How to Choose a Good Translation – Introduction to the English Bible

If you’ve ever gone bible shopping at your local Christian bookstore, you quickly became aware that the landscape of choices is wide and varied. English-speaking Christians differ with regard to their translation preference. Among those who are familiar with the biblical languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek), and those who have read up on textual theory, the issue takes on a much more academic note; tending toward a preference for one Greek text over against another – Textus Receptus, Majority Text, or Critical Text. (The Hebrew text hasn’t presented much of a debate among either scholars or laymen.) But, for the vast majority of Christians, the matter is one of preference, readability, pastoral recommendation, or what we’ve grown up with.

Before one can make an intelligent choice on which translation he should choose, it is helpful to gain some cursory knowledge in a few areas: theological considerations regarding inspiration and inerrancy, textual traditions, and translation theory. Before launching into these areas, I want to acquaint you with how we got the Bible in the English language. This is a cursory treatment and has been done much better by others who have devoted themselves to the master of this subject, but I hope this is helpful. My reason for tackling this topic first is to drive home a point that cannot be overlooked: God has always intended for his written revelation to be communicated in the common language.

A Brief Note on KJV Onlyism

Before I launch into a discussion about choosing a translation, a few words need to be said with regard to the KJV Only movement which is so prevalent in certain circles. There are some Christians whose preference for the King James Version (KJV) over all others has escalated to epic, even heretical, proportions. There are some who adhere so strongly to the KJV that they believe it is inspired in the same fashion as the autographs (those texts penned by the authors themselves) and that the KJV even corrects the autographs when textual discrepancies arise. There are other Christians, well-meaning as many of them are, who so prefer the KJV that all other English translations are considered inferior and substandard, and are thus viewed as flawed, corrupted, and untrustworthy. Within the broader KJV Only camp, there are some who simply prefer the KJV and allow for the use of other translations for comparative and academic purposes, but would chill to the bone if anything other than the KJV was used from the pulpit, in the classroom, or any other formal church association. Most of those who adhere to KJV Onlyism make their translational preference a test of fellowship. In so doing, they divide the Body of Christ; something abhorrent to our Lord and strictly forbidden by Scripture. 

But this is not a post on KJV Onlyism. I touch on this because I want to reiterate my earlier key point which must be made perfectly clear before any discussion on choosing a translation can be entertained; God has always intended for his written revelation to be communicated in the common language. Does the fact that some believers hold to an unscriptural position with regard to the KJV mean that the KJV itself is abhorrent and should be avoided by bible loving believers? Absolutely not. The translation was a good one in the 17^th century and still holds a degree of majesty and scholarship that should be respected.

A Brief History of Language & English Translations

With regard to my earlier tenet, God has always intended for his written revelation to be communicated in the common language, a brief understanding of how language changes have affected the transmission of Scripture is in order. Language changes; it evolves. Word meanings change and take on The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and Aramaic. Why? God’s chosen people, Israel, spoke, read, and wrote Hebrew from Moses until the exile when the Medes came to power and Aramaic became the common Jewish tongue (cir. time of the penning of Daniel). During the inter-testamental period, after Alexander the Great Hellenized the world, most of the Jewish world outside of Palestine proper adopted Greek as their daily common language. Thus, it became necessary for the Old Testament to be translated into Greek, a translation known today as the Septuagint (LXX). It was this translation that was used by many of the Jews of Jesus’ day and which finds its way into the New Testament; largely in the book of Hebrews, but can be found in other places as well. With the expansion of the Church outside of national Israel, the need arose to communicate the revelation of the New Testament to the common man. Thus, God chose to give that revelation in Greek, the common tongue of the Roman Empire. As the Empire transitioned into its western and eastern selves, Latin became the primary language of the Western Empire and the biblical languages of the autographs fell out of favor. Thus, Jerome produced the first official Latin translation of the Bible in 382 AD. The Vulgate was used as the primary translation of the Western Church for centuries.

During the 5^th and 6^th centuries, Germanic peoples make their way into Britain. Their Saxon dialects become mingled with the native British tongue and become known as Old English. This common language makes it necessary for the Word of God to be put into English. Because English was not largely a written language, and the Latin Church forbid the translating of the Bible into any common tongue, the knowledge of Scripture among the Anglo-Saxon peoples was verbal. By the 7^th century, Caedmon the monk of Jarrow began to sing Bible themes and content in English so the common man could understand it. Between 640 and 735 AD a written English translation was produced by Aldheim. Alheim’s translation was based on the Vulgate, not the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. Though these translations were available in Britain, most commoners still could not read, thus Latin retained its predominance. As education gained ground in Britain, more and more people learned to read. Therefore, an English translation they could trust was in order. In 1384, John Wycliffe finished the first translation of the entire Bible into English from the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. His original version and their copies were handwritten. Even though Wycliffe’s Bible was done doesn’t mean it was mass produced. In 1408 the Synod of Oxford tried, with little success, to suppress the Wycliffe Bible in favor off the Latin. By 1455 the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg made mass production an affordable reality. The first book printed was the Latin Gutenberg Bible.

A major revolution in western thinking was ushered into being with the birth of the Renaissance in the mid 15^th century. The Renaissance renewed interest in classical education and revived a desire to study both Hebrew and Greek; making possible the study of the Bible in the original languages once again. This new interest in the original languages of the Bible stimulated textual research. The Renaissance created new opportunities for humanist scholars such as Erasmus of Rotterdam, who sought to make the Bible available to people of all ages, social levels, and countries. More radical in outlook than Renaissance humanists were the Reformers, who measured the teaching and practice of the Western Church by the standards of Scripture. In order to purify the church from ignorance and destructive practices, the Reformers became deeply convinced that it was both reasonable and necessary to circulate God's word in the common language.

Therefore, in 1525, William Tyndale translated the New Testament into English; using the Latin Vulgate, Erasmus’ Greek text, and as many other original Greek manuscripts  that he could lay his hands on. Much of Tyndale’s wording and sentence structure can be found in modern day English translations still. (Interesting historical fact: almost 90% of the New Testament of the KJV is Tyndale’s translation. Where the KJV departed from Tyndale’s translation, the English Revised Version of 1881 went back to it.) Because he was committed to taking the Bible to the common man, he vowed to ensure that the most common ploughboy would know more about the Bible than the Pope himself. By 1526, 6,000 copies of the Tyndale New Testament had been sold and disseminated in England. English opposition witnessed the destruction of most of these early copies.

Though Tyndale did not live to complete the Old Testament, having been executed in 1536, he did finish the historical books from Joshua to 2 Chronicles. Myles Coverdale, a student of Tyndale, produced an English Bible in 1535 which contained all of Tyndale’s translations (mentioned above) and 14 Apocryphal books. Since Coverdale was not a skilled Hebrew or Greek scholar, his personal translations, mainly Old Testament and Apocrypha, were based on Latin and German translations rather than original manuscripts.

When Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church, he authorized the Matthews Bible (a reprint of the Tyndale/Coverdale Bible) to be bought and sold in England (1537). Mary Tudor (Catholic) revoked this allowance and forbid all but the Vulgate. Mary Tudor is followed by the Protestant Elizabeth who is followed by the Catholic Mary Stuart who never reigned but abdicated the throne of Scotland leaving her son, who was raised by Protestant Elizabeth from the time he was 1 year old, to assume the throne. His name was James I of England/James VI of Scotland. During the vacillation of the English monarchy between Catholicism and Protestantism, several noteworthy developments take place in relation to English Bible translations. In 1539, the Great Bible (named for its size) was produced, but was basically the Matthews Bible reprinted. In 1546, the Council of Trent declares the Latin Vulgate the official Catholic translation. In 1560, the Geneva Bible is printed. For the first time since Tyndale/Coverdale verses were added and was the first English Bible based entirely on Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. In 1568, the Bishops Bible is produced. It is called such because the Archbishop of Canterbury suggested that the Geneva Bible be revised by the bishops of the Church of England so it would be suitable to be used by all of the churches in England. In 1609, the Rheims-Douay Bible becomes the first English Catholic Bible approved by the Catholic Church. In 1611, the “legendary” King James Version is produced. The King James translators used all of the widely accepted versions up to and including the Bishop’s Bible, Geneva, Matthews, Tyndale/Coverdale, Vulgate, the Hebrew Tankh, the Septuagint, and Erasmus’ Textus Receptus – a Greek New Testament text based on a scant 6 Greek manuscripts all dating from the 11^th and 12^th century AD (only 300 years before he produced his Greek text) – to produce the King James Version.

From 1613 until 1901, varying English translations were made as translators gained proficiency in the Hebrew and Greek languages and textual and manuscript evidence increased. 300 corrections were made in the 1613 version of the King James Version.  In the 18th century Bishop Challoner made revisions to the Rheims-Douay Bible; removing some Latin terms and adding the use of King James translation in some areas. In 1885, the Apocrypha were removed from KJV when the English Revised Version was printed. In the early 20^th century (1901), the American Standard Version was printed, followed by plethora of English translations throughout the 20^th and 21^st centuries to date (see chart below).

Conclusion

God has always intended for his written revelation to be communicated in the common language. The English language has changed since the first Germanic Saxons invaded Britain and birthed the old English of Anglo-Saxony. American English differs widely from English spoken elsewhere in the world. The educational level of English-speaking people differs the world over. My point? The Bible should be in the common language; the language read, written, and spoken by the people receiving it, not some ancient form of English that the larger populace doesn’t understand, let alone a translation that is so stilted and choppy as to be unreadable. I am not advocating playing loosey-goosey with inspiration and inerrancy, neither am I advocating throwing scholarship out the window. I am saying that when choosing a Bible translation, it is good to understand that God has always intended for his written revelation to be communicated in the common language.

Bible	English variant	Date	Source	Notes
American Standard Version	Modern English	1901	Masoretic Text, Westcott and Hort 1881 and Tregelles 1857
American King James Version	Modern English	1999	Revision of the King James Version
Amplified Bible	Modern English	1965	Revision of the American Standard Version
An American Translation	Modern English	1935	Masoretic Text, various[which?] Greek texts.
ArtScroll Tanakh (Old Testament)	Modern English	1996	Masoretic Text
An American Translation	Modern English	1976	Masoretic Text, various[which?] Greek texts.
Berkeley Version	Modern English	1958
Bible in English	Modern English	1949
The Bible in Living English	Modern English	1972
Catholic Public Domain Version	Modern English	2009	Sixtus V and Clement VIII Latin Vulgate	by Ronald L. Conte Jr., in the public domain
Children's King James Version	Modern English	1962	Revision of the King James Version.	by Jay P. Green
Christian Community Bible, English version	Modern English	1986	Hebrew and Greek
Clear Word Bible	Modern English	1994
Complete Jewish Bible	Modern English	1998	Paraphrase of the Jewish Publication Society of America Version (Old Testament), and from the original Greek (New Testament).
Contemporary English Version	Modern English	1995
Concordant Literal Version	Modern English		Restored Greek syntax. A concordance of every form of every Greek word was made and systematized and turned into English. The whole Greek vocabulary was analyzed and translated, using a standard English equivalent for each Greek element.
A Conservative Version	Modern English	2005
EasyEnglish Bible	Modern English	2001	Wycliffe Associates (UK)
Easy-to-Read Version	Modern English	1989	Textus Receptus, United Bible Society (UBS) Greek text, Nestle-Aland Text
English Jubilee 2000 Bible	Modern English	2000	Reina-Valera (1602 Edition)
English Standard Version	Modern English	2001	Revision of the Revised Standard Version. (Westcott-Hort, Weiss, Tischendorf Greek texts)
God's Word	Modern English	1995
Good News Bible	Modern English	1976	United Bible Society (UBS) Greek text	Formerly known as Today's English Version
Great Bible	Early Modern English	1539	Masoretic Text, Greek New Testament of Erasmus, the Vulgate, and the Luther Bible.
Holman Christian Standard Bible	Modern English	2004	Masoretic Text, Nestle-Aland Text.
The Inclusive Bible	Modern English	2007	From the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek
International Standard Version	Modern English	2011
Jerusalem Bible	Modern English	1966	From the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, with influence from the French La Bible de Jérusalem.
Jewish Publication Society of America Version Tanakh (Old Testament)	Modern English	1917	Masoretic Text
Judaica Press Tanakh (Old Testament).	Modern English	1963	Masoretic Text
King James 2000 Version	Modern English	2000	Revision of the King James Version.
King James Easy Reading Version	Modern English	2010	Revision of the King James Version. The Received Text.	King's Word Press. GEM Publishing.[3]
King James II Version	Modern English	1971	Masoretic Text, Textus Receptus	by Jay P. Green, Sr.
Knox's Translation of the Vulgate	Modern English	1955	Vulgate, with influence from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
Lamsa Bible	Modern English	1933	Syriac Peshitta
A Literal Translation of the Bible	Modern English	1985	Masoretic Text, Textus Receptus (Estienne 1550)	by Jay P. Green, Sr.
Leeser Bible, Tanakh (Old Testament)	Modern English	1994	Masoretic Text
The Living Bible	Modern English	1971	American Standard Version (paraphrase)
The Living Torah and The Living Nach. Tanakh (Old Testament)	Modern English	1994	Masoretic Text
The Message	Modern English	2002
Modern King James Version	Modern English	1990	Masoretic Text, Textus Receptus	by Jay P. Green, Sr.
Modern Language Bible	Modern English	1969		Also called "The New Berkeley Version"
Moffatt, New Translation	Modern English	1926
James Murdock's Translation of the Syriac Peshitta	Modern English		Syriac Peshitta
New American Bible	Modern English	1970
New American Standard Bible	Modern English	1971	Masoretic Text, Nestle-Aland Text
New Century Version	Modern English	1991
New English Bible	Modern English	1970	Masoretic Text, Greek New Testament
New English Translation (NET Bible)	Modern English	2005	Masoretic Text, Nestle-Aland/United Bible Society Greek New Testament
New International Reader's Version	Modern English	1998	New International Version (simplified syntax, but loss of conjunctions obscures meanings)
New International Version Inclusive Language Edition	Modern English	1996	Revision of the New International Version.
New International Version	Modern English	1978	Masoretic Text, Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament (based on Westcott-Hort, Weiss and Tischendorf, 1862).
New Jerusalem Bible	Modern English	1985	From the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, with influence from the French La Bible de Jérusalem.
New Jewish Publication Society of America Version. Tanakh (Old Testament)	Modern English	1985	Masoretic Text
New King James Version	Modern English	1982	Masoretic Text (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 1983), Majority text (Hodges-Farstad, 1982)
New Life Version	Modern English	1986
New Living Translation	Modern English	1996
New Revised Standard Version	Modern English	1989		Revision of the Revised Standard Version.
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures	Modern English	1950 (New Testament) 1960 (single volume complete Bible) 1984 (reference edition with footnotes)	Westcott and Hort's Greek New Testament, Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, Hebrew J documents, as well as various other families of Hebrew and Greek manuscripts
The Orthodox Study Bible	Modern English	2008	Adds a new translation of the LXX to an existing translation of the NKJV in a single volume.
Recovery Version of the Bible	Modern English	1985		Revision of the American Standard Version and Darby Bible.
Revised Standard Version	Modern English	1952	Masoretic Text, Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament.
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition	Modern English	1966		Revision of the Revised Standard Version.
Revised English Bible	Modern English	1987		Revision of the New English Bible.
Rotherham's Emphasized Bible		1902	Masoretic Text (Biblia Hebraica), Westcott-Hort Greek text
The Scriptures	Modern English & Hebrew (Divine Names)	1993, revised 1998 & revised 2009	Masoretic Text (Biblia Hebraica), Textus Receptus Greek text	Popular Messianic Translation by the Institute for Scripture Research
Simplified English Bible	Modern English.
The Story Bible	Modern English	1971		A summary/paraphrase, by Pearl S. Buck
Today's New International Version	Modern English	2005	Masoretic Text (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 1983), Nestle-Aland Greek text	Revision of the New International Version.
Third Millennium Bible	Modern English	1998		Revision of the King James Version.
Updated King James Version	Modern English	2004
A Voice In The Wilderness Holy Scriptures	Modern English	2003	Masoretic Text, Textus Receptus
Westminster Bible	Modern English	1936	Greek and Hebrew
The Work of God's Children Illustrated Bible[4]	Modern English	2010	Revision of the Challoner Revision of the Douay-Rheims Bible.	Released into the public domain by The Work of God's Children (nonprofit corporation)