Written by Ryan Lytton

Why are there so many Bible translations? How do we choose which one to use? Often the decision is made on the basis of subjective feelings about the rendering of a familiar text. However, without some training in Biblical languages, this feeling might be misguided. So…what are we left to do?

Here’s an example of one of the difficulties in translation: currency.

Genesis 24:22 - After the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold ring weighing half a shekel, and for her wrists two bracelets weighing 10 shekels of gold.

What is a shekel? How do we know the weight that is being discussed here, or the resulting value? Well, we could translate it to modern currency. But then we’d have to adjust our translation regularly as the value of our currency changes. This illustrates quite well the difficulty of translation. There are ancient concepts in scripture, conveyed in ancient languages. The closer we try to stick to the ancient concept or language, the harder it will be for us to understand. But as we attempt to move that needle towards understanding, we are potentially moving it away from accuracy.

Let’s try a concrete example. No cheating.

וְגַם־אֲנִי נָתַתִּי לָכֶם נִקְיוֹן שִׁנַּיִם בְּכָל־עָרֵיכֶם וְחֹסֶר לֶחֶם בְּכֹל מְקוֹמֹתֵיכֶם וְלֹא־שַׁבְתֶּם עָדַי נְאֻם־יְהוָה

If we were to translate this as literally as possible into English, we would end up with something like this:

And also I I gave to you (bluntness, innocence, cleanness) of teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in all your places and you have not turned to me says the Lord.

I’ve given you one word to translate - נִקְיוֹן. This word can mean bluntness, innocence, or cleanness. Here are some examples of it in the rest of the Hebrew Bible.

Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence (נִקְיוֹן) of my hands I have done this.” (Genesis 20:5 NASB)
I shall wash my hands in innocence (נִקְיוֹן), And I will go about Your altar, O Lord, (Psalms 26:6 NASB)
Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure, And washed my hands in innocence (נִקְיוֹן); (Psalms 73:13 NASB)
He has rejected your calf, O Samaria, saying, “My anger burns against them!” How long will they be incapable of innocence? (נִקְיוֹן) (Hosea 8:5 NASB)

What does it mean for someone to have innocence of teeth? This verse will help us explore the various approaches to translation. Let’s start with the so-called literal ones.

NKJV – “Also I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, And lack of bread in all your places; Yet you have not returned to Me,” Says the LORD.

The King James is not much help here. Also, most of the other literal translations tend to stick closely with the King James unless there’s a good reason to divert from it. So…we’re left with the equivalent of shekel. We may know what the text says, but we might struggle with what it means.

NIV – “I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD.

The NIV tries to maintain the overall sentence structure as best it can. However, it does provide an interpretation of cleanness. According to the translation committee, the teeth in question are clean because they’ve had nothing to eat.

CSB – I gave you absolutely nothing to eat* in all your cities, a shortage of food in all your communities, yet you did not return to Me. This is the LORD’s declaration.

The * leads to a marginal note that reads: Lit cleanness of teeth.

The CSB splits the difference between the two. It preserves the sentence structure, provides an interpretation where needed. But it also provides a marginal note with the literal reading. This way, you can read more or less what the text says, as well as how that has been interpreted for you.

NLT – “I brought hunger to every city and famine to every town. But still you would not return to me,” says the LORD.

The NLT moves the needle even further, abandoning the finer points of the sentence structure in favor of better English. The goal is to make it much easier for the reader to understand.

The Message – “You know, don’t you, that I’m the One who emptied your pantries and cleaned out your cupboards, Who left you hungry and standing in bread lines? But you never got hungry for me. You continued to ignore me.” God’s Decree.

The Message is on the far end of the spectrum-- possibly as far from literal as you can get. Instead of literal, you get literary. The sole translator of the Message, Eugene Peterson, was striving for the heart of the passage. In my opinion, it often achieves precisely that. It makes the scriptures sound like a real person talking. However, just as the King James gave us what the text says but perhaps didn’t deliver what the text meant, the Message does exactly the opposite. It attempts to give you what the text means, but in doing so it may stray too far from what the text says. Peterson adds and removes entire words or even phrases. This may sometimes be helpful, but it may also be very harmful.

Ultimately what is best depends to a large degree on the person. If you are a new believer, the NASB is probably going to be overwhelming. Likewise, the Message probably shouldn’t be your primary Bible for the rest of your spiritual life. In light of this, many people advocate a comparative approach, which is indeed helpful. Nevertheless, the best Bible translation is the one you will actually read. So, judge according to your needs, and in light of what you’ve hopefully learned from this post.