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The Bible Translation Debate

LELAND RYKEN (Ph.D., University of Oregon) served as professor of English at Wheaton College for nearly 50 years. He has authored or edited over fifty books, including The Word of God in English and A Complete Handbook of Literary Forms in the Bible. He is a frequent speaker at the Evangelical Theological Society’s annual meetings and served as literary stylist for the English Standard Version Bible.

UNTIL THE MIDDLE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, all major English Bible translations were based on the premise that the goal of Bible translation is to take the reader as close as possible to the words that the biblical authors actually wrote. William Tyndale, the fountainhead of English Bible translation, even made-up English words like intercession, atonement, scapegoat, and Passover in order to do justice to the very words of the biblical text.

Equally, striking are the italicized words in the King James Version. Surely, many English readers are mystified by the italicizing of words and phrases in the KJV. Following the lead of the Geneva Bible (1560), the King James translators were so scrupulous about keeping the record clear as to what the biblical authors actually wrote that they italicized words that the translators added for the sake of clarity or fluency in English. By contrast, modern dynamic equivalent translators hope to keep readers in the dark regarding changes that have been made to the original. If that seems like a doubtful statement, I will just adduce the example of a colleague of mine who was given permission to produce an interlinear version of the NIV New Testament. A high-ranking person in the publishing house expressed surprise that this permission had been granted, since it would show at once how many words in the NIV have no corresponding word in the Greek original.

Exactly What Happened in the Middle of the Twentieth Century?

Before the rise of dynamic equivalent translations, all major translations were based on the principle of essentially literal translation, also known as verbal equivalence. This translation philosophy strives to give an equivalent English word or phrase for all words found in the original text of the Bible. The goal is to convey everything that it is in the original–but not more than is in the original or less than is there.

The new translation philosophy is called dynamic equivalence, but that designation is very inadequate to cover all that modernizing translations actually do. In fact, equivalence is not usually, what these translations give. Usually, they give a substitution or replacement for what the original says. Additionally, dynamic equivalent translators omit material from material in the original and add to it. Dynamic equivalent translators feel no compulsion to reproduce in English the words that the biblical authors wrote. In fact, the prefaces to these translations and surrounding published materials and interviews hold verbal equivalence up to scorn. These prefaces and translators are bold to claim that a translation that departs from the words of the biblical authors is often more accurate than translations that reproduce the words of the original text.

Are my claims really true? I will give an example of each of the three common maneuvers of dynamic equivalent translators.

Omitting material from the Bible. The most plentiful parts of the Bible where this is done are passages with figurative language. In 1 Corinthians 16:9, Paul speaks metaphorically of “a wide door” that has “opened” to him (ESV). Dynamic equivalent translators who believe that modern readers cannot understand metaphors simply remove the wide door from sight: “a good opportunity” (New Century Version); “a wonderful opportunity” (Contemporary English Version); “a real opportunity” (Good News Bible). As all of this license unfolds before us, we need to ask, who gave us the metaphor of the wide door in the first place? The answer should be the writers of the Bible, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Offering a substitute for what is in the Bible. Omission of material from the original text is often accompanied by substitution for what a biblical author wrote. In Psalm 73, the poet recalls his crisis of faith in metaphoric terms: “my steps had nearly slipped” (v. 2b, ESV). Several dynamic equivalent translations give us a substitute for the image of slipping steps: “I had almost lost my faith” (New Century Version); “my faith was almost gone” (Good News Bible). As one expert on Bible translation exclaims, “This is not translation at all but merely replacement.”

Adding commentary to what the biblical authors wrote. Dynamic equivalent translators incessantly add commentary to what the original text gives us. Of course, the reader has no clue as to where the original text of the Bible ends and the commentary of the translators begin. In Psalm 23:5a, David writes, “You anoint my head with oil.” There is no dispute that this is what the original text says. Nevertheless, dynamic equivalent translators feel an overpowering urge to add commentary beyond the biblical text: “You welcome me as a guest, anointing my head with oil” (NLT). Unless you can read the Hebrew original or have the good fortune to be familiar with an essentially literal translation, you cannot answer the question of where the original text ends and the translator’s commentary begins. Of course, you should be able to trust your English Bible not to mislead you.

Why Would Translators Do These Things?

Why do translators feel free to engage in the kind of license I have noted? There are several answers. First, Bible translation took a wrong turn when the concept of a target audience became enthroned. This concept envisions an audience of limited linguistic and theological abilities. The almost universally accepted criterion of dynamic equivalent translations is a reader with the linguistic and theological comprehension of a sixth-grader. With this target audience firmly ensconced, the entire translation is then slanted toward the assumed abilities of this audience. I agree with the verdict of Dr. John McArthur, who in an endorsement of one of my books spoke of translators who are more concerned with the human audience than the divine author of the Bible is.

Additionally, the entire dynamic equivalent enterprise is based on the premise that the Bible is an inadequate book that needs correction. All we need to do is read the prefaces of these translations and observe what the translators have done to see that the translators believe that they can communicate better than the biblical authors did. The biblical authors used metaphors, but modern readers cannot understand metaphoric language. The biblical authors used theological language, but theological language is beyond modern readers. Etc., etc. The view of biblical authors that emerges from this branch of Bible translation is that they are inept and in need of correction. It is no wonder that half a century of dynamic equivalent translations has made the following formula omnipresent in evangelical circles: “now what the biblical author was trying to say is . . . .”

The Reading Culture of Early Christianity

What Is at Stake in the Current Debate?

Two things chiefly are at stake in the current debate between the rival translation philosophies. One is whether we can trust our English Bibles. I propose that we cannot trust dynamic equivalent translations to put us in contact with the Bible that God inspired the human authors to write. What is the assumption (completely legitimate) that we all make when we hold a book in our hands? Indeed, that the publisher has put into print the words that the author wrote. Dynamic equivalent translations consistently betray that trust.

Additionally, English readers need to choose between the actual Bible that God inspired his authors to write or a substitute for that Bible. I resonate completely with an emailer who wrote to me that he was raised on an essentially literal Bible, gravitated to a dynamic equivalent translation through peer pressure, and returned to an essentially literal translation after reading one of my books. His parting shot was that “it was as though someone had given me my Bible back.”

The Complete Guide to Bible Translation-2

When dynamic equivalence swept the field half a century ago, people were so intoxicated by the exciting new view of Bible translation that they did not pay attention to what was actually happening. The time has come for sober reality. I would urge readers of the English Bible to practice what an advertising slogan of several years ago advocated: Accept no substitute.

Why Is the Updated American Standard Version a Step Above Other Translations?

The Updated American Standard Version (UASV) is a literal translation. Translating from the original languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek is a task unlike any other and should never be taken lightly. It carries with it the heaviest responsibility: the translator renders God’s thoughts into a modern language. What does that mean?

It means that our primary purpose is to give the Bible readers what God said by way of his human authors, not what a translator thinks God meant in its place.

In other words, our primary goal is to be accurate and faithful to the original text. The meaning of a word is the responsibility of the interpreter (i.e., reader), not the translator.

J. I. Packer On the Value of Word-for-Word Translation
in Theological Reflection

J. I. Packer (1926–2020) served as the Board of Governors’ Professor of Theology at Regent College. He authored numerous books, including the classic bestseller Knowing God.

Here we come up against a question on which division in the Christian world is very deep. I stand on the conservative wing of the Christian theological community in my insistence that the translation of Scripture should be as close to the original in wording and sentence structure as is compatible with the flow and force in English.

My reason for being strong on this point is precisely that the original text of Scripture—Hebrew and Greek—is and remains the word of God in the most literal, substantive, solid, permanent, and unchanging sense. I think that the Bible is a transcendent reality with transcendent force. As I mentioned, a moment ago: The word of the Lord does not change. The word of the Lord is not blunted. The word of the Lord is never out of date.

And this is what we have to present in English in the most precise way that we are capable of. … In doing what we were aiming to do—that is, presenting the word of God in its purity. Just like when reporting a conversation to someone else, you try to reproduce, if possible, the very words in which your conversation partner made his weightiest and most far-reaching points—so it is when you try to render what the original texts of Scripture give you. To be effective, translation must be as near word-for-word—or at the very least clause-for-clause—as the idiom of the receptor language allows.

UASV PURPOSE

Our primary purpose is to give the Bible readers what God said by way of his human authors, not what a translator thinks God meant in its place.—Truth Matters!

UASV GOAL

Our primary goal is to be accurate and faithful to the original text. The meaning of a word is the responsibility of the interpreter (i.e., reader), not the translator.—Translating Truth!

OUR RESOURCES

The Updated American Standard Version will be one of the most faithful and accurate translations to date by Christian Publishing House. It will remain faithful to the original and what the authors penned. We will not go beyond the translator’s responsibility into the field of the interpreter.

Removing the Outdated

Passages with the Old English “thee’s” and “thou’s” etc. have been replaced with modern English.
Many words and phrases that were extremely ambiguous or easily misunderstood since the 1901 ASV have been updated according to the best lexicons.
Verses with difficult word order or vocabulary have been translated into correct English grammar and syntax, for easier reading. However, if the word order of the original conveyed meaning, it was kept.

More Accurate

The last 110+ years have seen the discovering of far more manuscripts, especially the papyri, with many manuscripts dating within 100 years of the originals.
While making more accurate translation choices, we have stayed true to the literal translation philosophy of the ASV, while other literal translations abandon the philosophy far too often.
The translator seeks to render the Scriptures accurately, without losing what the Bible author penned by changing what the author wrote, by distorting or embellishing through imposing what the translator believes the author meant into the original text.
Accuracy in Bible translation is being faithful to what the original author wrote (the words that he used), as opposed to going beyond into the meaning, trying to determine what the author meant by his words. The latter is the reader’s job.
The translator uses the most reliable, accurate critical texts (e.g., WH, NA, UBS, BHS, as well as the original language texts, versions, and other sources that will help him to determine the original reading.