Bible Translations- literal, thought-for-thought, paraphrase
Jul 26, 2017 20:50:00 GMT
James Brady likes this
Post by Jeff G on Jul 26, 2017 20:50:00 GMT
This is meant as a warning about certain types of translations of the Bible. Perhaps you are aware that there are two major translation styles: word-for-word and thought-for-thought. These are also known as formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence, respectively. You can read more about this here if you'd like. Word-for-word is pretty much like it sounds. Thought-for-thought translation is where the meaning of entire phrases or sentences is the object of the translation. (There are also paraphrases, but those don't even really count as a translation.)
Have you ever heard someone refer to the NIV as the nearly-inspired version? I know Doug has said it; and there is certainly good reason to be wary of translations that use a thought-for-thought style of translation. Here is my reasoning why -
We read in Isaiah 55 -
Have you ever heard someone refer to the NIV as the nearly-inspired version? I know Doug has said it; and there is certainly good reason to be wary of translations that use a thought-for-thought style of translation. Here is my reasoning why -
We read in Isaiah 55 -
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
My point here is that any translation team that tries to capture all of the thoughts that God had in His authoring the Bible, will necessarily fail. It cannot be done. On the other hand, if a translation team attempts to faithfully translate the words of Scripture into the target language, then it is quite possible that meanings of the text the translators themselves don't even know about will still make it through into the translation. A thought-for-thought translation is less likely to convey a meaning that the translators are unaware of. In other words, thought-for-thought translations leave things out.
Now, with that being said, I don't take such an extreme stance to say that the NIV and others are not useful. They are. There is plenty of true, biblical meaning that made it through into the translation. Without question. However, there are things that are missing. By this I don't mean that phrases or sentences are missing. I mean that our interpretation of a verse can depend critically on word choices and other nuances of the text, and that more literal translations do a better job. Apart from digging into the original languages, we are much better able to get the fullest meaning out of the text if we use a word-for-word translation.
An example of what I mean here is found in 1 Peter 4:10. I'm not going to explain now, but perhaps I will later. Doug has talked about this one in some of his videos.
I guess I felt like I had to explain this thoroughly to get my meaning across. But what I wanted to emphasize is the phrase "thought-for-thought" in light of the passage from Isaiah I quoted. Something to keep in mind.
Now, with that being said, I don't take such an extreme stance to say that the NIV and others are not useful. They are. There is plenty of true, biblical meaning that made it through into the translation. Without question. However, there are things that are missing. By this I don't mean that phrases or sentences are missing. I mean that our interpretation of a verse can depend critically on word choices and other nuances of the text, and that more literal translations do a better job. Apart from digging into the original languages, we are much better able to get the fullest meaning out of the text if we use a word-for-word translation.
An example of what I mean here is found in 1 Peter 4:10. I'm not going to explain now, but perhaps I will later. Doug has talked about this one in some of his videos.
I guess I felt like I had to explain this thoroughly to get my meaning across. But what I wanted to emphasize is the phrase "thought-for-thought" in light of the passage from Isaiah I quoted. Something to keep in mind.
