Noticing Translation Differences

How do you know when there is a problem with Greek manuscripts disagreeing with each other? Most modern English translations alert you to textual problem with tiny footnotes. As for other kinds of translation differences, you notice these by looking at multiple versions of the Bible alongside each other.

1. Look for footnotes in the translations.
2. Look for differences between translations.

Look closely at two English translations of the same Bible passage. Open a couple of Bibles, or use a resource like The New Interpreter's Bible (12 vols., Abingdon, 1995-2002) that prints two translations side by side.Or maybe you like to compare translations with Bible software like Logos or BibleWorks, or a free online tool, opening multiple windows that you arrange alongside each other. However you do it, get a couple of translations in front of you.  Then…

Which footnotes do I look for?"  Here you are looking for footnotes within the translation.

They are marked by small case letters and they appear above a separator line if you are reading a study Bible (click for picture).  At this point, we're not looking at the study Bible notes.  We'll get to them shortly.

1.  Look for footnotes.

It might seem strange to start with the footnotes, but these will alert you to curiosities within the manuscript tradition.  The footnotes will often also tell you ways that the translators may have departed from the Greek in order to accomplish things like making the text gender-inclusive.

2.  Look for differences between translations.

Not within the footnotes now, but within the actual text of your English Bibles, look for things like:

Differences in Word Choice

For example, when Jesus speaks to his mother at the wedding at Cana (John 2:4), the NIV quotes him addressing her as, "Dear woman."  The KJV and RSV both have just, "Woman."

The different ways of translating magoi in Matthew 2 are another example.  NIV has "Magi."  KJV and NRSV have "wise men." 

Differences in Verb Forms

Remember the differences mentioned earlier in Matthew 27:65, where Pilate says to the chief priests and Pharisees 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) gives you something to explore further.

Differences in Noun Forms

Primarily here I am thinking of the difference between singular and plural forms.  Often the NRSV will make a singular Greek form into the plural in English so that the language does not obviously exclude women.  For example, compare the RSV and the NRSV on this famous statement of Jesus from Mark 8:34-35: 

If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it (RSV).

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it (NRSV).

The NRSV translators adjust the nouns and pronouns so they are plural, thus avoiding the implication that Jesus was speaking only to male followers when he spoke of taking up a cross.  In this case, the difference you are seeing is not the result of a textual question, but rather one that results from the translators' goals and perspective. Even so, noticing things like this may help you decide which translation is best for the setting in which you will be using it.

"Does everything matter?"
Not all the differences you see will be equally interesting and meaningful. Before you can decide how they might matter, however, you need to notice the differences.

Differences in Word Order or Sentence Structure

We have already talked about the commitment some translations have to present an easily readable text, and the way that such a commitment may lead to differences between translations.  Paul's comments in 1 Cor. 9:1 give us an example.  In the NRSV and other verbal equivalence translations, the sentences in this verse are in the form of questions:

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? (NRSV).

Compare that with the same verse in the Contemporary English Version, a dynamic equivalence translation:

I am free. I am an apostle. I have seen the Lord Jesus and have led you to faith in him (CEV).

As you can see, sentence structure, word order and word choice are all significantly different between these translations.

What's Next: Accounting for Translation Differences

After finding differences in translations, you need a way of deciding which translation is better for the work you will do doing with a text. Figuring out what led the translators to their conclusions will help you determine if you share their values or if you want other things to be represented in the translation you use. The next resource page will give you tools for figuring out what the translators were up to.

Next: Accounting for Translation Differences