Theology 1.0: What are the differences between the English translations of the Bible?

 

General differences between translations of the Bible

In this post, I will be briefly examine the differences of the English translations of the Bible. I will assume all translators had good intentions to make the Bible as knowable to the general audience, and will not be throwing shade at translations I disagree with. So let me start:

One of the criticisms of the Bible I do agree with is that we have so many English translations of the Bible. In Bible Gateway alone we have over 60 translations in English! In contrast the same website has 13 translations in Chinese, 5 in Italian and 1 in Tamil (as of 20 March 2025).

So why so many English translations?

Same goal but many approaches
Translating Biblical text is not a new thing. The Jews translated the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek so that Greek-speaking Jews could read and understand the Scriptures. Similarly, English translations pop up to cater to an English-reading audience so that they may personally read the Word of God.

However, English is a relatively young and fluid language. This means the frequency of usage and meaning of words have changed with time. For instance, let us compare how translations of Psalms 23 has changed over time.

As you can see the phrase "I lack nothing" is more in used now than "I shall not want" in 1611.

The issue with all translations
Thus translators will come to an issue. Should they do a word-for-word translation at the cost of making the Bible more difficult to understand for the modern audience? This approach is known as formal equivalence, and it used by the translators who worked on the English Standard Version (ESV) and the New King James Version (NKJV).

Yet another way is to do complete paraphrasing, at the expense of precise wording. This makes the passages easy to read. This is done by the translators who worked on the Message (MSG) and the Good News Translation (GNT).

An alternative is to do a balance between the two earlier approaches. This is known as the dynamic/optimal equivalence. This approach is favoured by the translators who worked on the New International Version (NIV) and New Living Translation (NLT). 

In conclusion
Translations allow people to understand the Word of God and thus grow in their walk with God. However, all translations have their limitations and it is good practice to read various translations (and in different languages if possible). 

For instance, I generally use both the ESV (the one I used most during Bible study) and NIV (the one I use the most in my personal reading). I also have used the NLT during my university days in England, and NSRV (New Standard Revised Version) from my old church.

I also use the Nuova Riveduta (2006) when I read in Italian, and Chinese Union Version with New Punctuation (CUNPSS or CUVMPS) with the simplified script when I read in Chinese.

Source:
Bible Gateway Blog

Wesly Huff

Theology 1.0: Theology shout outs in contemporary English

One of the interesting about looking at ancient myths from other cultures is to notice its reference to modern day cultures. After all, the shoe brand Nike is name after the Greek goddness of victory, and car brand Mazda is named after the God of the Zoroastrian religion.

In this post, I will list some of the common references.

Days of the week

Thursday is named after the Norse god of thunder, Thor. He is not the only one.

Wednesday is named after Odin, Tuesday after Tyr (god of war) and Friday after Freya (goddess of magic).

Planets

The planets are named after the Roman gods. Mars (god of war), Uranus (god of the sky), Neptune (god of the sea) and even Jupiter (god of lightning) are all examples.

Even our own planet Earth, is sometimes known as Gaia (Greek goddess of the land) or Terra (Roman goddess of land).


Elements

Some of the chemical elements are named after gods. Titanium was named after the Greek titans, and Selenium was named after Selene (Greek goddess of night).

Conclusion
As much as our world is secular, we owe much to our religious past.