Which Version Do You Preach From?

I don't think any version is going to be perfect for everyone forever. I think that the NIV translators were looking to clear up some of the issues that they had in the NIV and came up with the TNIV but I think they went overboard with some of their correcting to make it just weird. Since the TNIV wasn't fully accepted and there were camps who were against it as a translation, I'd guess they decided to see if they could do what they originally set out to do and that is to make a good NIV using today's scholarship and being faithful to the original and to the modern language. From what I've been reading, I don't think they fully got it. But then again, trying to make a translation without it being so literal is going to be hard and there will always be some sort of issue with it.

 

See, sometimes there are nuances that just don't translate into English and having a knowledge of some Greek or Hebrew is immensely helpful. I know it's not perfect but I love to even look at Blue Letter Bible and see a particular word in a particular verse, see what the Strong's definition is and then see how else that word is translated in the Bible. It really opens up a new understanding of what the meaning was, IMO.

 

Hello? God gave His exact inspired WORDS (actual words/letters) in GREEK. If I want to know exactly what GOD said, I will study Greek.

And why would I be unique just because of my training in biblical languages. In 1900 the ENTRANCE requirement for college included proficiency in Latin and Greek. To ENTER. Greek/Latin are challenging because English is such a poor equivalent language in grammar and syntax. To say "you know English" and thus can know the nuances or even vocabulary choices in GOD'S Word (again, the Greek) is arrogant foolishness.

The translating/revising team of Anglicans in 1604-11 had variant words, now dropped from cheap imitation KJV's. I'd at least encourage one who isn't capable of learning Greek to get an AV1611 reprint and see the light that various words shine on familiar passages. Or get an ESV or NASB or Holman and be amazed at what verses really mean in today's language.

But I still would start with basic Greek. The link I gave for the interlinear also has a lexicon and a synonym section to enrich study further. I like the paper version - mine is marked all up as I teach from it to our men.

Anyone today who thinks they are "preaching God's Word" had better get enough character/discipline to actually READ and UNDERSTAND God's Word, not some English translation. "Not a novice" would imply one who doesn't have good understanding of God's Word.

 

Time flies. It was changed slightly in 1886 (thanks for the link) to allow a limited number; and I said 1900. 14 years is chump change when you get my age.

The concept, of course, was that a person without a historic language (Latin or Greek) is still NOT well-educated. Even Romance languages are preferred to English (since they are rooted in Latin).

For some to claim the be-all/end-all of translation from Greek is into Jacobean English are truly myopic.

 

Why should that surprise you? When delving into original language that had 100 times the depth of meaning/grammar/syntax as English, there will undoubtedly be varying opinions.

Part of that is the richness of the Greek language. We have many Greek words that may be translated equally/fully/accurately with a plethora of modern English words. That one scholar might opt for "x" and another "y" and yet another "z" does not mean any are WRONG; just different.

Anyone who uses the AV1611 (not a cheap revision) can see the translators offering hundreds of other equally valid words to enrich or help clarify. Sadly, revisions known as the KJV, omit those so that some feel like the exact word in their particular KJV revision is somehow the "authority". And the authority is not any man-made translation but the actual preserved WORDS of God in the Greek.

 

Or maybe the text that is underlying the KJV added nearly 3000 words. It's easy to see in most passages how that happened.