Why Bible Translations Matter

The English language provides dozens of Bible translations. Which one do you want? Does it matter? Are they all faithful to the original?Today, many Christians are demanding a translation that is easy-to-read. As well-intentioned as this seems, it is really a dangerous road. Would you prefer the medical school begin to use easy-to-read text books to help alleviate the shortage of Doctors? I doubt it! When it comes to life and death matters, we are far more concerned with accuracy and truth than readability.God’s Word was given to us, each and every word, “God-breathed.” In fact, the Bible does not claim that the Word of God is accurate as much as it claims the Words of God are accurate. The accuracy of the overall Word is dependent upon the accuracy of the individual word.  For example, consider 2 Timothy 3:16, which declares, “All Scripture is inspired by God.”   The word for Scripture is graphe.  Strong’s concordance defines the root word as, “To express in written characters.”  It is the words of the Bible that make the Word of God accurate.  So, without accurate words, there is no accuracy in the Bible.This means that the translation you choose is of utmost importance. The popular idea-for-idea “translations” have a fundamental flaw. Often called “dynamic equivalence,” these translations of Scripture do not have the conviction that each particular word matters.Through the years, the King James Version has been the most accurate word-for-word translation available. Every believer should have a KJV for reference in Bible study. If you have no ability to use readily available Greek and Hebrew tools, use the KJV as your source for accurate translation. The New King James Version will also be very accurate. New American Standard is the most readable of the word-for-word translations, but even it has a few areas in which the accuracy of the word was lost for the sake of readability. Moving away from word-for-word, in order from closest to farthest would be KJV, NKJV, NASB, ESV, HCSB, NIV, The Message, The Voice. Of course, there are many other translations that would be somewhere on the continuum.Episode 1 of “Bad Translation Awards” is below. Episode 2 will be at 4:00 PM Central time on November 19. Click here for Episode 2.