One last look at Bible translations and Witherington's book

Here’s a final look at Ben Witherington’s book The Living Word of God. Let’s finish up on what he had to say about Bible translations.

He had some good general rules when looking for a useful translation of the Bible. First, he says if the translation has to have a lot of notes to explain just the meaning of the words and phrases used, then it’s either too literal or too much of a paraphrase. He also tells the reader to get a Bible that best conveys the meaning of the original inspired text to the particular target audience you have in mind. A third point is to realize a team translation usually will be better than an individual translation.

Witherington may get in trouble when he comments on the weaknesses of the King James Bible translation. There are those who claim to be "King James only" people--they believe this is the true, inspired word of God. I never understood why so many cling to this one dated version of the Bible. I know it’s beautifully written, but the meaning sure gets lost. Witherington says this translation from the early 1600s depended too heavily on outdated manuscripts. We now have far better and earlier manuscripts of both the Hebrew and Greek texts of the Bible than they did four hundred years ago. Someone once said he only used the King James Bible when he was dealing with a 400-year old person. The author says the New King James version does overcome a lot of the archaic language difficulties of the KJV, but it still does not take advantage of the better and earlier manuscripts.

So, what are our best choices? He says Today’s New International Edition, the Jerusalem Bible, or the New Revised Standard Version. I'm planning to read the English Standard Version since it received a book of the year award from World magazine. Then there’s the updated New American Standard Bible—I was never a fan of the older one since I thought it was an awkward translation. But maybe the update is better.

Any thoughts? Your favorites?

Which Bible translation?

Ben Witherington has a great chapter title in his book The Living Word of God when he turns to the issue of Bible translations: “How to Pick a Translation Without Losing Your Religion.” He does a good job discussing why there are so many translations, the diversity of each translation, and the battle over gender-inclusive language.

First, he says we have a lot of translations for a very important reason. We have discovered so many manuscripts of various parts of the Bible that new translations allow us to get ever closer to the original text of both the Old and New Testaments. To give us an idea of the differences over time, he mentions the King James translators had only one Greek text, and it wasn’t all that old. Now we have over five thousand copies of parts or the whole of the New Testament in Greek—what a wealth of sources!

In addition, we have many translations because we are lucky enough to live where English is spoken. We have a rich and vibrant language that changes quickly. For example, Witherington quotes Acts 26:14 from the King James Bible, which says, “It hurts you to kick against the pricks.” For good reason, that has changed today. The N.I.V., for example, now reads, “It is hard for you to kick against the goad.” No wonder so many people struggle with the old translation--it's like reading Shakespeare.

He then goes over the amazing variety available. Different Bibles exist for different audiences. There are those translations that are very loose (The Message, The Living Bible), others that are more idiomatic (New International Version, Jerusalem Bible, New King James), and still others that attempt more literal translations (New American Standard, NET Bible). He points out there is no such thing as an absolute literal translation because English is so different from Greek and Hebrew.

I would point out that Witherington wrote his book before the English Standard Version came to market. It falls closer to being a more literal translation with many admirers, including R. C. Sproul, John Mark Reynolds, and Ravi Zacharias. It has done well with the public, and I’ve heard it may become the default Bible for most evangelicals some day.

Witherington has more to say about Bible translations—I’ll cover that next time.