Favorite Translation?

Neal of Zebulun

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Heh, I would male a poll, but there's just too many choices!

What's your favorite translation?

It doesn't have to be any language in particular, nor does it have to contain all available Scripture (some were made even before Christ came!)

My favorite is the KJV 1611. For all its faults, I believe they did a pretty good job which others pale in comparison. I appreciate that it has the Apocrypha too.

What's yours?
 
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brinny

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Heh, I would male a poll, but there's just too many choices!

What's your favorite translation?

It doesn't have to be any language in particular, nor does it have to contain all available Scripture (some were made even before Christ came!)

My favorite is the KJV 1611. For all its faults, I believe they did a pretty good job which others pale in comparison. I appreciate that it has the Apocrypha too.

What's yours?

Mine is the KJV. Without the Apocrypha.
 
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Silmarien

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Reina Valera 1960. English translations lose too much context without the second person plural. I also like that the word "soul" is feminine in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin based languages, so English is the odd one out there too.
 
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Neal of Zebulun

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Reina Valera 1960. English translations lose too much context without the second person plural. I also like that the word "soul" is feminine in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin based languages, so English is the odd one out there too.

Those are some good points. At least in the KJV and perhaps other older Bibles, we have the "thee" 2nd person singular, and the "ye" plural, but I do find myself distressed sometimes when trying to translate into English the gender of a noun.

Although I don't know Spanish, I imagine Psalms 22:20 concerning Christ's soul being his darling ("only one" in the feminine) reads so much dearer.
 
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Neal of Zebulun

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I don't think I have a favorite anymore. It used to be the NKJV, and I still use it as my primary Bible. But I really like the HCSB, and I also read the ESV and the ISV. They all have features I like (and some I don't like).

I hear that! I have yet to find a perfect Bible. Even our oldest copies of the originals have errors (imagine copying something by hand perfectly.) I hope that some day we'll get to see the originals!
 
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Kajiki

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I have always used the NKJV and the NIV myself I dunno enough to say my favorite but in my world religions college class we are using NRSV and I dunno why but it makes me uncomfortable to use like somethings off.
 
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Gregory Thompson

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Heh, I would male a poll, but there's just too many choices!

What's your favorite translation?

It doesn't have to be any language in particular, nor does it have to contain all available Scripture (some were made even before Christ came!)

My favorite is the KJV 1611. For all its faults, I believe they did a pretty good job which others pale in comparison. I appreciate that it has the Apocrypha too.

What's yours?
I use an electronic bible, it kind of works like an amplified when I click on the strongs numbers.
 
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My primary Bible is the Afrikaans translation of 1933 - 'Die Ou Vertaling'. I tend to speak with God in my mother tongue, as well as conduct my worship therein.

That being said, there is sonorous beauty in the Latin of Jerome's Vulgate.
 
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Dave-W

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Another fav'rite is the Geneva Bible, mostly for its more accurate account of Jabez and what he prayed for.
Way too Calvinistic for my taste.

Jabez? The most selfish prayer in all of scripture.
 
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brinny

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Way too Calvinistic for my taste.

Jabez? The most selfish prayer in all of scripture.

LOL! Whoa! What was selfish about it brother?

Would you mind elaborating?

Thank you kindly.

(By the way, Jabez is an extraordinary study, akin to the study of the book of Job).
 
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Silmarien

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Those are some good points. At least in the KJV and perhaps other older Bibles, we have the "thee" 2nd person singular, and the "ye" plural, but I do find myself distressed sometimes when trying to translate into English the gender of a noun.

Ahh, yes! I love the use of "thou," though the pronoun is so foreign to us that many people just assume that it's a formal form of address and completely miss how intimate it really is. I think you lose the impact there in languages that don't still really maintain the distinction between formal and familiar addresses.

Although I don't know Spanish, I imagine Psalms 22:20 concerning Christ's soul being his darling ("only one" in the feminine) reads so much dearer.

Hmm. I would have actually missed that, since my editions both in Spanish and English just translate it as "life." Maybe that ties into confusion over how to properly translate the Hebrew nephesh--soul or life? I'd assume that "only one" was referring back to "soul" also, but they're for some reason not translating it that way.
 
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Neal of Zebulun

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Ahh, yes! I love the use of "thou," though the pronoun is so foreign to us that many people just assume that it's a formal form of address and completely miss how intimate it really is. I think you lose the impact there in languages that don't still really maintain the distinction between formal and familiar addresses.

Hey...you talking to just me, or all of us? :p

So is "thou" the informal for "thee"? I was wondering what the difference was. I enjoy your thoughts on the matter!

Hmm. I would have actually missed that, since my editions both in Spanish and English just translate it as "life." Maybe that ties into confusion over how to properly translate the Hebrew nephesh--soul or life?

Oh, I meant the word for "darling." So "nephesh" in the same verse is a feminine like you point out, and normally the Hebrew word that is translated as "darling" is in the masculine, meaning "only one." But because He's referring to His nephesh, He's calls it His "only one" in the feminine, which the KJV translates to "darling" to emphasize the difference. But I like the feminine sense of "only one" better.
 
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Silmarien

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Hey...you talking to just me, or all of us? :p

All of us!

So is "thou" the informal for "thee"? I was wondering what the difference was. I enjoy your thoughts on the matter!

No, "thou" is the subject pronoun and "thee" is the object pronoun. They're both informal. It's the difference between "I" and "me" or "he" and "him." For a full grammatical breakdown on "thou":

Thou speakest with me.
I speak with thee.
This is thy cat.
This cat is thine.

Oh, I meant the word for "darling." So "nephesh" in the same verse is a feminine like you point out, and normally the Hebrew word that is translated as "darling" is in the masculine, meaning "only one." But because He's referring to His nephesh, He's calls it His "only one" in the feminine, which the KJV translates to "darling" to emphasize the difference. But I like the feminine sense of "only one" better.

Oh, I mean the word for "darling" as well. In various languages here, I see it translated as "my life," (mi vida) "my only life," (mi única vida) or "my only one," (mi única) but I'm not sure why they would say "life" instead of "soul" if that's what it's referring back to. Both words are feminine in the Romance languages.
 
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Neal of Zebulun

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No, "thou" is the subject pronoun and "thee" is the object pronoun. They're both informal. It's the difference between "I" and "me" or "he" and "him." For a full grammatical breakdown on "thou":

Thou speakest with me.
I speak with thee.
This is thy cat.
This cat is thine.

Ah! That makes sense. Like "who" and "whom."

Who is speaking?
Whom am I speaking to?

(I think I got that right.)

Thank you for making this clear!

Oh, I mean the word for "darling" as well. In various languages here, I see it translated as "my life," (mi vida) "my only life," (mi única vida) or "my only one," (mi única) but I'm not sure why they would say "life" instead of "soul" if that's what it's referring back to. Both words are feminine in the Romance languages.

Ah, so in the Hebrew the word in question is יחידת which is the feminine for יחיד which can be found in verses like Genesis 22:2,12,16 in the phrase "thine only son," referring to Isaac, and in Judges 11:34 in the phrase "only child," etc.

It can take on different shades of meaning, but it's related to the word אחד, meaning "one." With this word, sometimes another word is added in translation to clarify what's being referred to, like son in "thine only son."

Yeah, I'm not sure why they would put "life" there either, there are words for that in Hebrew which are not present in this verse. Here, I'll do a quick (literal) translation:

"Deliver her from the blade, my soul from the hand of the dog, my only one!"

I think in this prophetic vision of Christ on the cross, Christ is saying that His soul is extremely precious to Him (my only one!), as compared to His body. (Matthew 10:28, Mark 8:36-37.)

The feminine aspect of the nouns "soul" and "only one" are totally lost in translation to the English. Sad! That's why the KJV changes "only one" to "darling" to capture that feminine quality.
 
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bekkilyn

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For English translations, I prefer the NRSV as it is a more literal translation from the original languages like the KJV, and is also more academic and less biased towards any particular denomination's agenda.

I do reference many different versions though as well as some original language versions.
 
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