New King James Version ( NKJV) – 7th grade reading levelĢ. As a secondary Bible for devotionals, prayer and meditation, I encourage you to use a Bible from the Dynamic part of the spectrum.New American Standard Bible ( NASB95) – 11th grade reading level.Lexham English Bible ( LEB) – 11th grade reading level.English Standard Version ( ESV) – 10th grade reading level.Which Translation Should I Buy? 1. Your primary study Bible should come from the Literal and Formal end of the spectrum. That being said, there are also a lot of good ones out there to choose from as well. There are a lot of bad translations out there as some companies are more concerned with increased sales and some so called “scholars” are more concerned with social reform than obedience to God. CLICK HERE to learn more on why the Message is not a Bible translation. The author inserts his own theological interpretations which are not necessarily faithful to the revealed doctrines of God. It should not be considered a true translation, Rather it is far more of a commentary because the author has added words and phrases that appear nowhere in the original text. The Message is put in here as a reference only. If you want to find a good version that is easy for you to read, yet is faithful to the original Word of God, then compare some of these versions below. Translations that focus on reader comprehension, appeal to a LOWER reading level and LOWER accuracy to the original text. Translations that are more concerned with HIGH accuracy, tend to read at a HIGHER grade level which makes them more difficult to read for many people. The following chart illustrates the options. In between Literal and Expanded, there is a spectrum of translation alternatives including, Formal, Expanded, and Paraphrase. On the other end of the Spectrum are theĮxpanded Translations, the authors of these texts take more liberty with the language and in addition they will add in their own ideas and thoughts to help “clarify” the meaning in English. Sometimes this can make for long or awkward sentences that are hard to understand in English. Literal Translations come across a little more wooden because the translators try to stay very close to the Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic. In accomplishing these goals, there are two general approaches scholars use. Most translations try to balance the factors of accuracy to the original text of God’s revealed Word with Intelligibility that is how easily the modern reader can comprehend the text. Thus as our understanding of these ancient languages grows and as our own English language changes we seek newer translations to meet these basic needs. As scholars translate these languages into English, we run into the challenge of trying to express them in a way that is accurate to the original text and intelligible for the modern reader. The original text of the Bible was written in three languages Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The answer to the first part of this question can be complex, but the most significant reason for all the different translation is that language changes. It is not uncommon to get the question, “why are there so many different Bible translation and which one should I buy?” This is a great question and below is my response.
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