Question:
What is the best possible Bible translation for Christians?
anonymous
2011-07-10 17:47:01 UTC
The least biased and least altered of the Old Testament, since many jews (rightly so) condemn many christian biblical translations of the Old Testament. And the most accurate of the New Testament. Christians, Catholics, Evangelists and Esoteric Independents, which is best?
Especially for personal reading...not church or organized religion-based...which is the best possible?
Thirteen answers:
anonymous
2011-07-10 17:55:05 UTC
I'm assuming that you mean English translations.



In my amateur, subjective but very well-researched opinion, the following are the most accurate and least biased English Bible translations available right now (in order):



- New Jerusalem Bible



- Revised English Bible



- New Revised Standard Version



Those would also have the best New Testaments. If you are *very* suspicious of bias, you can reject the first (New Jerusalem Bible) as that is a Roman Catholic Bible - but I have detected no religious bias in it whatsoever, including none of the traditional Roman Catholic wording. The other two are the product of committees consisting of people from many widely-varying religious sects.



- Jim, http://www.BibleSelector.com/
Bill C
2011-07-11 01:13:56 UTC
No satisfactory answer to this question. I can read Hebrew and Greek, and I can tell you that all commonly available translations have issues. Even Jewish translations of the OT have some modifications. This is nothing new. The first recorded instance of tampering for doctrinal reasons was in late manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate, where a verse was added. (Most newer translations leave it out, since it is a proven fraud, but some translations, including KJV and NKJV still retain it.) The KJV contains numerous errors, mostly deliberate, for doctrinal and political reasons. (Had the translation not lined up with Church of England teaching, the translators would have had to do it over.)



The only perfect solution is to learn biblical Hebrew (not difficult) and biblical Greek (considerably more difficult) and read the extant manuscripts for yourself. Next best, learn enough to be able to look up individual words in Hebrew and Greek dictionaries. Most modern Hebrew dictionaries contain definitions for Hebrew words throughout history, including biblical, medieval, modern, etc. There are some good dictionaries of koine Greek. Grammar books for both languages will also help.



Interlinear Bibles are an imperfect solution, unless you can read enough of the languages to verify the interlinear translations. Otherwise, you are once again at the mercy of translators. And sadly, translators of every commonly available translation have shown clearly that they all had agendas other than true accuracy.



One example, although a silly one, of deliberate mistranslation comes from the KJV. And that is the inclusion of the name James in the Bible. English Bibles give the name James to two men. But neither of those men were actually named James. Both were named Jacob. It was changed to James to flatter King James. (James is the English form of the Gaelic Seamas.... James was Scottish. Neither James nor Seamas is linguistically related to Jacob.) Of course, to change the names back to Jacob now would only cause confusion... and so we're stuck with one of many little lies from the translators.
Bud
2011-07-11 01:14:56 UTC
Based on the qualifications and tremendous effort put forth to make their translation as accurate as humanly possible, I have to go with the KJV. Most more recent translations are actually interpretations written by men trying to make the language of the KJV easier to understand. Anytime that happens, the author/translator's personal beliefs unavoidably enter into the translation.
『  』
2011-07-11 13:57:26 UTC
The Latin Vulgate would be the most accurate, to which the 1610 Douay Rheims would be the most literal English translation.
Bolide ⌡shinning bacon of hope...⌠
2011-07-11 01:03:36 UTC
Bible Selector Jim is >The Man< on this question. His knowledge on this subject is encyclopedic, and his lack of bias is a credit.
St.Jeb
2011-07-11 01:02:13 UTC
The ESV version
?
2011-07-11 00:49:15 UTC
It really depends on the purpose.



KJV should at this point only serve as a tribute to the accuracy of early translations, which was surprisingly good, but by no means perfect.

NIV and NLT are great for general reading.

NASB and ESV are better for study, as they try to be as close as possible while still being readable.

YLT is perfectly literal, and good only for serious study.
I Miss the 90s
2011-07-11 00:47:59 UTC
King James Version
momma
2011-07-11 00:49:40 UTC
The New King James Version or I have NLT(new Living Translation)
†.†.†
2011-07-11 00:48:45 UTC
The New King James version is the most literal. The King James is trash, most of the rest are the alike.
?
2011-07-11 00:49:52 UTC
http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/index.shtml
Jim
2011-07-11 00:58:24 UTC
KJV
?
2011-07-11 00:47:54 UTC
skepticsannotatedbible.com


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