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Everyone has a different opinion about which translation of the bible is best, most correct, or true to the original text. I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately because of the one daily thread I recently did, and reading what others have to say about it. I don’t want to argue about this because I believe everyone is welcome to their own beliefs on this matter. There are some things I found that I happen to agree with. One of the things I agree with is we don’t speak the same way that people did four hundred years ago. I’d personally rather read something translated in our language today, that has the same exact meaning. Here is what I found;
“When the Bible is translated for the first time into a new language today, it is translated into the language that culture speaks and writes today, not the way they spoke and wrote 400 years ago. The same should be true in English. The Bible was written in the common, ordinary language of the people at that time. Bible translations today should be the same. That is why Bible translations must be updated and revised as languages develop and change. The KJV Only movement is very English-focused in its thinking. Why should people who read English be forced to read the Bible in outdated/archaic English, while people of all other languages can read the Bible in modern/current forms of their languages?
Our loyalties are to the original manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments, written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Only the original languages are the Word of God as He inspired it. A translation is only an attempt to take what is said in one language and communicate it in another. The modern translations are superb in taking the meaning of the original languages and communicating it in a way that we can understand in English. However, none of the modern translations are perfect. Every one contains verses that are at least somewhat mistranslated. By comparing and contrasting several different translations, it is often easier to get a good grasp on what the verse is saying than by only using one translation. Our loyalty should not be to any one English translation, but to the inspired, inerrant Word of God that is communicated by the Holy Spirit through the translations (2 Timothy 3:16-17).”
“No single version of the Bible can fully translate the original text because languages have different world views that translators try to convey. The King James Version (KJV) is an English translation of the Bible that was published in 1611 and is based on a Greek manuscript compilation called the Textus Receptus. Some say that the KJV is an exemplary translation, while others believe that other translations based on the same texts could be just as good. The KJV Only movement argues that God guided the compiler of the Textus Receptus to create a Greek text that is identical to the original, and that the KJV should be preferred over other English translations. However, some say that KJV Only advocates are only loyal to the KJV itself, not the Textus Receptus, and that many of their arguments lack intellectual credibility. For example, some proponents claim that the KJV translators were directly inspired by God. Others point out that the English of the KJV is the English of its time, and that contemporary English differs significantly from the early 1600s.”
Also “The NKJV is described by Thomas Nelson as being “scrupulously faithful to the original, yet truly updated to enhance its clarity and readability.”
And “Which translation of the Bible is closest to the original text?