Hi guys!
Now, this is another video request, and the question we got from so many of you is this:
"Daniel, what Bible translations should I read as a Christian?"
And this is a very important question,
and you need to know the answer because you need to know that you can trust God's Word.
It is still the same.
Still based on the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts.
You can trust the Logos,
God's Word because it is the only source of absolute truth that we have in this world.
But there are certain translations and revisions that you should stay away from
because they've been altered.
And so in this video, I’m going to show you exactly what translations you can trust,
and those that you should just stay away from.
Let's get to it!
Now, just very quick, if it's the first time that you're here on our channel,
Welcome to the DLM Christian Lifestyle.
My name Daniel Maritz and here we help you to grow spiritually in God.
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Now, first, you need to know that you can still trust God's Word because it is still the same
as it's always been because we have all the original copies of the dead sea scrolls,
The Masoretic texts, The Coptic translations, The Septuagint, The Vulgate, The Peshitta,
The Textus Receptus, and much more.
Now, I've already covered this in another video, but it comes down to this.
In the New Testament alone we have more than 25 000 sources of which we can put the Bible together
in its original form and when we look at all these sources nowhere does it disagree on
the most important doctrines of Scripture.
Now, you need to know that the Bible is the most historically accurate book in the world of all time,
and if you don't believe me,
let me compare the Bible with some of the ancient, non-christian literature.
So the New Testament got over 25 000 sources, right?
How much do you think the famous Aristotle has?
We only have one thousand. Recently we only had five.
What about Plato? We only have 210, previously we had only seven.
And then Tacitus, the Greek historian, we only have 33 manuscripts.
And Sophocles has only 193 manuscripts, previously a hundred.
So as time goes on we keep on discovering new manuscripts,
and when we look at the Bible, we clearly see that we have a lot more than other secular literature.
Now, the question is why do we need to translate the Bible?
Why are there so many translations and certain editions out there in the world?
Well, a very quick and short answer is because language changes over time,
and so we need to adjust and translate the Bible correctly, so that people from all over the world,
and different cultures, different languages can understand it.
Now, many people say that we can't trust the Bible, because it's been translated over,
and over, and over, and over so many times, that it's not accurate anymore.
But you need to know that when we translate the Bible,
we look at the original Hebrew and Greek copies.
So the Bible that we have today is still the same.
But now this is very important, and you need to know this,
that not all Bibles that claim to be Bibles are actually real Bibles because it's been altered.
Certain groups like the Jehovah's witnesses, the Seventh-day Adventism, Mormons,
and so forth, alter the Bible so that it can fit in with their beliefs, and you should not read it.
You should stay away from it because it is not God's Word.
Even when we look at the Catholic church, they also added the Apocrypha books,
which are not part of the Bible.
It's mainly written by Gnostics and at that time,
even the Apostles in the early church did not accept the work of the Gnostics,
because they knew it is not God's Word.
Now, you need to know that the Gnostic gospels are forgeries,
that was written in the names of the Apostles, in order to give them a legitimacy in the early church.
And the early church of course recognized it as forgeries,
because they knew it was not written by the real Apostles.
Now, when you read it, you will see that there's a lot of contradictions with Scripture,
and that's why the early church recognized it so easily for what it is,
for the Apocrypha because it is not inspired by God.
And later, the bishop sent Jerome in around 380 AC to revise the Bible from the original Hebrew
and Greek into Latin, and he forced them to add the Apocrypha books.
Now, Jerome went to Bethlehem first to study Hebrew, he was there for years.
He studied Hebrew, he studied Greek, and then he also realized and came to the conclusion,
as the Apostles, in the early church, that the Apocrypha is not part of God's Word.
So, he did not want to add it into the Bible, but then the bishop forced him to do it.
And to show though he was unhappy with it, he added it,
not in the New Testament or the Old Testament with the other Bible books.
No, he added them all together right in the center of the Bible.
So just like the early church, Jerome rejected the Apocrypha books,
and so do we, because it is not the same as the Bible.
It doesn't have the authority of God it is not inspired by Him, so you should not read it, as well.
So, what translations then are actually safe for you to read? Well, let's take a look at a few of them.
The King James version, the KGV.
It's a bit old, also known as the authorized version that was completed in 1611.
It was updated in 1769,
and almost 90 percent of the New Testament was taken from Tyndale's 1534 revision.
Now, for me, the King James version is very difficult to read.
It's not easy because the English words that they use are a little bit old.
So, if your English is not that great like mine, then it's better to read new modern translations.
The other problem that I have with the KGV is that,
the words that they use fit in a little bit more with the catholic belief.
Words like 'confess' instead of 'acknowledge', 'charity' instead of 'love',
'the church' instead of 'the congregation', and so forth,
but honestly, it's actually a very good translation, and you can read it.
Next up is the New King James version,
NKJV, this is a 1982 revision of the authorized version which is based on the received text,
also known as the Tectus Receptus, which I already covered in another video.
And this is also its weakness, because they did not use more modern manuscripts.
It is also a very word for word translation, and you can miss the meaning behind it.
You can definitely read it because it reads a lot easier than the KJV, the King James version,
but there are better translations out there, like the next one.
The English Standard Version, ESV, it was published in 2001,
and those who worked on it had mainly one goal, faithfulness, to the original Hebrew and Greek.
The scholars focused on a more literal translation, while holding to biblical inerrancy.
They used the Masoretic text, the dead sea scrolls, and other original manuscripts to translate it.
It is a very accurate translation, and you can trust it.
It's got a good balance between being very literal and too dynamic. So, it's got a nice balance.
This is honestly my favorite, but the one thing that i don't like about it, is that it says,
when it's talking about God as [He], it does not write it in capital letters, which I think it should.
The Christian Standard Bible, CSB, this translation was done by a team of around 100 scholars,
and they focused on biblical inerrancy, while creating a modern English translation.
They did a great job with this translation, because it's very accurate and it's easy to understand.
Some people say it's a little bit too literal, meaning they translated it word for word,
and so you lose a little bit of the meaning behind the words, but then other people say, no, it's too dynamic.
They try to explain the meaning behind a whole sentence, for example.
Instead of looking at the literal meaning of it.
So I think it actually has a really good balance because it's right in the middle.
And they also translated it from the original Hebrew and Greek text.
The New International Version, the NIV.
This is a well-known translation, but it's not one of my favorite ones.
Why?
Well, because when they translated it in many passages,
they try to interpret the meaning behind certain words, or sentences,
instead of just looking and interpreting what it actually says.
And this is important because when you translate a Bible,
you need to translate what it actually says and not what you think it says.
Another problem is that the NIV uses gender-neutral language, using person, child, or they,
instead of man, woman, daughter, son, he, or she.
Now, in some passages, it might not matter that much, but in some passages,
the Hebrew and the Greek actually meant it to be specific genders.
Specifically talking about men, or specifically talking about women, and this might confuse you.
So, it's a very popular translation, but it's not my favorite.
The New American Standard Bible, NASB.
This is the best word for word, literal translation out there,
which is also its weak point a little because it makes it very difficult to read it.
It doesn't read quite smoothly in English,
but they still did a really good job, translating it very, very, accurately from the original Hebrew,
Greek and Aramaic texts.
The New Living Translation. The NLT.
Now, this translation fits in a little bit more with the NIV
because they took the thought behind the original Greek and Hebrew,
and they translated that into English.
And I'm not a fan of that because fact stays fact but people's interpretation of facts,
that always changes.
So I personally prefer a more literal translation,
that actually says what the original Greek and Hebrew says, or at least somewhere in the middle,
where it's not too dynamic and not too literal but in the middle,
where you have a good balance of the two.
So, I wouldn't recommend you to read this translation either.
The amplified Bible. The AMP.
I love this translation because it's great to use it as a study Bible because it adds explanatory notes
next to most passages.
So it helps you to understand those passages that are a little bit difficult to understand.
The Amplified Bible is based on the American Standard Version,
and it uses a combination of the literal meaning, word for word meaning,
and its meaning in its context.
I find it to be a very good and accurate translation.
It still helps me to understand those passages that are a little bit difficult to understand.
Now, I think the wisest thing that you can do is to have not just one or two different translations,
but three to six, good translations, that you can trust. And then when you get to those passages,
where you're a little bit uncertain of the translation, then you just compare it.
So instead of just looking at one, you double-check it,
or you triple check it to make sure you know what the Bible says about a certain passage.
Now, I've covered eight translations, and you can read all of them.
Maybe not the NIV and the NLT, but the other ones are good.
They're accurately translated, and you can trust them.
So if you want one of these Bible translations with a beautiful cover,
then I'll add them for you in the video description down below, with their links,
so you can go and check them out.
Now, the Bible is the most important book in the world.
It's the greatest book that has absolute truth in it, and the author is God.
So take it, study it, read it, and see how it will change your life, taste, and see that the Lord is good.
And always remember, God loves you, and I love you too.
Bye!