How to Choose and Utilize Translations[1]
Evaluating available translations. How does one choose among the available translations in English? The book So Many Versions?, by Sakae Kubo and Walter Specht, has an excellent discussion of this question.53 There are many competing translations available. What are some of the criteria for choosing? We will suggest four factors that should be considered:
1. Accuracy—This criterion can be described in different ways. As discussed above, a translation should aim to have the same effect on new readers as the originals did on the first readers. Put another way, the goal should be communicate all that the author intended. Of course, it is virtually impossible to capture every feature. We are today historically, linguistically, and culturally removed from the situation of the writers. This is one reason why there will always be a need for further exegesis and new Bible translations.
There are several things a translator must do or possess as a minimum in order to achieve accuracy. First, he must have a high degree of exegetical, linguistic, and literary ability. This will help him in knowing how languages in general are structured.54 Second, it is imperative that the translator go to the original languages.55 The practices of the translators in regard to this are usually stated in the preface of each translation. Third, assessment of the needs of the audience must be consciously undertaken, since they are the all-important hearers of the message. Often a translator will have the goal of making a translation suitable for personal study, or for public reading. A translation that is limited to one particular readership or purpose will appear out of place when used for another. J.B. Phillips wrote his first translation for British youth. It received widespread acceptance because it was suited to his audience.56 On the other hand, the New English Bible, a British translation, often seems too British for many Americans (aside from spelling differences) as when it uses British monetary terms (two pence, Lk. 12:6, etc.), or weeds for “garments” (Gen. 38:14).57
2. Literary quality and style—Attention to these is important for several reasons. First, a translation that is not written smoothly will be tiring to read, and will eventually be neglected. Freshness, vigor, and quality are all required. But a danger in attempting to be too natural in translation is that of becoming slangy. If a translation is to be used for any type of public reading, it should have literary qualities that make it acceptable to a broad audience. In order to achieve the goal of literary coherence and quality, the NIV, for instance, was edited for style by literary experts after the translators had done their work.58
3. Theological neutrality—It is difficult to avoid presuppositions in any scholarly endeavor, even in biblical studies and Bible translating.59 It is not difficult to see such personal or philosophical factors in the history of interpretation. One cannot help having a starting point, a set of assumptions that give direction to study or translation. But, of course, the important thing in biblical studies or Bible translation is to test all assumptions by the light of Scripture, and avoid the situation described by one theologian: “Every exegesis that is guided by dogmatic prejudices does not hear what the text says, but only lets the latter say what it wants to hear.”60 Such non-neutrality can enter in at various levels, as when the Jerusalem Bible (a Roman Catholic translation) adopts a poorly attested Greek reading in Jn. 1:13 which allows the verse to read (in support of the virgin birth): “Jesus who was born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh,” versus “those … who were born …”61
One way to minimize the interference of presuppositions in translation work is to channel the process through a committee.62 Of course, whole committees can be biased in certain directions. Another problem with committees is the tendency toward variation in the quality of work from book to book. Many modern translations have been produced by committees whose composition has intentionally been broad-based. In any case, it is good to attempt to learn the theological positions of translators involved. Often this information is given in a preface, or can be determined in other ways.63 The student of Scripture has the responsibility, as with all other biblical material, of testing what is presented to him to see if it matches Scripture as best he can understand it from all the translations and helps he has available. This is merely the principle of 1 Cor. 14:29 and 1 Th. 5:21, where the believer is required to evaluate the teaching that comes from others to discern false from true, and then “hold fast” ’ to what is valid. Information given in the preface or material published ancillary to a translation will often state the goals or purposes of a translating group.64 Such information may be of help in evaluating literary or doctrinal positions, also, as when the NEB states in its introduction to the New Testament:
We have conceived our task to be that of understanding the original as precisely as we could (using all available aids), and then saying again in our own native idiom what we believed the author to be saying in his.… In doing our work, we have constantly striven to follow our instructions and render the Greek, as we understand it, into the English of the present day, that is, into the natural vocabulary, construction, and rhythms of contemporary speech.65
4. Original language editions utilized—The variation in editions used as the basis of translations, especially of the New Testament, has been mentioned above. In general, major doctrines will not be affected. More recent translations, such as the NIV, NASB, and RSV, have used editions of the New Testament supported by the general consensus of scholarship, editions that use manuscripts older than the Textus Receptus type of edition utilizes. However, the committees involved in making such translations have not followed those editions slavishly.66
Utilizing translations. At times you may feel, especially if you do not have access to the original languages, that you cannot be sure of anything in the biblical text, since there are so many translations available. Here are some guidelines for taking advantage of English translations of the Bible:
1. Compare renderings—It is often very helpful to study with more than one translation. In the turgid portions of Paul’s epistles, for example, translations such as those by Phillips or Way often clarify what is obscure.67 This comparative process can be even more effective if different types of translations are used, since sometimes quite different perspectives can be found and integrated into understanding of a passage.
2. Learn strengths and weaknesses—After repeated use of a translation, the Bible student can often notice where that translation shines or where it misses the mark. The NIV, for example, will break up long sentences that the AV or NASB leaves in correspondence with those in the original languages. A good example of this is found in Eph. 1:3–14. Such a practice enhances readability
3. Read widely—One of the greatest hindrances to progress in Bible study is the failure to read extensively and take in new information. Employing various Bible translations can help overcome that weakness. You may have a favorite study Bible, but you should keep other versions at hand for consultation.
4. Be open to new interpretations—As serious Bible students we must always walk a tightrope between two extremes: (1) not accepting new truth given by the illuminating ministry of the Spirit, but stubbornly clinging to the familiar, and (2) seeing, on our own, what is not there in the text. Openness is good if what we see is verifiable by other Scripture. It is destructive if we see, because of excessive prejudice or a hobby-horse mentality, what is not and never will be in the text. We all ought to be willing to be surprised by what we find in a new translation, and be ready to accept it as valid, if it accords with the rest of the Bible (see ch. 4, Interpreting the Bible).
5. Take advantage of study helps—While the features of study editions of the Bible, such as marginal references, a concordance, etc., are not part of the translation, they do in most instances shed light on the translation. Some notes may be the product of the translators themselves, who after wrestling with thorny problems suggest alternative readings or explanations. The NIV translators’ notes appear on each page of that translation.
[1] Karleen, Paul S. 1987. The Handbook to Bible Study: With a Guide to the Scofield Study System. New York: Oxford University Press.
53 Kubo and Specht, 336–44.
54 See Kubo and Specht, 18; Barr, 288–96.
55 It should be noted that The Living Bible was not done originally as a translation from the original languages; see Kubo and Specht, 340.
56 Kubo and Specht, 337–38;69.
57 Kubo and Specht, 207–9.
NIV New International Version
58 Kubo and Specht, 245. see also the section “Introduction” in the Oxford NIV Scofield Study Bible
59 Graham N. Stanton, “Presuppositions in New Testament Criticism,” in New Testament Interpretation, ed. I. Howard Marshall (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), 60.
60 Stanton, 64.
61 Stanton, 65. This has been changed in The New Jerusalem Bible. (New York: Doubleday, 1985).
62 See Bruce, x.
63 See, for example, the description of Kenneth Taylor’s background in Kubo and Specht, 232; the names of the translators of the NASB and the NIV are available from the Lockman Foundation and the New York International Bible Society, respectively.
64 An example is About the New English Bible, compiled by Geoffrey Hunt (Cambridge: Oxford and Cambridge University Presses, 1970).
65 C. H. Dodd, Introduction to the New Testament, The New English Bible (Oxford and Cambridge University Presses, 1970), vii.
NIV New International Version
RSV Revised Standard Version
66 Kubo and Specht, 200–2, 223, 269–70.
67 J. B. Phillips, in The New Testament in Modern English (New York: Macmillan, 1973); Arthur S. Way, The Letters of Paul; Hebrews and Psalms (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1981).
NIV New International Version
AV Authorized Version (=King James Version)
NIV New International Version
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