I remember when I went out to purchase my first Bible— I went into the book store, sought out the religion section and saw the Bible. Ah! Great. Wait a minute? Here's another Bible— but, this one says it's the New International Version. Hmm! The other-one said it is the King James Version? But, wait a minute? Here's yet another one— The New Living Translation! AGGH!!! What's a newbie to do?

At the time, at age twenty-four, I still considered myself a Catholic. I stumbled across a Bible that said, "The Catholic Edition." Well, I wound up buying that one, because since I was a Catholic, it seemed like the safe bet.

It took me a few years, but after a while I realized that all the Bibles were basically the same in meaning. Except, of course, the Catholic edition had the Apocrypha. These are writings that have not been accepted into the Protestant Bible, but are included in the Latin Vulgate and Greek Septuagint, respective versions of the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint was a translation of the Hebrew text in about the 3rd century. The Vulgate was translated from the Hebrew in the 4th century.

Martin Luther, in the 4 century B.C., while translating the Bible into German, discovered that the Old Testament originated in Hebrew in the Bible of Judaism, or The Torah. The Bible of Judaism did not include some of the books that were included in the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate versions of the Hebrew Bible. He was the one responsible for separating those books into, what he called the Apocrypha. This was done to return the Bible back to what was presumed the earliest and therefore best text.

There are three types of Translations— there is the literal or word-for-word translations, dynamic equivalent translations, and paraphrase translations. Examples of the literal or word-for-word translations are the King James Versions of the Bible, which includes fourteen different translations over time. The original King James Version that was completed in 1611, would probably not even be understandable to most today because of the form of English that it was written in. Over time thirteen other revisions of this translation were written; Some of the more popular ones included the Authorized Version, English Revised Version, American Standard Version, The New American Standard Version, the Revised Standard Version, The New Revised Standard Version, and The New King James Version. 

Each of these revisions, were trying to capture the more modern English of their day as well as trying to correct some of the problems that come into play with a word-for-word translation. As good as word-for-word translations are, because they try to keep the meaning as close as possible to the original by just translating words and not adding anything other than what is already there; they come into trouble when a particular word that needs to be translated does not have an accurate counterpart in the English language. The translator or translators have to find a word close to the meaning without jeopardizing the intended meaning.

This at times becomes a problem, because there may not be a word that fits the way it needs to. This could alter the intended meaning; at this point a Dynamic Equivalent or paraphrase, which I will discuss in a moment, may be better at interpreting the intended meaning. We also have instances where some of the old Hebrew words are unknown to us today. The Hebrew language was all but lost to the Jewish people for about 400 years during their captivity by the Babylonians. The language was only preserved by the ancient Scriptures and some religious leaders who handed down the language and took on some revisions along the way. 

Most of the modern day Hebrew was developed during the 19th and 20th centuries. Because of the different revisions or dialects, and the fact that the Hebrew language was not even used for some 400 years by the everyday Jew, many words meanings were lost over time. The translations of those words are based on the context in which they were used in ancient writings and not the actual definition. Certain translations, for example the New King James Version will italicize those words that are untranslatable or certain words, such as conjunctions, that may not have been a part of the language, but are implied through the grammatical structure of the language.

The dynamic equivalent is a cross between a literal and paraphrase translation. Some examples of a dynamic equivalent are the New International Version, which is the most popular version in print today, because of its easy read and promotion by its publisher. A Word of caution about newer versions of the New International Version (NIV) translation; although the older or original NIV translations were conservative and accurate, there are some newer translations like the TNIV, standing for Today's New International Version, that has become a little to liberal. What it tries to do is to be politically correct, if you will. It removes all references such as gender references, that may offend some people. Being politically correct with God's spoken word is teetering on the edge of John's warning in Revelation 22:19, "And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book."

The New Living Translation (NLT) is similar to the NIV, in that it is a combination, literal and paraphrase. It also is a popular translation in the equivalent dynamic translations. Then we have the paraphrase translations that really go all out to try and conform to modern day English. Some even go as far as using modern day slang. There are two problems that I see with those translations, one; that they very often, stray from the intended meaning of the Scripture, and two; slang expressions go out of style quickly or even change in meaning over time. 

Some examples of a paraphrase translation are The Message, The Good News Bible, and The Living Bible, as well as some other lesser known ones. With that said, I rarely use a paraphrase in my Bible studies. I like to use a combination of Literal or word-for-word, and dynamic equivalent translations. With the availability of the internet today, we have God's word at our finger-tips for free. The website, www.biblegateway.com which has a slew of Bible study tools, is an excellent place to start if you do not have a Bible available. Even if you do have one, you can get almost any translation that is available today in many different languages, as well as an audio version of the NIV spoken by Max Maclean if you would like to listen to the Bible instead.  

I would highly recommend you visit there and check out all that is available to you. Not only do you have the different Bible translations, you can do word searches, passage lookup, tutorials to help you get the most from their site, and much more. Although the site is absolutely free, it does need support to be able to continue. Although you will never be solicited, they do have a link to help support Biblegateway if you can. 

My personal suggestion to all I've said, and what works best for me as well as many others, is that you find a Bible you are comfortable with (again, my recommendation is to stick with the word-for-word or dynamic equivalent) and read and study it! Also, use Biblegateway in conjunction with your Bible so you can cross-reference passages that might be unclear to you with a differing translation. 

Another good site for Bible study tools is Crosswalk.com They have additional tools, such as a Bible concordance. What that is, is a word lookup from a particular translation and find the original Hebrew (if an Old Testament word) or Greek (if a New Testament word). How this is helpful, is that when you look the word up, you will find additional meanings for a word to help you clarify understanding of an intended meaning. This also is a free service offered by Crosswalk.com.

The most important thing is that you are reading a Bible and seeking godly knowledge and understanding. Joshua 1:8, says it best, "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." That pretty much sums up the importance Bible study in your life. Jesus had a lot to say about knowledge as well, and how important knowledge was to salvation. Without proper knowledge you may not be ready when Jesus returns to call home His chosen people. One of His parables, speaks just of that scenario. My prayer is that you won't let this opportunity go by. If you have not already started a form of Bible study, I would highly recommend you start now while the calling is evident in your life. How do I know that? You wouldn't be reading this if that were not the case. But, the world has a way of steering even the best-hearted peoples focus away from the real importance of life toward those things the Bible calls foolishness, or the cares of the world. These things are temporary and cannot and will not get you into heaven. 

Yes. We all have to earn a living and pay our bills and keep a roof over our heads, but Jesus said in Matthew 6:25-26, "25) Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26) Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" If you seek God with all your heart and with all your mind and put Him first over all things, you will not have to worry about those earthly things. He will be sure to take care of you even more so than the birds of the air.

May God bless your walk with Christ and the journey along the way!

In Jesus faithful name,
Russ Schmidt

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