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Bible versions compared in great detail

FollowingHim

FollowingHim

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This is the best resource I know of critically examining Bible translations from a conservative perspective, it's extremely comprehensive and well researched, covering the history of each translation and a critical examination of its textual integrity. Essential reading next time you're out bible-shopping (which I am right now, for my son - it's extremely difficult to find a child-friendly translation that isn't gender-neutral and paraphrased to the extent of pushing the theological biases of the translators).
bible-researcher.com/versions.html

There's much more on the main page of this site on other topics also, but the bible versions section is in my opinion the most unique and valuable aspect of this website.
 
Thanks heaps for the suggestion Zec. After reading that I've just spent hours comparing the BBE and NCV with the KJV, YLT and Strongs! :)

When I was a child I had a NCV (sold as the International Children's Bible). It's a paraphrase, but it's pretty reasonable. It's from the 80's, before things became really dodgy around gender-neutral terminology. It was written originally as a simplified bible for deaf adults with a lower vocabulary, rather than as a children's bible specifically, so it's not babyish. Its' my fallback option if I can't find anything better (or I could jump him straight up to an ESV). It's very nice to read, the text flows well.

Yesterday I spent an hour or so in a Christian bookstore examining the NIrV (the "readers" version of the NIV), which seems to be the main children's translation promoted at present as it was used in every children's bible in our local store. The original NIV was ok for a readable version of scripture though not good for detailed study, but the later revisions of it have introduced gender-neutral language and messed things up further. The NIrV I found to be unattractive to read, broken into so many short sentences it just didn't sound right and wasn't memorable. And if he starts delving into any detailed study it would introduce too many problems. Not an option.

The BBE is very impressive. Like the NCV, it wasn't written as a children's bible specifically, so they haven't tried to write in a childlike manner at all. It is far more literal than the NCV - usually. Some verses are odd and don't line up well with the Hebrew / Greek, but in general it is better than the NCV. Less readable (for a child) but more accurate. You could use it for some detailed study.

It is a bit inconsistent sometimes though. Try looking up "concubine" in the KJV and finding those verses in the BBE - it's translated as "wife", "servant", "servant-wife", "woman", and even "...slept with a woman" like she was a random chick on the side of the road! But it's usually "servant-wife", which is pretty reasonable, shame it doesn't stick to that throughout.

But when it comes to serious theological issues it's far better. John 3:16 BBE: "...may not come to destruction..." vs NCV: "...may not be lost...". BBE is accurate, NCV is wishy-washy. 1 Cor 11:25 BBE: "This cup is the new testament in my blood" vs NCV: "This cup is the new agreement that is sealed with the blood of my death". Again, BBE is accurate (in that it is a "testament" or covenant proceeding directly from YHWH), while NCV is actually heretical, as it's not an "agreement" between YHWH and us in any way, salvation is purely given from Him by grace alone. So I'm impressed. Just have to find one in print.

Does anyone have any other suggestions to consider for an accurate bible for an 8-year-old?
 
I love Bible translation talk! I usually stick to YLT and KJV but I have found the BBE to be a wonderful helper when I can't quite figure those two more complex versions out.

I've always heard good things about the NASB. Maybe they could make one for Kiwis call the NNZSB.

In completely unrelated news, I just learned today that there was European kingdom of Zealand. I should have figured that but somehow it never occurred to me there had to be an Old Zeland.
 
Following this thread, as I've been searching for a good option to serve as a children's bible myself. I agree that the paraphrased watered-down versions, just aren't attractive to me. They just leave too much out.
 
Personally I also use the KJV and YLT for study, and the ESV for public reading & quotations. The NASB is also good, I don't have a copy though and don't really need it but it's one option I suggest to others. I have various other translations that I never touch these days (NRSV, NIV etc).
For the apocrypha I try to study in the KJV and quote from either the KJV or the Good News, unfortunately the only printed copy I have is an RV. The dearth of bible study tools and translations that include the apocrypha is immensely frustrating.

I also like the ISV for nice readable quotations. The poetry in the ISV is far more "poetic" than in other versions, while retaining the meaning generally. Don't use it for detailed study, it is a thought-for-thought translation and is inaccurate in places. But individual verses are great to cite once you've checked that the meaning is correct, e.g.
2 Corinthians 11:15: "So it is not surprising if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their doom will match their deeds!"

For the children I generally use the NCV, or ESV wherever there is a problem with a particular passage.

Zealand is a Danish island. But New Zealand is actually named after Zeeland, a province in Holland. It was discovered and first named by a Dutch explorer, Abel Tasman.
 
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The Message is the ramblings of one man, loosely related to the text of scripture but wandering off in all sorts of other directions also. It's not a translation, rather a long sermon presenting the sometimes eccentric opinions of Eugene Petersen, with verse numbers so you can refer back to a real bible. It is not a bible.
The ISV on the other hand is an actual serious translation by multiple scholars attempting to accurately convey the original text (with success in places and failure in others). I'd compare it with the NIV, which I'd equally not recommend for serious bible study but can be a good read, I have an audio version I listen to often.

I've always found the ISR to be readable and fairly ok, no major issues, I put it in the same bag as the NIV. It's my go-to when I want a readable hebrew names version, but I don't have it in print. I have a printed copy of Moshe Koniuchowsky's "Restoration Scriptures True Name Edition", which I use as my main hebrew names version, unfortunately he has put far too many Hebrew words through into the text in my opinion and it is extremely difficult to read - and in the New Testament I'm not always confident about the accuracy of this Hebrew transcription. I mainly use it for the study notes, for whenever I think "I've always read that verse this way, but is there a different way it could be read that I should be pondering also?".

The Jubilee bible looks interesting, it has an odd history (translated from an old Spanish bible), but reads well on first glance, similar to the KJV but slightly more readable. I'd never come across the MEV before, GotQuestions.org has an article on it and speaks generally favourably. Both sound similar to the KJV and worth looking into further (for adults, not my son!).
 
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Of course, for those who do like the Message, check out the NZ equivalent: The Kiwi Bible. It's as terribly inaccurate as the Message, I'd never buy it myself, but the quotes on the website are quite amusing. Yes, this is basically how people talk over here, Americans sound as weird to us as this might sound to you.
Mark 4:35-41 said:
One hell of a storm
Day’s over, night’s here. Jesus says to his mates, ‘Hey guys, let’s go across the other side, eh?’ So they took off, leaving the crowd in their wake, with the odd observer boat tagging along. They were out in the middle when one hell of a storm hit them. Water everywhere, and seemingly forgetting what side of the boat it was supposed to be on. Talk about sink – man, they were that close. While this went on, Jesus, believe it or not, was having a bit of a kip down the back. Well, his mates didn’t think too much of that, and shook him awake.

‘Listen boss,’ they said, ‘we’re about to drown and you give all the appearance of not giving a stuff!’

Jesus was rather unimpressed with that remark, and equally unimpressed with the weather. He got up, turned to face the elements, and quite simply said, ‘Shut up!’ And just like that, the wind did shut up. End of story.

Turning to his mates, he said, ‘Well lads, now what do you say? Still don’t trust me?’

They sort of freaked out at that. ‘Good grief!’ they blurted out. ‘Who on earth is this guy? He tells the wind and waves and stuff what to do, and they do it.’
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Here's a brilliant Bible translation comparison - this man has made a very clear set of 10 critical verses to determine the accuracy of bibles with, and has some extremely clear results. Sadly he gives the BBE a very low ranking (as low as the Message), and has some sound reasons for this - but the World English Bible gets 100%, alongside the NASB, NKJV, KJV and a couple of others.
http://www.compassdistributors.ca/topics/compare.htm

The WEB is very impressive, it ticks a lot of the boxes I tend to look for but struggle to find in one place: Word-for-word translation, gender preserved, all books including apocrypha, clear to read, and no copyright. The tetragrammaton is rendered Yahweh instead of LORD, giving a much clearer distinction between YHWH and Adonai. It's an update of the ASV, so it comes from a sound base. It may even be readable enough for children that are good readers. It just isn't available in print much yet (because of the lack of copyright, no commercial publisher is printing it), but it is available in paperback and very extensively online.
https://worldenglishbible.org/
Great bible study software with it and other versions here, including parallel view and search through all books including apocrypha in one place.
 
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Click on the red writing, and then on 'purchase kiwi bible'. It's not very accurate, but it's a fun read!
 
And I've just ordered an HCSB for the boy, which I haven't even mentioned above, but which my last bible comparison reference made me aware of. Easier than the ESV to read but at least as accurate, and more available than the WEB. I've spent an entire Sabbath investigating Bible translations, absolutely fascinating stuff, hence my repeated posts here. This is fun!
 
Samuel, I've appreciated your commentary in this thread, and I love the link you posted.

I tend to lean toward the NASB, though I also like doing a cross comparison with an online tool offering translations from the Aramaic Peshitta for the New Testament. I think there is a fairly strong case to be made for an Aramaic Primacy for much of the New Testament, but I am at a place where I think of this and the Greek Origin NT Bibles as resources that each provide value to my Bible study.

I've found I supplement this with many other versions for my own study, which also includes the NET version, but primarily because of the notes that are placed within it. I also really enjoy reading the commentary in the 'Jewish New Testament Commentary'. The versions I often reference include KJV, NKJV, ESV, CHB, HCSB, Amplified, and several others to a lesser degree. After reading what you've written, I will probably add the WEB version to this. I've almost totally converted to using electronic Bibles and tools, because of the ease of access and volume of resources, but I sure miss my paper Bible sometimes.

From what I have seen, the HCSB is a great alternative for a child.

Now off to research the BBE, MEV, JUB, ISR, and others. :D
 
Aineo, I do like to check against the Peshitta also, Moshe's "Restoration Scriptures" that I mentioned above use the Peshitta so that's generally how I make those comparisons. The NET is disappointingly liberal (gender-neutral etc), and seems to focus more on readability and less on accuracy, but it is a good copyright-free alternative to the NIV if someone is looking for one. I've been far more impressed with the WEB, it's more the equivalent of the NASB.

Also, very important to note, the WEB uses the majority text for the New Testament. This is extremely rare, I've been looking for a majority / byzantine text New Testament for years, the closest we've had to date are the KJV and NKJV, which are based on the received text so quite similar to the majority text. Almost all modern translations come from a selected minority of Alexandrian manuscripts that are older but arguably less accurate (depending on who you listen to), were chosen in the 19th century by men whose Christianity has been greatly questioned, and miss a lot of text from the majority or received text. The move to these manuscripts kicked off the textual criticism and loss of faith in the reliability of scripture that is very common in seminaries today. You can most readily see this in the Lord's Prayer in Luke 11:2-4 - the prayer is a lot longer in the KJV than in the NASB, NIV, ESV or virtually any other translation you can name, in which a short prayer in Luke disagrees with the long-version prayer in Matthew. The WEB has the longer version in Luke also, like the KJV. This textual issue is one of the most sound arguments for using the KJV instead of other translations - and now we finally have a good quality modern version that uses the majority text.
 
Well I read the article and that guys is WAY smarter than me so of course I have to compensate by nit picking. I apologize. If this sort of thing bothers you please move on. I have recently learned that it's not my fault, I am an ENTP.

So this very scholarly and very thorough article judges these Bible versions on how well they support the author's theology. He was very clear about that in his opening paragraphs. He did not reference the language hardly at all in his analysis (hardly, there were times when he did) but rather talked about how well the illuminated his beliefs.

Now in all fairness his beliefs sounded very good and almost all of his conclusions I agree with, except of course his dismissal of my beloved BBE. But it seems to me and we know that is the ultimate and unassailable argument, that we should be going about it the other way. We should see what the language says and base our theology off of that, not check the language by our theology.

I know nothing about this gentlemen, he may be the most Godly and scholarly gentleman in modern Christianity. And he may have a 50 year career behind him where he did nothing but parse the text and base his theology on that so I am not criticizing but musing out loud and covering up the embarrassment of my pick being SO subpar.
 
ZecAustin said:
So this very scholarly and very thorough article judges these Bible versions on how well they support the author's theology. He was very clear about that in his opening paragraphs. He did not reference the language hardly at all in his analysis (hardly, there were times when he did) but rather talked about how well the illuminated his beliefs.
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This is a very valid criticism. The author neglected the first step - to demonstrate from the original language why his chosen interpretations of each passage were actually correct. He has the expertise to do so, judging by another article on the same site carefully comparing the KJV and NKJV against the Greek, he just neglected to do it here. With that explanation his methodology would be far more sound.
 
I've acquired a Knox Bible (Catholic translation from 1955). This is fascinating to read. It's translated from the Vulgate, though with corrections from the Hebrew and Greek where the translator felt this was appropriate, so I'm not claiming it will be the most accurate version in the world. However, the literary style is incredible.

Basically, I get the feeling that if JRR Tolkien had translated the Bible, this is what the result would have been.

Knox was extremely well educated in English literature, and C.S. Lewis called him "the wittiest man in Europe". He single-handedly translated this bible over 9 years, so it reads fluently as the work of a single writer without any of the stilted wording a committee might give it. The writing flows in a way that I haven't seen in any other translation.

Where it shines is in poetry, and in narrative.

Whenever Knox translates a Hebrew acrostic poem (each verse starting with a successive Hebrew letter), he starts each verse with successive letters of the English alphabet. For instance, Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 51:18 and on:
A young man still, ere ever my wanderings began, I made my prayer for wisdom.
Before the temple I asked for this, my life's quest to the end.
Came early the ripening of those grapes, and my heart rejoiced at it.
Down a straight path I sped, the ardour of youth to aid my search.
Ear that little listens shall yet hear; much wisdom that little listening gave.
Further and further yet I travelled, thanks be to the God that all wisdom bestows. ...
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And his narrative accounts are as gripping as the Lord of the Rings. For instance, 1 Maccabees begins:
Now turn we to Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian, that was the first to reign over all Greece. This Alexander marched out from his own land of Cethim, and overcame Darius, king of the Medes and Persians. Battles he waged a many; nor any fortress might hold out against him, nor any king escape with his life; and so he journeyed on to the world's end, spoiling the nations everywhere; at his coming, silence fell on the earth. So great the power of him, so valiant his armies, what wonder if his heart grew proud? All those lands conquered, all those kings his tributaries!
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As you can see, I tend to only pick up a Catholic bible to read the apocrypha, so my quotes are mostly from there as that's what I've been reading today! But this style goes throughout the Bible. The prophets are good to read, as the excellent narrative style emphasises the forcefulness of the words. Here's the start of Psalm 24 (25 in Protestant numbering), another acrostic poem:
All my heart goes out to thee, O Lord my God.
Belie not the trust I have in thee, let not my enemies boast of my downfall.
Can any that trust in thee be disappointed, as they are disappointed who lightly break their troth?
Direct my way, Lord, as thou wilt, teach me thy own paths.
Ever let thy truth guide and teach me, O God my deliverer, my abiding hope.
Forget not, Lord, thy pity, thy mercies of long ago. ...
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Great bible for light reading purposes. I can't comment on it from an accuracy perspective, I haven't looked into that enough, it's obviously got the downside of being based on the Vulgate.

History of the translation here:
http://knoxbible.com/index.html

I think it's out of print unfortunately, but the full text is online here:
http://catholicbible.online/
 
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