Genuine New Testament & Old Testament

[gondwana]

Please folks, tell me. I wish to purchase the most genuine copies of the new and old testaments but I cannot for the life of me discern which ones to purchase. Please, any and all suggestions will be sincerely appreciated.

[William Yanda]

Assuming that you are referencing English translations, I can only suggest that you inform yourself about the history of Bible translation. My take is that man cannot improve what God has given us.

[dverna]

I believe there are over 400 English translations. Lord...and I sincerely mean THE LORD only knows which version is "right"...or if any of them are perfect.

I use the Quest study bible as it gives some history and background to many of the scriptures. It may not be the best but it has helped me understand.

It is interesting how the translation of one word can affect the meaning; and how our perception of that word, verses what may have meant to the ancients, can lead us down a rabbit hole.

Good luck.

[Pine Baron]

As dverna has said, there are a lot of "translations". With that being said, I prefer my old battered "King James Version" (KJV) that I received upon completion of Sunday school in 1960. It's the one I've read the most and learned to understand the best. Recently I've gone to the "New King James Version" (NKJV) as it's a little easier to read for this old muddled brain.

Biblegateway is a good place look online.
https://www.biblegateway.com/

You can get bibles at "Faithgateway".
https://store.faithgateway.com/pages...ign=nav_bibles

If you're new to the faith try " The New Believer's Bible" at Harvest.
https://store.harvest.org/product/ne...ew-christians/

I hope this helps. Go in peace.

[Newboy]

Do you know any other languages?

Do you understand the difference between a word for word and a thought for thought translation?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[gondwana]

As dverna has said, there are a lot of "translations". With that being said, I prefer my old battered "King James Version" (KJV) that I received upon completion of Sunday school in 1960. It's the one I've read the most and learned to understand the best. Recently I've gone to the "New King James Version" (NKJV) as it's a little easier to read for this old muddled brain.

Biblegateway is a good place look online.
https://www.biblegateway.com/

You can get bibles at "Faithgateway".
https://store.faithgateway.com/pages...ign=nav_bibles

If you're new to the faith try " The New Believer's Bible" at Harvest.
https://store.harvest.org/product/ne...ew-christians/

I hope this helps. Go in peace.

Sincere & Genuine thanks to you Pine Baron.

[1hole]

Considering that the various books we have in any Bible were written at least two thousand years ago in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin and some word meanings back then drifted a bit just as English words drift today; I remember when someone who was "gay" meant they were "happy"! And, remembering that there is no single complete collection of the original texts, and knowing that many words can be translated differently but mean the same thing, it's amazing to me that today's versions match as well as they do.

Now, in spite of all the indignation between advocates, the NIV, NASB, NKJV are all good so far as the intended spiritual message goes. Seems God protects His word pretty well even tho some deceitful changes have been made in the Jehovah Witness' New World Translation which is a rewrite and not a translation at all! Then there are groups like the Mormons and Christian Science (which is neither Christian nor science) and 7th Day Adventists, and some say Roman Catholics, who add a lot of non-godly writings and claim they are equal or superior to Holy Scripture (gag!).

Most of us grew up with the KJV but its 1611 English grammar is hard for many to follow and it contains the most incorrect word translations (none of which matters for critical doctrine). I love it but I recognise it's limits and I'd NEVER suggest any new Christian try to study it!

All of that is why I recommend the New King James Version.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
Your question of "which Translation" is a big one. But always remember God Himself stated His Word is eternal and He preserves it. If you will sincerely search God will lead. God Who wants you to know Him and walk in His Truth will reward all who truly hunger and thirst for Him our loving Creature. Pray alot while you read and search.

Steer clear of those translations made by singular religious groups. Those who proclaim they are exclusively the only true witnesses. They all have an agenda! Beware of works by individuals and small group translations starting about 1950. If you want to read one that is pretty well done try Phillips "The New Testament in Modern English". But again this was a one man work but one of the best. And also realize these are only my experiences. I will account to God for all I write and how I seek Him.

William Tyndale (1450's) did a pretty good job putting the New Testament into "Old English". Also translated the Old Testament which is rather rough but far better than what else was available. Paid for his work being persecuted, imprisoned and under sentence of being burned at the stake. I have a Tyndale New Testament and use a 1955 Websters Dictionary to be sure I understand what 550 year old English words meant.

The King James Bible (1611) is based on his translation work but being translated by the Church of England does have some leanings to their teachings. The Puritans also had influence in the work and fought to keep the translation true. But I rank it 95% as being accurate with the intent of Gods Truth. Again I use a 1955 dictionary to be sure with those old words. Last "revision" was about 1750.

I also read and compare the above two with a New King James to get the intent of the words in the Old Testament. I use an Englishman's Greek Concordance to compare how specific Greek words were translated in the New Testament. I have to write the King James Bible does pretty good. The New King James also does pretty good.

I do have Greek dictionaries to investigate how words were used 2000 years ago in common writing. I have several Greek New Testaments to verify the Greek words and how they relate to the context. I am not a ""scholar" but can look into word use and meaning. Again the King James does very well. The New King James also. Ignore their notes in the margins. The Tyndale New Testament (1450) is also well done. I could not do any better and he had far little to work with. We owe alot to him and those who gave their lives to put Gods Truth in national languages.
I also speak and read Spanish. I use a 1909 and 1960 Spanish translation to better understand and teach Gods Word here in Peru. They did about as well as the King James Bible with the same religious leanings. But again I use all the above tools I have listed. I do not trust any man or religious group with my Knowing God and walking with Him.
So there is my simple view. Get a King James and read the New Testament 100 times and you will be headed well. Get a New King James and compare. Get an older Websters Dictionary (1930-1960) Yard sales cost maybe 50 cents. Libraries ay have give aways !! Ask old people.
Buy a Tyndales New Testament some day and rejoice how God made Truth available in English.
Mike in Peru

[WebMonkey]

a relatively 'newer' translation, the 'Christian Standard Bible' is my usual suggestion for people wanting a bible.

the Holman company makes the one i use the most and is a 'study' bible.
i use a parallel bible also for word study/theme study.

i can't improve upon the information in the above posts.

the Bible wasn't written in english so something's gotta give.

read up on how each translation was arrived at and if you are concerned even deeper, read 'who' did the translation.

good luck

[Wayne Smith]

If you have ever studied another language you realize that there is no literal translation from one language to another, underlying concepts and assumptions don't match. One broad example - in the Hebrew/Aramaic tradition I am what I do. In the Greek tradition I am what I think - and this has fundamental understanding issues. To 'repent' in Hebrew tradition is not to say I am sorry, it is to go and do the opposite. If you think about the commands of Jesus they make more sense and cause more disruption in the Hebrew thought than in the Greek thought.

All that is to say every translation is a compromise - by definition and necessity. Years ago before the internet was invented I was on a Missions Conference Committee and they decided the theme verse for the Conference - I asked them what translation they wanted to use and they asked me what I meant. I told them I would check my library, and back then I found 26 valid translations of that verse! All essentially said the same thing, but each one with a different emphasis.

The upshot of this is that when I study a passage I will have at least three and as many as seven or eight translations open in front of me. I do not read Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic. I am dependent on the translators and each of my primary Bibles has a relatively long section in the front that describes the translation philosophy that was followed in the translation process. When I was at Biola University some of the Seminary students were doing a final beta check of the NASB Bible for the Holman Corp. That was over 40 years ago and now the Holman Bible is the follow on of the NASB.

There is a lot to learn about translations and your best bet is to get several. Scholarship continues and language changes, English more rapidly than some. While I am comfortable with my old NIV and NASB I picked up the Holman when it came out a few years ago, mostly out of curiosity but I have enjoyed using it.

[gondwana]

Thank you 1hole.

[gondwana]

If you have ever studied another language you realize that there is no literal translation from one language to another, underlying concepts and assumptions don't match. One broad example - in the Hebrew/Aramaic tradition I am what I do. In the Greek tradition I am what I think - and this has fundamental understanding issues. To 'repent' in Hebrew tradition is not to say I am sorry, it is to go and do the opposite. If you think about the commands of Jesus they make more sense and cause more disruption in the Hebrew thought than in the Greek thought.

All that is to say every translation is a compromise - by definition and necessity. Years ago before the internet was invented I was on a Missions Conference Committee and they decided the theme verse for the Conference - I asked them what translation they wanted to use and they asked me what I meant. I told them I would check my library, and back then I found 26 valid translations of that verse! All essentially said the same thing, but each one with a different emphasis.

The upshot of this is that when I study a passage I will have at least three and as many as seven or eight translations open in front of me. I do not read Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic. I am dependent on the translators and each of my primary Bibles has a relatively long section in the front that describes the translation philosophy that was followed in the translation process. When I was at Biola University some of the Seminary students were doing a final beta check of the NASB Bible for the Holman Corp. That was over 40 years ago and now the Holman Bible is the follow on of the NASB.

There is a lot to learn about translations and your best bet is to get several. Scholarship continues and language changes, English more rapidly than some. While I am comfortable with my old NIV and NASB I picked up the Holman when it came out a few years ago, mostly out of curiosity but I have enjoyed using it.

Thank you Wayne Smith.

[.429&H110]

My church is King James only
This is cribbed from BibleHub.com:

The Tower of Babel New King James

1Now the whole earth had one language and one [a]speech. 2And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and [b]bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

5But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9Therefore its name is called [c]Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

KJV
The Tower of Babel

(Daniel 1:1-7)

1And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. 4And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.


Same story, different day. I like the part where the Lord came down.
If everybody in a Bible study brings a different version we are confounded.
Hi! to Pastor, he reads this space...

[Wayne Smith]

Every English, Spanish, Latin, etc. Bible is a translation - Each and every one, including the King James. Jesus didn't speak Latin, didn't speak English, and God has protected His word for thousands of years. While the Bible is Holy there is nothing Holy about any particular translation, including the King James Version. That version was compiled by committee as well. James was a Scot and a Presbyterian, became King of England and discovered that there were various versions of the Bible that did not completely agree. He challenged the English and Scottish divines to come up with a consensus Bible with the available information. The result is the King James Version, a delightful read and very poetic. Unfortunately the earliest Greek and Hebrew they had to work from was from the 4th Century. We now have 1st Century BC Old Testament and early 2nd Century New Testament Greek and thus more accurate sources than were available to the King James divines. That is the fundamental difference between the newer translations and the KJV.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Where I listen and study, the King James is used, so that's what I currently have.

At one time, when I had joined a church, after leaving the Church I grew up in, I learned quickly that they used a different translation. Most of the time, I was confused during bible studies. So, as a uneducated student, I bought a parallel Bible, which has 4 translations side by side...thinking I could better understand why the words were different from one translation to another. That made me even more confused.

Since then, I have been a member of several different churches, and each had used different translations. I learned to use whatever translation they were using, because having the same translation as others in your bible study group, or Church, lessens the confusion. So that is my suggestion. If you have plans of leading a group, I would suspect you would already have enough experience with one translation to have a favored version.

OK, with all that said, I will offer my opinion as a uneducated student. The King James is nice, because there is the Strong's Concordance, which is fairly easy to use, to lookup the original words from the Greek, Hebrew, and/or Aramaic...so you don't need to know these languages to do deep investigation of a bible verse during in-depth study.

Right now, we are in I and II Kings, and it seems there is poorly translated words peppered throughout each chapter. Reading it "as translated" with a Modern American brain...some things just don't make sense, until you lookup the original word and find that a better word will make it understandable in my Modern American brain. I see you are from Australia, maybe I should use the term Modern English speaking western nation, instead?

That's my 2¢ as a uneducated student

[backhoe]

Just buy the King James version of the Bible.

[dannyd]

Glad I don't believe what people say about the King James Bible or I would have never got saved. If God (Jesus) can save your soul then he definitely can get His word to you in a book you can understand. But here is the key to Understanding the King James Bible: Read it: just four pages a day and you do it in a year. When I quit school I was in the ninth grade and I have very little problems read the KJB.

[1hole]

Thank you 1hole.

You're welcome. I'm old now (80) but I was once young and I now know a lot of what I "knew" then was wrong. And a lot of that was from a blind belief that the Bible and doctrines of my parents and grandparents was obviously the best ever. I now know it isn't. The KJV is still very good even tho it can be some tedious reading in some places.

All the talk about the merits of this or that translation miss the point. As correctly stated above there can be no straight translation of anything from one language to another.

Massive differences in grammar and subtle differences in word meanings demand that every translation is, in fact, just a version of what the writers worked with as best they could understand the fragmented bits of old scriptures can be read and don't sweat the small stuff; none of that trivial stuff bothers me very much.

Bottom line, you're a bright guy, get one of the mainstream Bible versions that's easy to read and spend time in it, you'll get it together soon enough!

Anyone thinking they want to do "translations" in a recliner should first get an "Interlinear Bible", which IS a "straight translation". Then get a complete concordance (a listing of every word in the Bible and where its used) so you can follow any word in different contexts; that helps a lot. Then add several different Bible dictionaries because even they don't define all words the same!

As you read look for what is said in context, not just whatever you've "always been taught"; THAT opens doors for some serious learning instead of just reinforcing whatever you've "always heard" that things mean. That alone can allow serious illumination of some confused teachings!

God bless your studies!

[Wayne Smith]

As someone, maybe me, said earlier in this thread, it is very clear that the Bible deserves study, not just reading. If you want to just read the story get one of the easily read paraphrase versions like The Book, and sit down and read the stories like a newspaper. It's not adequate to study but it is a good way to get an overview, the basic story of the Bible.

When I study a book of the Bible I get a Commentary written by one who made his own translation - thus I know he knows the original language and works with it. One of the basic tenants of hermeneutics (the study of how to understand Scripture) is to understand the passage as the first hearers did - and that means learning a lot about the culture and assumptions of the first people to hear it, whether that was first century Phillipi or third century BC Mesopotamia or Egypt It is absolutely amazing what we have learned about those cultures from archeology. A good commentary will illuminate this understanding of the Scripture and I have learned a tremendous amount this way.

[dannyd]

Everyone tells me the King James Bible is hard to read. To Microsoft Word its written on a 7 grade level guest that's why I understand it only got as far as the 9th grade.