I'm having my Bible recovered with real leather. Having Στρατιώτης της Αλήθειας stamped on the front.
We were at the Family Christian Bookstore in Asheville, NC, today, and I found an ESV New Testament. It was listed at $4.99, but it rang up at $2.50. I was pleasantly surprised. I am liking the ESV, and it is nice to have the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs that I can carry in my pocket.
Is that "Enjoy it your way" in Greek? For the record I'm joking. I don't know a lot of Greek, but I figured that one out. Stratiótis tis Alítheias
Revised New American has some translational issues: "clean of heart" instead of "pure of heart," "dark valley" instead of "valley of darkness," referring to child as "it" and other small errors in part due to (limited) inclusive language which, at the very least, obscures some cultural context and background. Just to mention a few that come immediately to mind.
Good points. I wonder if some of the translation issues are due to translation by non-native English speakers? Which leads me to wonder what translation is used in Catholic churches in non-English nations like Mexico, Germany, Vietnam, etc... It would be a lot simpler if we just went back to Latin.
As I understand it, the revised NAB was done as a "compromise" translation between a (mostly feminist) faction that was demanding a gender neutral /inclusive translation and St. JP II's (entirely reasonable) insistence on accuracy. (Hence, a child being referred to as "it" -- altho that's perfectly normal in Greek.) The other agenda, seems to have been to take out some of the "scary." Hence, "Dark Valley" instead of "Valley of Darkness." Clean of heart vs. pure of heart... who knows what went wrong there. One of the early drafts even referred to the Inn where the Holy Family stayed as "the place where traveler's stay" for some odd reason. I guess "inn" was too complicated of a word??
Hm. I compare the NAB to the NRSV, and the NAB, while far from perfect (and no translation is) is much more authentic to the original text than the NRSV. The NAB has some strange choices- like the "place where traveler's stay" example. I've seen others that are equally goofy. I wonder if they're trying to avoid anachronism? "Inn" today does not equal "inn" in NT era or some such. The "not scary" thing is super annoying. I served at a church where "suffer the little children" was etched around the lip of the baptismal font, which was positioned in the center of the aisle as you entered the church. I fielded multiple questions about that one- and it lead to some good discussions about the meaning.
It is true that the NRSV uses inclusive language because of their concern for its liturgical use; however, it is just as accurately translated as the RSV was apart from the feminine counterparts to various nouns being glossed into the passage. This really does not change the meaning of the text in any significant way since they provide a textual note that the original was actually just the masculine noun. And let's be real, even Nestle & Aland is a compilation of the various available sources. The original Koiné texts were quite varied in what they said--even within particular works.
If your goal is just reading the Bible I would go with either the NKJV or the NASB. If your looking to study it I would go with this one. I have tons of Bibles in different translations so I can even send you one if you can't afford one.
In Greek, it said Mary and Joseph were at a kataluma, which could be translated as a guest room. During those times, and for centuries afterwards, animals were kept in the lower room of a house for shelter, especially at night. Quite possibly Jesus was placed in a manger after he was born as there wasn't any place else to put him in. My thoughts, with a bit of help from a show I watched on the History Channel.
I have to admit, I have never seen one of those. How does it read? Are the translations separated or are they aligned together?
hopefully, it wasnt this one: Bible Secrets Revealed?— interesting 4-part response to the History Channel's show from 2013.
Nah, it was more on Christmas. It might even have been from National Geographic on PBS. It was a while ago.
Yeah the parallel bible is one of my most worthwhile purchases. The translations are aligned together all on the same page, it looks like this. They're pretty reasonably priced too. Mine was like $40
I have adopted a practice of reading the entire Bible every year, and to keep it fresh and in an attempt to gain fresh insights, I pick a different version each year. When people ask me about translation recommendations, I usually recommend they go to the YouVersion app. Look at the verse of the day and switch between a few versions. Do that for a couple of weeks, making notes, and decide which you like best. Some of the ones I commonly use NIV NLT ESV AMP NASB MSG (don't recommend for serious study, but it's interesting when you're trying to get some additional clarity)
