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TestingWorldviews.com
"A faith that cannot survive collision with the truth is not worth many regrets." - Arthur C. Clarke . .
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Which Top Bible Version Is Best?
Two Bible translations are the most popular today. To help you choose which is best, you will be given the basic meanings (from a Greek Lexicon & a Dictionary) of fifty-six words from the original Greek New Testament, along with the English renderings from those top two versions. For each meaning, please note which rendering portrays the idea most accurately and understandably for the way today's English is spoken by yourself and by most people who speak English as their first language.
...You Choose.
NOTE: It is interesting, that some of the people who are the most adamant about which English version of the Bible is unequivocally the best, also do not actually know in which language most of the Old Testament was originally written, nor in which language the New Testament was originally written.
--Those languages are: Hebrew for the Old Testament, and Greek for the New. --Therefore, if a person were to use the absolutely best version of the Bible, it would have an Hebrew Old Testament and a Greek New Testament ...but the average person needs a good translation.
# | N.T. Greek Meaning | Version A | Version B |
1. | To become or grow cold | to wax cold | to grow cold |
2. | Dishonest, crooked | untoward | corrupt |
3. | Can die or perish, mortal | corruptible | mortal |
4. | Shameful, indecent | unseemly | indecent |
5. | Wrong, not proper | not convenient | ought not to be done |
6. | Partiality, favoritism | respect of persons | favoritism |
7. | Tested character | experience | character |
8. | To show, demonstrate | to commend | to demonstrate |
9. | Futility, frustration | vanity | frustration |
10. | Him (re. God's Spirit) | it | him |
11. | Stubborn, unyielding | gainsaying | obstinate |
12. | Jealously, envy | emulation | envy |
13. | Persistently faithful | instant | faithful |
14. | Evil carousing, revelry | chambering | orgies |
15. | Naively unsuspecting | simple | naive |
16. | To establish & strengthen | to confirm | to keep strong |
17. | A deep secret | a mystery | a secret |
18. | Food | meats | food |
19. | To deprive | to defraud | to deprive |
20. | To know, understand | wit | know |
21. | Behavior, lifestyle | conversation | way of life |
22. | Zealous, eager | forward | eager |
23. | Pretense, hypocrisy | dissimulation | hypocrisy |
24. | Plain, clear, obvious | manifest | obvious |
25. | At one time, formerly | sometimes | once |
26. | Brought to light, exposed | reproved | exposed to the light |
27. | Sympathetic affection | bowels | tenderness |
28. | Full grown, mature | perfect | mature |
29. | Commonwealth, citizenship | conversation | citizenship |
30. | Worried, concerned | careful | anxious |
31. | Sufficiently competent | meet | qualified |
32. | Love | charity | love |
33. | Mistreated, insulted | shamefully entreated | insulted |
34. | To precede | to prevent | to precede |
35. | Pattern, model, example | ensample | model |
36. | To associate (with somebody) | to company | to associate |
37. | Empty, fruitless talk | vain jangling | meaningless talk |
38. | Decency, modesty, reserve | shamefacedness | decency |
39. | To let, permit, allow | to suffer | to permit |
40. | Reverence, respectfulness | gravity | respect |
41. | Knowledge | science | knowledge |
42. | Gangrene | canker | gangrene |
43. | Irreconcilable, unforgiving (people) | trucebreakers | unforgiving |
44. | Spellbinders, impostors | seducers | impostors |
45. | Those who are alive | the quick | the living |
46. | To be ready, stand by | be instant | be prepared |
47. | To greet or welcome | salute | greet |
48. | Pugnacious, belligerent | striker | violent |
49. | (God's) very own (people) | peculiar (people) | his very own (people) |
50. | Hearts, affections | bowels | hearts |
51. | One's duty, responsibility | that which is convenient | what you ought to do |
52. | Various, diversified | divers | various |
53. | To help, aid | to succour | to help |
54. | Destroyed | perdition | destroyed |
55. | Assurance, confidence | substance | being sure |
56. | Outside, exterior | without | outside |
So, as you considered each of these words, which version did you find to be the most accurate? --In case you did not guess, version A was the King James Version (KJV), and version B was the New International Version (NIV).
If you find the NIV to be more understandable, you are not alone: For example, the principal of a major Christian school in Maryland carefully tested more than 300 students in grades four through eight from schools in three states. The tests compared the KJV, NIV and the New American Standard (NAS). --In every school, at every grade level, the NIV proved to communicate the meaning of the Bible's message best, the NAS was half way inbetween, and the KJV least so, ...and that despite the regular usage of the KJV by most of those students both at home and at school. --This shows that those of us without a background using the KJV fare even worse with it.
Strictly speaking, the Bible's exact wording is perfectly "inspired" ONLY in the original Hebrew (OT) and Greek (NT) manuscripts of the Bible. Actually, there is no translation into English, German, or any other language that is perfectly inspired.
Therefore, top Bible students should learn how to look up the original words in Greek and Hebrew lexicons, in order to form their own impressions as to more precise word meanings. In addition, a Greek-English interlinear New Testament is a very excellent tool for English speakers. Ideally, of course, we would all read and study the Bible in the original languages ...but not many of us will, therefore, we should use a couple of the very best translations, such as the NIV, the English Standard and the NAS. No one translation is "the standard," (rather, the original Hebrew and Greek is the actual standard), however, if we use these excellent translations, we can be very confident that we are very close to the accurate meaning of the perfectly inspired wording from the original languages (Hebrew and Greek).
NOTE: The words used in the choice-test above came from the following New Testament verses (in order): Mat.24:12; Ac.2:40; Rom.1:23,27,28; 2:11; 5:4,8; 8:20,26; 10:21; 11:14; 12:12; 13:13; 16:18; 1Cor.1:8; 2:7; 6:13; 7:5; Gal.1:13; 5:19; Eph.2:13; 5:13; Phlp.2:1; 3:15,20; 4:6; Col.1:12; 3:14; 1Thes.2:2; 4:15; 2Thes.3:9; 1Tim.1:6; 2:9,12; 3:4; 6:20; 2Tim.2:17; 3:3,13; 4:1,2,19; Tit.1:7; Phm.7:8; Heb.1:11; 2:4,18; 10:39; 11:1; 13:11.
Word-meaning references were: A Greek-English Lexicon fo the New Testament, by Bauer, Arndt & Gingrich, '57, Univ. of Chicago; |
...May the Lord bless you in the study of his magnificent Word! - R.T.
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