catapult magazine

I came accross another study over at ellison research…
http://www.ellisonresearch.com/Pastor%20Study/Release%202%20Bibles.htm

It kind of blew my mind.

From what I have been taught, and what I have learned from practice…the NAS is the most accurate translation to use for literal study of the Scriptures. This survey was taken by Pastors regarding which version they used for their [b:3624d8f82b]work[/b:3624d8f82b]. It was decided that the NIV came in first, while the KJV second. I wonder if you all could let me know what translation you use for accuracy in your studies.

Well, I found it kind of difficult to decide on one translation where every nuance of Scripture is communicated well. This is because of the different "angles" which each translating team takes with their interpretation. With measurements, for example, some translations use the literal unit, while others convert measurements into the american "old-english" system.
I therefore, invested in a comparative bible. Not the easiest book to fit in a bookbag, but It has 4 translations side-by-side to give the reader more of a complete understanding of the words and ideas. However, for figuring out specific words, I have found that Strong’s Hebrew and Greek definitions to be most helpful, at times.

I’ve been working my way through the New Jerusalem Bible. It keeps the Yahweh title for God in the Old Testament and has the Apocrypha. It has helped for me to read a translation that’s a bit unfamiliar. Reading the Psalms is a new experience because the meaning doesn’t get lost in that sing-songy voice I start to get in my head when encountering passages that are burned in my brain from some distant Christian school Bible-memory assignment. You know how it’s hard to say the ABC’s without singing the song you learned when you were a little kid? I get that with some Bible passages and so I don’t really focus on the words as well. Sot this foreign version helps me to read it afresh.

Just a note to say that translation is an art, not a science, and even more so when it’s translation from a dead language to a living language. In many cases translators don’t know exactly what the author meant in the first place, so ‘accuracy’ takes on a whole new meaning.