Discourse On Modern Bible Translations: Most translators of today carefully compare the base text they are using

for their translation carefully against many different manuscripts, codex's, papyruses, etc. to to cross check and weed out textural errors. Of course they do NOT put their hands on the original manuscripts as these are under cover of an inert gas to preserve them in most cases. However, photocopies of the original manuscripts are available to modern translators to check and weed out textural errors. Some of the readily available photocopies are the Codex Alexandrinus in the same British Museum as the Codex Sinaiticus, the Codex Ephraemi rescriptus in Paris, the Bezae Codices at Cambridge England, the Papyrus Chester Beatty collections at Dublin, Papyrus Bodmen at Geneva, various copies/versions of the Septuagint, etc. For example, the translational team that translated T"he New English Bible" consulted about 2,000 of these, and the same is true of the New World Translation, An American Translation, American Standard Version, La Biblica (Spanish), etc. Here is a statement on The New English Bible (NEB): "A presbytery in the Church of Scotland in 1946 recommended to the General Assembly that a translation of the Bible be made in the language of the present day because the language in the Authorized Version [Authorized King James Bible] was archaic and less generally understood. The General Assembly approached other churches. There was a desire that a completely new translation rather than a revision and for a contemporary idiom rather than a traditional Biblical English be used. It was planned and directed by representatives of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland, the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, the Congregational Church in England and Wales, the Council of Churches for Wales, the Irish Council of Churches, the London Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends, the Methodist Church of Great Britain, the Presbyterian Church of England, the British and Foreign Bible Society, and the National Bible Society of Scotland. The Roman Catholic Church in England and Scotland sent representatives as observers. The translating was done by three panels drawn from scholars of British universities to deal, respectively, with the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, and the New Testament. A fourth panel of trusted literary advisers was to scrutinize the translation for English style" [source Oxford and Cambridge Universities Presses (1970]). Let's look at a comparison between Bible translations of one scripture, "Genesis 1:1-2 in several Bibles and brief comments on these Bibles so all can gain a better understanding of what sources are used and how translating is done Genesis 1:1-2 in An American Translation, by Beck: (ATT) "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was desolate and uninhabitable, and it was dark on the deep sea, but God's Spirit hovered over the waters."

Comments on this translation, "This is the work of Dr. William F. Beck, whose cause was to simplify the English Bible for people of all ages. There are almost 5,000 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament all over the earth, plus many thousands of the Latin, Syraic, and other translations. Dr. Beck felt that God wants us to have a passion for the truth; to use all the best evidences from the manuscripts, dictionaries, and grammars as light on the text; and to search with burning hearts for its exact meaning. The translator did his utmost to make both the Old Testament and the New Testament the most accurate on the market, in regard to the best text, the most thorough lexiographical, grammatical, and archaeological evidence. His goal was to have God talk to the hearts of people in their language of today and tomorrow. The main purpose of the Bible is its saving doctrine. The translator felt that the Revised Standard Version undermines the Heilsplan (plan of salvation) by cutting down the prophecies of the coming Savior in the Old Testament and the important truths about Christ in the New Testament. The section "What Does the Text Say?" at the back of this Bible gives examples of these changes in the Revised Standard Version and the New English Bible and how they differ from the renderings in An American Translation. This translation has been acclaimed as the most significant Lutheran contribution in the span of some 450 years since Martin Luther translated the Bible into German. However, it is a Bible not only for Lutherans but also for every English-speaking person. It is a faithful translation, not a paraphrase. As no translation is perfect, this third edition took into consideration helpful suggestions, which were evaluated. These created further demand for expertise in the original languages. Numerous changes have been made as a result. The New Testament in the Language of Today was first published in 1963 by Concordia Publishing House. Leader Publishing Company (1976) Genesis 1:1-2, in Darby Holy Bible. (DHB) "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was waste and empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." Comments on this translation. "This translation of the Old Testament has been derived from a study of the common Hebrew text, and represents at the same time a collation of the late J. N. Darby's German and French Versions, he having himself revised the first few books within a short time of his decease. Those who use this English translation may accordingly expect to find incorporated with it whatever is of special value in the above-mentioned Versions, particularly the French, where the common English Bible is defective. The purpose of this translation is not to offer to the man of letters a learned work, but rather to provide the simple and unlearned reader with as exact a translation as possible. To this end, all available helps have been used. The work is not a revision of the Bible in common

use. The style of the Authorised Version [KJV] has been retained as far as possible within the purpose of the translation. Poetical parts are distinguished from the rest by a metrical arrangement to which those are accustomed who use Paragraph Bibles. However, this has been abandoned in the Prophets where the poetical form is often complicated. Elohim will in the text appear only in the name Jehovah Elohim; moreover, when Elohim following immediately on Jehovah has a grammatical adjunct, its place will be taken by the English word "God." For the meaning of Jehovah, Yahweh or Yehveh, see Exodus 3:14,15; Isaiah 40:28; for Jah, see Exodus 25:2. Ordinary spelling of proper names has been adhered to, subject to numerous and necessary corrections. Italics indicate emphasis. In the first edition of the New Testament, the translator used the Textus Receptus. But the Textus Receptus was itself often changed in the text of the work. He decided to adopt its reading, not attempt to make a text of his own. His object was a more correct translation: only there was no use in translating what all intelligent critics held to be a mistake in the copy. Since the first edition, various new helps became available. However, there has been little change in the actual translating. There have been changes involving clarity, inaccuracies, and uniformity. [source - G. Morrish (1923), (Tyndale House, Cambridge, United Kingdom] Genesis 1:1-2, in An American Translation by Dr. Edgar J. Goodspeed and a committee. (SGAT) "When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was a desolate waste, with darkness covering the abyss and a temptuous wind raging over the surface of the waters." Comments on this translation. "The Old Testament was translated by Alexander R. Gordon (McGill University), Theopile J. Meek (University of Toronto), Leroy Waterman (University of Michigan), and J. M. Powis Smith (University of Chicago). The last person named was also the editor. The New Testament was translated by Edgar J. Goodspeed (University of Chicago) . There were basic reasons for the need of this translation of the Old Testament. The control of the Hebrew vocabulary and syntax available to the scholar at this time was vastly greater than that at the command of the translators of the Authorized Version or of its revisers. The science of textual criticism had made great progress in recent years, and no translation of the Old Testament could afford to ignore its results. There had developed a great interest in the stylistic qualities of Hebrew poetry. The English of King James's day was not wholly natural or clear to the average person at this time. The official Massoretic text was used as a guide. When it was necessary to check elsewhere, a substitute along generally approved lines was used. Hebrew poetry was presented in poetic lines. Archaic pronouns (except when used in addressing God), verb forms, and adjectives were made more

modern. The Tetragammatron was rendered as LORD or GOD in small capital letters. The New Testament was written in everyday Greek. It, thus, was translated into everyday English. The translator used helps made available in recent years, including Greek papyri, grammatical works, lexicons, and lexical studies. He followed the Greek texts of Westcott and Hort, except in a very few verses. In one of these, he followed the suggestion of Rendel Harris that by an error of the eye the name of Enoch has dropped out of the text of 1 Peter 3: 19. [source - University of Chicago Press (1931)] Genesis 1:1-2, in the Lamsa Bible (LBP) "God created the heavens and the earth in the very beginning. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water." Comments on this translation. "This translation of the Old and New Testaments is based on Peshitta manuscripts which have comprised the accepted Bible of all those Christians who have used Syriac as their language of prayer and worship for many centuries. The Church of the East and some noted Western scholars dispute the belief of modern scholarship that the originals of the Four Gospels and other parts of the New Testament were written in Greek. In any case, Aramaic speech is an underlying factor and New Testament writers drew on documents written in Aramaic. Syriac is the literary dialect of Aramaic. From the Mediterranean east into India, the Peshitta is still the Bible of preference among Christians. George M. Lamsa, the translator, devoted the major part of his life to this work. He was an Assyrian and a native of ancient Bible lands. He and his people retained Biblical customs and Semitic culture, which had perished elsewhere. With this background and his knowledge of the Aramaic (Syriac) language, he has recovered much of the meaning that has been lost in other translations of the Scriptures. There is a section on the problems of translating from the Aramaic to the Greek. Manuscripts used were the Codex Ambrosianus for the Old Testament and the Mortimer-McCawley manuscript for the New Testament. Comparisons have been made with other Peshitta manuscripts, including the oldest dated manuscript in existence. The term Peshitta means straight, simple, sincere and true, that is, the original. Even the Moslems in the Middle East accept and revere the Peshitta text. Although the Peshitta Old Testament contains the Books of the Apocrypha, this edition has omitted them. [source - A. J. Holman Company (1957), (Tyndale House, Cambridge, United Kingdom] Genesis 1:1-2, the New World Translation (NWT) "In [the] beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth proved to be formless and waste and there was darkness upon the surface of [the] watery deep; and God's active force was moving to and fro over the surface of the waters."

Comments on this translation. "It was translated from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages by a committee. It was originally released in six volumes from 1950 to 1960. The originals contained marginal references and footnotes. The revised 1961 edition had neither. This 1984 edition has been expanded to include complete updating and revision of the marginal (cross) references of the original edition. It was released by the committee to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania for printing, translation into other languages, and distribution. The translators felt responsible to God to transmit His thoughts and declarations as accurately as possible. [source Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York (1984) ), (Tyndale House, Cambridge, United Kingdom] Genesis 1:1-2, in the New Century Version (NCV). "In the beginning God created the sky and the earth. The earth was empty and had no form. Darkness covered the ocean, and God's Spirit was moving over the water." Comments on this translation. "This translation of God's Word was made from the original Hebrew and Greek languages. The translation team was composed of the World Bible Translation Center and fifty additional, highly qualified and experienced Bible scholars and translators. Some had translation experience on the New International, the New American Standard, and the New King James Versions. The third edition of the United Bible Societies' Greek text, the latest edition of Biblia Hebraica and the Septuagint were among texts used. Several guidelines were used to make the language clear for any reader. The Living Word Vocabulary, the standard used by World Book Encyclopedia, was the basis for vocabulary. Concepts were put into natural terms -- modern measurements and geographical locations. Ancient customs were clarified in the text or footnotes. Rhetorical questions were stated according to the implied answers. Figures of speech and idiomatic expressions were translated according to their meanings. Obscure terms were clarified. An attempt was made to choose gender language that would convey the intent of the writers. The Tetragrammaton was indicated by putting LORD and GOD in capital letters. Hebrew parallelism in poetry and word plays were retained. Images of ancient languages were translated into equivalent English images, where possible. [source - Word Publishing (1987), (Tyndale House, Cambridge, United Kingdom] Now to know the truth, go to: 1) 2) 3) http://religioustruths.yuku.com/ http://www.network54.com/Forum/403209/ http://religioustruths.lefora.com/

If you wish more information and/or wish to ask a question or what ever, contact me by leaving a PM (personal message) at http://religioustruths.yuku.com/ Your Friend in Christ Iris89 Francis David said it long ago, "Neither the sword of popes...nor the image of death will halt the march of truth."Francis David, 1579, written on the wall of his prison cell." Read the book, "What Does The Bible Really Teach" and the Bible today!