Why are there so many versions of the Bible?
FAQs (011)
It has been suggested that in order to put the most meaning into the fewest number of words the language you should use is either Hebrew or Arabic. Greek is also a good choice.
Most of the Bible is written in Hebrew and most of the rest is written in Greek (the remainder is small amounts of Aramaic). Consequently, the original texts of the Bible are full of meaning; meaning which is often quite hard to express fully in other languages, such as English. The variety of Bible translations reflects this difficulty.
When one group of translators is looking at the original texts they might identify one aspect of meaning as the main emphasis, and write their version accordingly. Another group of translators might choose to emphasise a different shade of the original meaning, and use different words to express it in their version. The question "Which one is right?" is often best answered as "Both!". If you do not know the original languages, and so miss the subtle variations in meaning they contain, it can be helpful to refer to several Bible versions and compare them with each other.
One version of the Bible - The Amplified Version - tries to overcome the problem by attempting to include all the subtle meanings in the translation. This makes for some rather long verses, which often do not read very smoothly, but it can be excellent for helping with Bible study.
Click on the
following reference to display two verses of the Bible. Then use the
various options to display these verses in different Bible translations
and compare them. The Bible versions are listed on the line that reads
"See this passage in NIV | NASB | etc"
Click here : (John 1 v 12-13).
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