by James Webb
The thing about reading the Psalms is that occasionally, at just the right time, there will be a sliver of poetry that speaks directly to your heart. Here are some crumbs from the table that have fed my soul in the past, and continue to do so, along with commentary on what they mean to me.
There are lots of different translations of the Bible. At the time of writing, the online Bible resource BibleGateway has 59 different English translations available. That’s a lot of Bible, and unless you read Greek and Hebrew yourself, you’re stuck with someone else’s interpretation.
The fact is, all translations have strengths and weaknesses. I don’t think you can argue convincingly that any translation is the One True Version, especially as – and some of you may find this hard to believe – Jesus didn’t actually speak English.
In my last sermon, I referred to Malachi 4:2. The King James Version goes with “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings…”, which is a fairly literal translation of the original. Some copies of the New International Version plump for “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays…”, which is, I suspect, much closer to what the original author was trying to convey. However, in the context of my sermon, I needed the more literal KJV translation. Something was lost in the dynamic equivalence of the NIV, even though it is arguably the ‘better’ translation.
When I first made the decision to follow Jesus, I read from The Good News Bible. No-one reads it nowadays, but I will always have a soft spot for it because of the role it played in my early spiritual growth. Plus, I still think its translation of Proverbs is first-rate. When I was at university, the New Revised Standard Version was recommended to us as the best mix of readability and scholarly accuracy, so I have a copy on my shelf for that reason – but I rarely ever use it. For over two decades now, the NIV has been the translation I use in my everyday life. The Message gets a lot of stick in some circles, but Eugene Peterson’s version of the Psalms is excellent, and those who turn their noses up at his scholarship might want to check out his translation of Galatians 3:23-24:
“Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for.”
In terms of Paul’s argument, that is, hands down, the best translation of those verses I have ever read, and should certainly knock all talk of ‘prisoners’ and ‘school teachers’ on the head. If you delve deeper into the concept of ‘Greek tutor’ then you can truly have your mind blown by what Paul goes on to say from chapter 3:25 to chapter 4:7…
Anyway, what I really want to ask is what your favourite translation of the Bible is, and why. Is it because it’s objectively the best translation, or is it because it’s the version that you grew up with, or the one that had a particular translation of a particular verse that you found especially helpful in a difficult time, or is it because someone you respect told you that it was the ‘best’ translation? Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is big enough and gracious enough to be found in those words, regardless of how good a version I think it is.
