Why Are There So Many Translations?

Some Definitions: Translations and Editions

Translation = Version

Let's begin by distinguishing a translation from an edition of the Bible. A translation is a text that puts into a new language something that was originally written or spoken in a different language. When you or when translation committee members read the New Testament in Greek and then write it in English, you and they are writing a translation. In books that quote the Bible, you may see abbreviations or titles like the ones listed here. These are all translations.

This is a partial list of the translations of the New Testament available in English. All of these are translations or versions of the Bible.

Edition = Type of Bible

When I use the word "edition," I am not talking about a translation or version of the Bible. Instead, I mean the book that a particular publisher has put together, complete with study notes, pictures, chapter and section headings, study questions and any other helps provided for reading the translation of the Bible. 

So you might have an Oxford Study Bible (NRSV, published by Oxford University Press) while the person in class next to you is reading from the Harper Collins Study Bible that also uses the NRSV translation (from HarperCollins Publishers). Are you reading the same translation? Yep, you are both reading the NRSV. Are you reading the same edition of the Bible? No. Your notes, headings, index and other publisher's features are different from those of your classmate.

Let's say a third classmate has the Concordia Self-Study Bible (NIV, from Concordia Publishing House). The third person has both (a) a different edition of the Bible from the first two of you and (b) a different translation (NIV instead of NRSV).

The question, "Why are there so many editions of the Bible?" has a pretty easy answer. Publishers look for ways to sell books, and specialized editions target certain parts of the market. The question, "Why are there so many translations?" is a little harder.

So why are there so many translations?

I thought you'd never ask. The reasons for so many English translations of the New Testament can be divided into two types: text questions and translation questions.

Text Problems

Manuscripts disagree.

We do not have any first copies of an original biblical author's manuscript.  This means we do not have, for example, the actual papyrus on which Paul fashioned letters of the Greek alphabet to the Galatians that we translate as, "See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand!" (Gal. 6:11). 

The KJV:  Older or Newer Text?
Often text problems are responsible for differences between the King James Version (KJV) and other translations.  The KJV was published in 1611.  Since that time, many manuscripts have been found and translated which are actually likely to be more ancient and closer to the originals than those used in the production of the KJV.  This means that newer translations (like the RSV or the NIV) are often translating older manuscripts and so they probably get us closer to the original text.  Make sense?

The originals of every New Testament book are lost to us, but we do have many later copies of the writings of the New Testament. Over the centuries, people have either preserved or unearthed thousands of ancient manuscripts.  These documents contain anywhere from a few verses of New Testament writings to collections of whole books.

We call it a text question (or a text problem) when the manuscripts we do have disagree with each other. Maybe a word is changed from one manuscript to another, or a verse is left out or added to the passage.  Translators have to guess which manuscripts are closest to what was probably the original text.  There are rules for the guessing game; textual critics hardly ever have to play scissors, paper, rock to decide these things.  Even so, the differences you see between translations are sometimes the result of translators making different guesses about what the original must have said.

Translation Problems

Manuscripts agree, but translators disagree over word choice.

Sometimes, translators agree on the what the text is, but they disagree on what the text means, or on the best way to communicate its meaning in another language.  There is a lot of potential for disagreement. Here are some of the reasons it happens.

1. Translators are trying to communicate, not just decode, the sense of the text.

For instance, everyone agrees that the Greek word describing visitors to the young Jesus is magoi in Matthew 2:1.  Yet this word is translated into English several different ways:  "wise men" (KJV & NRSV), "Magi" (NIV), or even "a band of scholars" (The Message).  NRSV adds a footnote to its translation, "Or astrologers."  In this example, everyone agrees what the Greek text is, but they disagree how to translate that Greek, hence the name, "translation question" for this kind of disagreement.

Matthew 27:65 offers different kind of example. In this text, Jesus has died and the chief priests and Pharisees go to Pilate and ask for the tomb to be secured so that no one comes to steal the body and then claim he was raised from the dead.  Pilate says to them either, "Take a guard.... Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how" (NIV), or "You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how" (New American Standard, NASB).  The difference between the verbs, "take" (imperative) and "you have" (indicative) points to a translation question also. If you are able to read Greek, you may already have guessed that this question arises because two Greek words (the present imperative form of the verb and its present indicative form) are spelled the same way.

Translators are not "breaking a code" when they translate. They are telling the story, and their points of view inevitably color how they come to render a Greek text into English.  For example, should the Hebrew text of Isaiah 7:14 be translated, "A virgin shall conceive and give birth to a Son" (NKJV) or "A young woman is with child and shall bear a son" (NRSV)?  NKJV chooses "virgin" to translate a Hebrew word that can mean either "virgin" or young woman."   NKJV also chooses to capitalize "son."  On the one hand, it is as if the translators are "helping you along" toward the conclusion that Isaiah was taking about the virgin Mary and her son (or Son, with a capital S?), Jesus.  On the other hand, the NRSV word and capitalization choice may be intended to steer you away from reading the Old Testament with the New Testament in mind. 

Read more about it... The preface of the translation you are reading will tell you about the translators' perspective, their target audience and the type of translation they intended to write.

Comparing translations allows us to see translators in conversation—and sometimes in conflict—with each other, based on their theological convictions.

2. The type of translation influences its shape and style.

Every translation has an audience in mind and has goals for its clarity, prose style, readability, and so on. For example, the Good News Bible and the NIV both opt for shorter sentences, rather than longer ones, even when these choices mean that the original language's syntax cannot be followed.  The result is a text that anyone who reads at a ninth grade level or above can easily manage.  In The Bible in English Translation:  An Essential Guide (Nashville: Abingdon, 1997), Steven M. Sheeley and Robert N. Nash, Jr. offer a good review of several English versions of the Bible, dividing them into these categories.

Verbal Equivalence

Some translations aim explicitly for verbal equivalence, or a nearly word-for-word translation.  These translations aim to stay as close to the original languages as possible, sometimes copying word order and duplicating syntax where it is possible to do so and still write understandable English.

Dynamic Equivalence

Some translations aim for what is called dynamic equivalence. That is, they seek to communicate the original meaning, but they do so with a freer translation, translating the scripture into the idiom of a particular time, place, class or culture.

Paraphrase

Some editions of the New Testament are not translations at all but rather paraphrases.  Texts such as The Living Bible and The Message are paraphrases.  Both aim to communicate the spirit of the text rather than to translate the text from Greek to English.

Here's how Sheeley and Nash identify several common English Bibles:

What's Next: Noticing Translation Differences

Most English translations give you clues to the translators' decision-making process at key points. Continue to the next page to see how to identify and analzye translation differences.

Next: Noticing Translation Differences