‘Edgy’ Bible Translations Often Overlooked

The classic New Testament edition of The Good News Bible; got one of these at home?

When we think of Bible translations that were considered ‘fresh’ or even ‘radical’ in the last couple of generations there are usually three that come to mind:

• The Living Bible
• The Message
• The Voice

Each of these resonated with readers who were looking for a unique or fresh take on familiar words, and The Living Bible was ‘renovated’ years later to become the NLT.

However, in the last ten days or so, I have been reminded through various sources that it is too easy to overlook two translations done by the American Bible Society:

• Good News Bible aka GNT aka Today’s English Version (TEV) aka Good News for Modern Man
• Contemporary English Version aka CEV

(The CEV should not be confused with the CEB, the recently-released Common English Bible.)

If you’re scanning BibleGateway.com, it’s a good idea to check out how the verse or passage in question is rendered in these two versions. A warning though, sometimes we think a verse says something and then we try to find a translation that says what we want it to say. This is where having multiple translations can help us have greater clarity of meaning.

This week I’ve found both the GNT and CEV to be exactly what I needed with a particular reference. Each is its own version — the CEV wasn’t an update to the Good News as some of us believed at the time — with the CEV having the lower (easier) reading level.

And… if you have a bent for philanthropy don’t forget to support the work of The Bible Society in your country.

• American Bible Society
• Canadian Bible Society
• United Bible Societies (UK)

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Our goal in sharing scripture is not to make the Bible relevant, but to communicate the relevance it already has.

 

Translation Arguments Really About Preferences

Eddie Arthur at the Bible Translation blog Kouya wrote this with his tongue firmly planted in cheek, but it is oh, so very, very accurate.

The Definitive Guide To Bible Translation Terms

One of the problems with the whole issue of Bible translation is that people use such confusing terms. For someone who just wants to understand the merits of a particular translation or who is perhaps looking to buy a Bible, the geekish terminology that surrounds the subject can be a real stumbling block. So, in order to help those who have not been initiated into the secrets of translation terminology, I would like to present this definitive guide.

• Meaning Based: “a translation which prioritizes the meaning rather than the form of the original language.”
• Form Based: “a translation which prioritizes the form of the original language rather than the meaning.”
• Literal Translation: “a form based translation”
• Word for Word: “a form-based translation and I don’t know much about languages.”
• Free Translation: “I don’t like this meaning based translation.”
• Paraphrase: “I really don’t like this meaning based translation.”
• Accurate: I like it.
• The Most Accurate: means either
  • as an opinion (I believe this is the most accurate translation) “I really like it.”
  • as a statement of factt (this is the most accurate translation) “I know nothing about translation theory or languages.”
• Dynamic Equivalence: “I read a blog post about translation once.”