Updated American Standard Version
Giving Bible readers what God said not what translators think God meant
This article delves into the fascinating world of idioms in literal Bible translation philosophy. Uncover the unique challenges translators face when encountering idiomatic expressions in the Scriptures and how they maintain accuracy while ensuring comprehension for the modern reader.
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.
Discover the pivotal role of William Tyndale in the translation of the Bible, and how his work laid the foundation for the English Bible. Explore the journey of Bible translation and the enduring impact of Tyndale's contributions, leading to the renowned King James Version.
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).
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.).
For some time now terms ending in the word “equivalent” or one of its variations have been preferred in describing translation philosophies. I have a problem with this word, and all translators really should have the same problem with it: it begs the very question we are debating.
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.
Proverbs 6:26 This is a problematic verse to translate from Hebrew,[6] but most commentators agree that the verse makes a contrast between the consequences of being with a prostitute and of being with an adulteress.
The importance of the Tyndale Bible in shaping and influencing the English language cannot be overstated. According to one writer, Tyndale is "the man who more than Shakespeare even or Bunyan has molded and enriched our language."
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.