| Interlinear.
It may seem that the dark blue on the left and the light blue on the right
implies that an interlinear Bible would be the best to read because in an
interlinear, above the original Hebrew (OT) and Greek (NT) word is the
English word that means the same thing. Of course, the order of
words in the original Hebrew and Greek is totally different from English.
So, interlinears are difficult to read.
Literal Word-for-Word. The
"best" translation is one in which each word in the original
Hebrew or Greek is translated into an English word or words and then those
words are placed in a properly ordered English sentence to convey the
original meaning. |
| Thought-for-Thought — Dynamic
Equivalence. In this translation, the translators
decide on what the thoughts are in each sentence of the original language
and then they write the best English sentence to express that
thought. The NIV (8th grade reading level is the most popular modern
translation.)
Amplified. An Amplified translation
is a word-for-word translation which has additional explanations of a
particular thought inserted into the text usually in parentheses.
When you read an Amplified Bible you are reading more words than in
the original, but they are all designed to more clearly convey the
shadings of meaning in from the original Hebrew or Greek. Because of
all the additional explanations, I place Amplified Bibles at the
paraphrase end of the scale. Others place it at the literal end
because the basic text is word-for-word.
Paraphrase. Many modern "translations"
are paraphrases of the original Hebrew and Greek. They are much
easier to read, most are written at below a 6th grade reading level. The
New Living Translation and the Message are excellent paraphrases of the
Bible. (Note: Some people feel funny when they hear they are reading
a paraphrase, that may be one reason the New Living Translation uses the
word translation right in its name, the only major modern
"translation" to do so. But as compared to the other
translations, the NLT (6th grade reading level) and Message (5th grade
reading level) are paraphrases and an excellent ones at that, I read mine
all the time to better understand a the Bible. The folks who wrote
them are superior Bible scholars and you benefit from their deep
understanding. If it makes you feel any better, look really serious
as you read the NLT and say things like, "I feel so old." Oops,
maybe just look serious. |
