The major original Protestant Bible was the King James Version. Dating back to the 16th and 17th century, it is the earliest Protestant version. England at that time was independent from the Catholic Church. The Church of England was formed with the English monarch as its head.
King James was approached by the English church to provide an authorized version to use in all of England. He authorized a commission of 46 men who each knew Greek, Hebrew and Latin on the level of a scholar, and they decided to do a standardized interpretation that could be used throughout England.
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When they translated it, they also compared it with the versions in existence. Once it was decided it was authentic and totally accurate they presented it to the King. It was authorized by the Church of England (known as the Episcopal Church in other countries).
Prior to the time of King James, the Catholics used the Latin Vulgate. The Bible was in Latin and not understood by the common people. The first English Bible belonged to Tyndale, who translated it from Hebrew and Greek into the language of the common people in the 1500s. Martin Luther also performed a translation of the Bible into German in the mid-1500s.
Seeing what the English had done, the Catholics decided they needed an English translation. They retained French scholars and formed the Douay version of the Bible, which is still used today. A branch of Catholicism, the Paulist Fathers, afterwards translated their Bible into a modern language Bible called the Confraternity. This is now an authorized version of the Catholic Church, even approved by the Pope.
The Greek New Testament that was used during the Reformation is known as the Textus Receptus. It was manually printed from one generation to another, with the text secured against error by multiple checkings. Surviving manuscripts agree with this text. Many believe the King James Version is the most accurate in existence. It had the most translators. It’s the best known and most recognizable. It was written at a time the English language was at a perfect form. It is recognized as a masterpiece of English literature. Since it’s not copyrighted, anyone can reprint or publish it. The translators did not add notes, letting the Word stand on its own.
Today a variety of styles and interpretations exist. The Story was published in 2005. This is a newly formatted edition based on the New International Version. There are no chapter or verse markers, and several sections were eliminated, including the Psalms and Proverbs. The Story focuses on those parts of Scripture with a plot, such as the lives of men such as Daniel. This version reads like a novel.
Interpreting a Bible for culture is an important consideration for the reader. Text equivalence needs to be related to the idioms in the language. The translator should always look for an exact correspondence but if one is not found, then an expression with similar meaning to the original proverb or idiom should be chosen (Gao, 2013).
The various types of translations can be broken down into three main categories: word-for-word, thought-for-thought and paraphrase. It is up to the reader to decide his preference. Word-for-word translates each Greek or Hebrew word into a corresponding English one. The King James Version is this type. Thought-for-thought expresses the meaning a paragraph at a time. It updates the English language, and is probably not the best Bible for doctrinal study for that reason. A paraphrased version is an attempt at easy-to-understand language. Poetic license is common in these versions.
The Amplified Bible is word-for-word. It also attempts to uncover hidden meanings within Bible verses. God’s Word Translation, on the other hand, uses thought-for-thought as a basis for its verses. The Living Bible is an example of a paraphrase Bible.
Word-for-word translations include the Interlinear, New American Standard, the Amplified Bible, and the King James Version. Thought-for-thought includes the Holman Christian Standard Bible, the New Revised Standard Version, the New American Bible, the New Jerusalem Bible, the New International Version, the New Century Version, and the New Living Translation. Paraphrase Bibles include the New International Reader’s Version, the Good News Translation, The Living Bible and The Message.
Each of these translations attempts to fill a niche for understanding and a target audience. The New Living Translation was based on the work of over 90 scholars. They attempted to produce a natural equivalent of the Bible verses in modern-day English. The New American Standard Bible is a formal translation and updated the original American Standard version into more current styles of English. The New American Bible was published under the authority of Pope Pius XII, and is a Catholic version that represents 25 years of effort in translation. The Message is a paraphrase version, which attempts to keep the rhythm of contemporary English in its original meanings. The English Standard Version is noted for its accuracy and readability.
The Common English Bible combines thought-for-thought with word-for-word and substitutes biblical terminology with our most modern word meanings. The Lexham English Bible is a word-for-word translation that keeps a literal rendering of the Bible intact. The New King James Version is a modern language version of the original King James. It retains the traditional interpretations. The New Living Translation aims for clarity of meaning in a word-for-word context.
Regardless of the number of translations, we can be assured the Bible itself is accurately recorded. There are over 14,000 manuscript copies of the New Testament. Comparing manuscript to manuscript scholars have noted when variations exist. Of all of the variations, all but 400 are questions purely of spelling. There are 50 that remain (for example two manuscripts left out a single verse, Acts 2:37). But of the 50, not one difference affects an article of faith, since there are two or three witnesses to each important article of faith in the Bible.
