6 replies to this topic

[Timothy Jenney]

[Basic] Confused about which Bible translation is the best? Dr. J walks us through the three basic categories of Bible translations, describing their differences, and detailing the tasks for which each category is best suited. This podcast also shows users how to organize the Bibles in their Accordance libraries into subfolders by category—and how to set their text display preferences to increase reading comprehension.

[Steve Lo Vullo]

Dr. J, iTunes is giving me the message that it is having a problem downloading the podcast. It says that it could not be found on the server.

[Helen Brown]

We see the problem and are working on it. The video is also available on YouTube.

[Timothy Jenney]

I understand the problem has been identified and corrected. [Apparently, I incorrectly put an extra space in the link name. :-(]

[AdrianD]

Thanks Dr. J for this podcast. I've always heard that the KJV is the most accurate translation because it's more faithful to the original language. Consequently, I've "grown up" with a KJV bias. I also enjoy its poetic language. This podcast was a real eye opener!

Can someone help me categorize the following texts from the Essentials Collection? They were not listed in the podcast.

• ASV (1901)
• Amplified Bible
• WEB
• Darby Translation
• Weymouth NT
  Bishops' Bible
• Douay-Rheims Bible
• LXX (Brenton Translation)
• LXX (parallel texts)
• RV
• Geneva Bible
• Webster Bible

[DWFrancis]

• ASV (1901)

• This is a revision of the KJV, with the American preferences of the american members of the 1885 RV committee, It is highly accurate, but uses a idiom of it's own invention, not the language of Elizabethan england, but not modern either. Some people love it, indeed Ken Taylor used it as the basis to paraphrase his 1971 Living Bible. The NASB, is it's successor, but unlike the NASB, ASV translates the tetragram as Jehovah.

• Amplified Bible

• It is a very literal translation with expansions in brackets trying to expand the mean of words to give a much fuller equivalence. It followers basically the same texts as behind the KJV, but does make note of more current scholarship in it's translation notes.

• WEB

• This is a wonderful update of the ASV, to bring it up into truly modern english, it is very readable, the tetragram is updated to the more likely transliteration of Yahweh.

• Darby Translation
• Weymouth NT
• Bishops' Bible
• Douay-Rheims Bible

• A very literal translation of the latin vulgate, it was masterful reworked by Chancellor to make it as beloved by catholics as the the 1769 revision of the KJV was by protestants. Like some with the KJV there are some Catholics love deeply and hold tightly to it beyond logic.

• LXX (Brenton Translation)
• LXX (parallel texts)
• RV
• Geneva Bible
• Webster Bible

• Webster of dictionary fame worked hard to update the KJV making it more understandable and more proper (words like piss were changed).

I only mentioned the ones i knew enough about to discuss their translation style. Two of the Bibles you mention date before the 1611 KJV, Bishops and Geneva.

-Dan

[AdrianD]

Thanks Dan! I really appreciate the explanation!