Updated American Standard Version
Giving Bible readers what God said not what translators think God meant
Delve into the critical importance of adhering to a literal Bible translation philosophy. Understand why this approach ensures textual accuracy, aids in theological understanding, and allows for a closer connection to the original meaning of Scripture.
The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) was one of the first major translations to adopt the gender-neutral language. The King James Version translated at least one passage using a technique that many now reject in other translations, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God” (Matt. 5:9). One of the last bastions of literal translation philosophy, the New American Standard Bible, has given into the gender-neutral translation philosophy. Fortunately, we now have the literal 2022 Updated American Standard Version (UASV).
Even though there has been a serious decline in Christianity over the past 70 years, the Bible is still the bestselling book throughout the world. In fact, it seems that since 1960 there have been dozens of new translations over the years.
The debate as to where one should be in the spectrum of literal versus dynamic equivalent, i.e., their translation philosophy has been going on since the first translation of the Hebrew (Aramaic) into Greek, i.e., the Septuagint (280-150 B.C.E.).
This is a brief introduction to Bible translation basics, with other articles readdressing some areas in greater detail. Understanding how the Bible came down to us, how Bible translations are made, the different translation philosophies, and the textual issues that exist are essential for all serious students of the Bible.
A literal English translation is the word of God in English. Anything less is simply essentially the Word of God on a lower level. It is the translator's interpretation of the literal word.
There have been various debates concerning the proper family of biblical manuscripts and translation techniques that should be used to translate the Bible into other languages. There have been debates over the King James Version and modern Bible translations. There have been debates over literal translation philosophy and interpretative translation philosophy. There have been debates over the masculine gender used in the Bible, saying that it is patriarchal. Who is correct and which Bible translation is the best?
The Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. As of September 2020, the full Bible has been translated into 704 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,551 languages and Bible portions or stories into 1,160 other languages. How did the Bible come down to us? Can it be trusted?
On the Bible translation scene, advocates of colloquial English Bible translations regularly and rigorously debunk the King James Version. In turn, it has become common for these debunkers to attempt to drive a wedge between the King James Version and William Tyndale’s translation work nearly a century earlier.
Over the last seven decades, dynamic equivalent (thought-for-thought) translation advocates have flooded the market with easy-to-read Bible translations. These focus on the reader, not the text, which has literally threatened the integrity of God's Word, and Ryken has been at the forefront of defending the arguments the dynamic equivalent advocates have raised.