).

Each version says basically the same thing, although, some have verses that others do not, and some passages are vastly different in meaning from other translations.

Hope this helped. Again, it's been a while since I've dealt with this information, so the specifics aren't there for easy recall. But yes, in short, things are changed in each one due to the translational biases of the individual translators, the number of manuscripts available, and their particular method of translation.

Answer 4

There are many different translations of the Bible. In the English versions, many people wanted a newer translation than the King James Version, claiming that it was too hard to understand, so different translations have come about. I personally love the KJV, and will not use other versions, but many people like the NIV.

Remember, these are all just different translations, not different Bibles.

Answer 5

The differences in the bible are because of the differences in the people who wrote them.

Answer 6

They have all been changed, yes.

It's all subject to the interpretation of ancient languages and the vernacular of the time.

Answer 7

They say the same things, but are worded differently... some use bigger words than others. but everything says the same things.