Versions of the Bible

The Lord gave the word. Great was the company of those that published it (Psalm 68:11). A version is a particular form of something differing in certain respects from an earlier form or other forms. It is a special edition or translation of a book or other work. There are many different types of Bible translations in our English language. It's not that they say different things. A misconception among some of the Bible's less knowledgable detractors is that the Bible has been changed so much over time because one translation copies another that copied the one before that and so on. But that's not at all how the process works. The content of each translation is essentially the same, with minuscule differences. The main differences come from translation philosophy.

The Old Testament was written almost entirely in Hebrew, except for a couple of passages in Daniel and Nehemiah, written in Aramaic. Jesus and his disciples primarily spoke Aramaic, the common language of Judea in the first century AD, most likely a Galilean dialect distinguishable from Jerusalem. The villages of Nazareth and Capernaum in Galilee, where Jesus spent most of his time, were Aramaic-speaking communities. It is also likely that Jesus knew enough Koine Greek--the New Testament's language--to converse with those not native to Judea, and it is reasonable to assume that Jesus was well-versed in Hebrew for religious purposes.

One of the reasons we have so many Bible translations is because a language changes over time. So words take on a different meaning as society changes. To take an obvious example, just a generation ago, the term "gay" meant something very different. It simply meant "to be happy." Today, the word "gay" refers to same-sex attraction and relationships and has become a synonym for homosexuality. The Flintstones theme song's last line is, "We'll have a gay old time." That doesn't mean Fred and Barney were spending too much time alone when their minds were telling them "no," but their bodies were telling them "yes." The song was written in a decade when "gay" meant something entirely different than it does now. So if somebody was translating something from a generation ago, they might word it differently than they do today. Language is constantly evolving and changing. Different translations are meant to update and clarify how that language changes so that translations stay true to the original texts of the Bible.

We have different translations because of the translation principles committees use to translate to English or another language. One type of translation philosophy is called formal equivalence. This is sometimes referred to as a word-for-word style. This translation method seeks to find the most exact English word that corresponds with the original Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek. Formal equivalence translations tend to have a higher reading grade level and can be more challenging for some people to read because the goal is literalness over smoothness. But they are great for in-depth study because you're getting as close as possible as you can to the actual words of the text from one language to another. A few examples of formal equivalence translations are the Literal Standard Version (LSV), the Lexham English Bible (LEB), the New American Standard Bible (NASB), the King James Version (KJV), the New King James Version (NKJV), and the Modern English Version). Another translation philosophy is called dynamic equivalence. This is sometimes called "thought-for-thought." This differs from the other translation philosophy because its goal is to bring the fullness of the original biblical authors' message into English without trying to find an exact match for every single word. The result is an easy-to-read text capable of being read on a lower grade reading level with a more natural English flow than the other translation philosophy allows. Some examples of Dynamic Equivalence translations are The Message (MSG), The International Children's Bible (ICB), the Contemporary English Version (CEV), and the New Living Translation (NLT). The New International Version (NIV) is unique in that it tries to find the perfect balance between these two approaches, balancing transparency to the original with clarity of meaning. For that reason, the NIV has been the number one best-selling Bible translation for at least a decade.