Bible Text Interpretations: Bible Translations

Content:

Background
The Meaning of Translation
Methods of Translations
The Word-for-Word Approach
The Thought-for-Thought Approach
Summary
Useful Links
Glossary

Background

As background, watch the video English Bible Translations Family Tree and see Which Version of the Old Testament did Jesus Use? and The Virgin Birth.

The Meaning of Translation

If a Bible is called a translation, it means that a translating committee poured
over the original language manuscripts to translate them. Different original manuscripts are then used.

(A translation is different than a paraphrase. A paraphrase doesn't involve a translating committee or even the original languages. It's just a rewording of the text, but they are always clearly marked such as MSG and TLB.)

The wording may differ between different translations, but not the message. There are no variations on the doctrines and teachings of the Bible, regardless of which version is read (with the exception of Bibles that have been edited specifically for cultic groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses). One reason for the differences in wording between the translations is that many times a single English word can't accurately describe a Greek or Hebrew word. It may take three, four, or even five English words to convey the full meaning of the original words. Different committees sometimes land on different words, but the meaning is the same. For example:

Let love be without hypocrisy (Rom 12:9a (NKJV, NASB)).
Let love be genuine (Rom 12:9a (ESV)).
Love must be sincere (Rom 12:9a (NIV)).

Without hypocrisy, genuine, and sincere are all renderings of the same Greek word. They are different words, but mean the same thing.

Methods of Translations

There are Bible versions that sound much like how we speak in everyday conversation, and other versions that are more formal. The reason for that difference depends on the translation method each group decides to use. Essentially, we have the following methods:

The "Formal Equivalence" or "Word-for-Word" approach:
Every effort is made to maintain both word order and sentence structure in the original Hebrew and Greek. Bibles that use this method include ESV, NKJV, NASB, LSB, and AMP. These are the Bibles that tend to sound formal and often contain words that we don’t use in normal everyday conversation.
The "Functional Equivalence" or "Thought-for-Thought" approach:
The goal is to produce the most natural and readable style as possible
in the reader’s language. This is also called 'Dynamic Equivalence'.
Examples are ICB, NCV, and NEB.
The approach to balance the two approaches above:
Examples are translations like NIV, NLT, and NRSV. They are trying to balance the concepts of "Word-for-Word" and "Thought-for-Thought" in a translation.

The Word-for-Word Approach

Hebrew and Greek words may require several English words to properly convey their meaning. Each translating committee has to decide which words to use, and sometimes they are very different from one translation to another.

Greek and Hebrew words may have variations of definition depending on the context of the passage. It’s up to the translators to determine the context and then choose the English word (or words) that they think best expresses the original meaning. Obviously, different translations choose different words.

The Word-for-Word approach is therefore not always the most effective way to convey the meaning of a passage.

For example the translation of 1 Kings 2:10:

"So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David." (KJV).
"So David rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David." (NKJV).
"So David lay down with his fathers [in death] and was buried in the City of David." (AMP).
"Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David." (NIV1984).
"Then David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David." (NIV2011).
"Then David died and was buried in the City of David." (NLT).

The challenging phrase here is "slept with his fathers", which is the most
Word-for-Word accurate rendering of the original Hebrew. It was used at the time to refer to someone who died and was buried in the same area as his deceased relatives. In our culture it has taken on a different meaning. What the verse essential say is: "Then David died and was buried alongside his ancestors in Jerusalem, the City of David." This contains everything the author wanted us to know in a way that is clearly understood by a modern English-speaking reader.

The Thought-for-Thought Approach

The thought-for-thought approach often does a better job of conveying the meaning of a text. But the method has its own problems. It's possible to go too far to make a passage easy to understand, and then the passage doesn't provide clarity.