Wednesday, January 9, 2008

So Many Versions, So Little Time; or More Than Just King James and His Bible

Hello dear readers.

I had no idea that there would be so much discussion on Bible translations. This is very heartening to me; I'm going to add a label because of all this discussion.

It seems that I will keep having to say this: for STUDY I use either the NRSV or New Jerusalem Bible. I used to study with the New American Bible, but somebody related to me got my copy and I haven't bought a new one yet. I own copies of the King James, New King James, NIV, NRSV and Revised English Bibles. They all help me in some way. And there are a couple that I plan on getting in the not-to-distant future.

My point about the King James version was that I liked it for the poetry of it. I know it is not the most literal translation (King James had his motives), I just like it. And while I think it would stretch kids' minds to have to slog through 17th century English, if an RE program chooses to go with a different translation, more power to them. As long as the kids get some Bible, I don't particularly care which edition they get.

So let's talk Bibles and the editions we like and don't like and why.

1 comment:

Robin Edgar said...

I like the KJV II for the simple reason that it is a very literal translation of the original Hebrew and Greek scriptures. I believe that it was based on an interlinear bible. i.e. a Bible where literal word for word translations are provided between the lines of the of the original Hebrew and Greek texts. Believe it or not I found a case or two where whole lines had been expunged from the vast majority of other Bibles.