We recently had the anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible.
Truly it is a beautiful translation, although full of anachronisms
and many words which actually have changed to mean the opposite of
when it was published.
The KJV only folks, which insist that it is the only appropriate
version are well meaning , but have failed to recognize what brought
us the KJV version in the first place. The King James Bible was not the
first version of the Bible in English. In fact many of the KJV proponents
insist that The Roman Catholic Church was trying to keep the Bible out
of the language of the people which is what led to the KJV. This however
is patently disingenuous, because the Douay-Rheims Bible (DRV)was translated
by the Catholic Church into English BEFORE the KJV, and most of the
scholars, that worked on the KJV were the ones that had previously
translated the Douay.
The principal difference between the two is that the DRV was translated
from the Latin Vulgate while the KJV was translated from the original
Greek and Hebrew. Erasmus' publication of the Greek New Testament inspired
Tyndale and Luther to translate the Bible from the original Greek and
Hebrew into the language of the people. Tyndale into English and Luther
into German.
Despite it's claim to be a new translation based on a group of scholars,
the KJV is actually simply a revision of Tyndale's English Bible. It
contains 83% of Tyndale's language in it's New Testament and 76% of his
language in it's Old Testament. It would have been more properly named
had it been called The Revised Tyndale Version.
But let's get down to business here. The same people who claim that
the Catholic Church was trying to keep the Bible out of the vernacular
neglect to mention that the Catholic Church had already translated into
the vernacular (language of the people)before the KJV. Tyndale's idea in
his work which predated the DRV and the KJV was to translate the Bible
into language "even a poorly educated plow boy could understand" This
was the motive behind Tyndale's work which inspired the KJV, to make the
Bible accessible to EVERYONE, being easy to understand.
Languages evolve. And the KJV is no longer in the language a poorly
educated person can understand, or even many fairly well educated people.
Many people have no idea what KJV words like purloining, eshew, or
lasciviousness mean. There are over 300 words in the KJV that are totally
obsolete and some even have the opposite meaning! Take Psalm 21.3 for
example: 'Thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness' The word
prevent in old English means to welcome. To prevent someone and to welcome
someone obviously don't mean the same thing in modern English.I could go
on and on. Folks who advocate KJV use only, are doing the same thing many of
them accused the Catholic Church of doing when they retained the Latin,
hindering access to people knowing the Word of God. Now they tend to say,
"just educate people better and it will solve the problem". But the same
thing could be have been said about people who could not understand Latin!
The Revised Standard Version sought to maintain the beauty of the KJV
by retaining the majesty of the KJV (in the Psalms especially) while
removing anachronisms (obsolete language). There have been many versions
in English that have followed. There are three types of translations:
1. Literal: these translations try to translate as far as possible
on a word for word basis the ancient texts into modern language.
Examples would be the Revised Standard Version, English Standard
Version, American Standard Version, New King James Version.
2. Dynamic Equivalent: these seek to convey the original languages
thought in phrases rather than word for word. An example would be
the New International Version. While the literal would say 'flesh'
in chapters Romans 6-8, the NIV translates it as 'sinful nature'
which more accurately describes the intent of Paul's thought.
Other examples of dynamic equivalent would be the New English
Bible,the New Revised Standard Bible, the New American Bible
the Jerusalem Bible, and the Amplified Bible.
3. Paraphrase: In a paraphrase version, phrases are used but are
more interpretive, seeking to not only convey the meaning but
to explain it. Examples would be the New Living Translation,
the Good News Bible, the Living Bible, The Message Bible.
I prefer a literal translation or a dynamic equivalent for study
purposes, with a literal for my primary Bible. It is profitable
to use the paraphrased versions in addition.I do enjoy the New Living
Translation for example, but especially in presenting correct
doctrine, the first two options are best. No matter what anyone says
no human is completely objective and can avoid the injection of
some personal doctrinal belief in translating. That why I use over
20 translations as well as Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament in my
studies. A Strong's Concordance is still a valuable tool to delve
into the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. All these things can
be found online, although I prefer books.
Young people today have great difficulty with the KJV, as do many adults.
Much time is wasted trying to interpret the KJV into modern English before
one can teach or preach from the text. In southern language, after hearing
from the KJV people often have the 'deer in the headlights'
or 'cow at a new gate' look.
Now if one enjoys the KJV and is comfortable with it, that is wonderful.
It is the Bible! However, some "King James people" freak out if people
want to read something else. If one mentions the NIV for instance,
their neck stretches out like a llama, their eyes bug out and their
head starts spinning around.
For what it is worth I recommend the following:
English Standard Version,New King James Version, New International
Version or Revised Standard Version.
For supplemental study I recommend The New Revised Standard,
The New Living Translation, The King James Version, The Jerusalem
Bible, and the Amplified Bible. And a Strong's Exhaustive Concordance.
But the primary thing is seek God in His Word, to love him
and others. The Bible is our most precious treasure.
Peace be with you,
Jack
No comments:
Post a Comment