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The recently published LSV Bible from Covenant Press has charted a fundamentally different course than the 20th and 21st century Critical Text translations. The new Literal Standard Version is based on the Textus Receptus, in line with the earlier Geneva Bible and King James. It’s a major revision of the literal translation by Robert Young, known popularly as Young’s Literal Translation, with a relationship to Young’s that is similar to that between the English Standard Version and the Revised Standard Version or the NKJV and MEV to the King James. Readers will experience a translation that is even further along...

A recently published translation of the New Testament has one glaring omission: it has purged all references to the place and the people of the Bible. Rabbi Tuly Weisz, who recently published a Hebrew-English version of the Torah, noted that omitting 'Israel' from the Bible is equivalent to failing to mention God. 24NYT, a Danish news service, reported on Sunday that the Danish Bible Society just published a revised translation of the New Testament. The new edition has many surprises, including a new name: the New Agreement. But even more shocking is that the "New Agreement has all but removed...

Despite a push by 20th and 21st century progressive translators to paraphrase and de-genderize the Bible, one team is seeking to do just the opposite: translate the Bible as literally as possible, not just "essentially literal" like the recent English Standard Version, but truly word-for-word wherever possible. From The LSV's Preface: Many have undertaken to translate the sacred Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek writings—known collectively as The Holy Bible—into English, with varying degrees of success. The word Bible comes from the Greek βιβλία, the plural form of βιβλίον (“book” or “scroll”). Thus the Holy Books or Holy Scrolls are the protocanonical...

One morning this fall, at his home high in the Berkeley hills, the literary critic and translator Robert Alter chatted with me about the dilemmas he faced while translating the Hebrew Bible. Alter, who is 83, sat on a sofa with a long-limbed, feline watchfulness. Behind him, a picture window looked out onto a blooming garden; now and then a hummingbird appeared over his left shoulder, punctuating his thoughts with winged flourishes. He occasionally cast a probing eye on his brand-new, complete translation of and commentary on the Hebrew Bible — from Genesis to Chronicles — which, at more than...

Can anyone recommend a particular publisher and version of the Geneva Bible which will contain the Reformers' notes? I want to get some feel for the Reformers' ideas on the relationship, limits, and obligations between the Christian citizen and the State. Thanks in advance!

When Americans reach for their Bibles, more than half of them pick up a King James Version (KJV), according to a new study advised by respected historian Mark Noll. The 55 percent who read the KJV easily outnumber the 19 percent who read the New International Version (NIV). And the percentages drop into the single digits for competitors such as the New Revised Standard Version, New America Bible, and the Living Bible. So concludes "The Bible in American Life," a lengthy report by the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Funded...

For centuries, people of all walks of life have carried around with them echoes of the King James Version. So to throw it out as the church hierarchy has done amounts to a savage act of deprivation and, as this deprivation is of the Word of God in English, it is vicious iconoclasm. Sidelining the King James Version especially deprives our children and is therefore a notable case of child abuse. There is no such thing as noble truth expressed in ignoble words. The choice of words determines what is being said. Therefore, we should choose the best. “Strips of...

A ministry assisting Bible translators is pushing its efforts in Southern Sudan, explaining that it is uncertain how the Jan. 9 referendum will affect its work in the area. “We don’t know how much longer the door to Southern Sudan will be open to us,” said Bruce Smith, president and CEO of Wycliffe Associates, an organization that mobilizes volunteers to assist Bible translation, in a statement. “Nobody knows what will happen after the referendum – whether there will be lasting peace or a new outbreak of civil war.” Sudan will hold a referendum Jan. 9, during which the South will...

The world’s largest Bible translation organization has already raised nearly $250 million, or one-fourth of its $1 billion goal, for the campaign to translate the Bible into every language by 2025. Even in the current economic tough times, supporters donated generously and helped the campaign make significant progress within two years, said Wycliffe’s president. The ten-year Last Languages Campaign has the ambitious goal of beginning Bible translation for all languages that still need the scriptures by 2025. “To raise nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in two years is impressive even in a booming economy. In the current climate,...

In a rocky job market, there is one field that has thousands of openings waiting to be filled. Wycliffe Bible Translators, the world’s largest organization of its kind, is looking for workers with a range of skills to assist in the translation of the scriptures into the last remaining languages. “Of course, a large number will go into translation,” said Chuck Michaels of Wycliffe to Mission Network News. “But for every translator team we send out we need three support personnel: people who are pilots, IT personnel, teachers that will teach missionary children, managers that will help us in our...

Truth in Translation: Grading the Professor05/29/2008 - Mike Porter    Not too long ago, this ministry received some emails regarding a small work that had been handed or otherwise recommended to them by members of the Jehovah's Witnesses. The book was concerning to them for a couple of reasons: 1) It was written by a man claiming to be a biblical scholar who was, above all, a neutral observer and evaluated several translations to determine bias and fairness. 2) Among the translations he evaluated was the New World Translation of the Jehovah's Witnesses and, despite finding some flaws with it,...