I really like Heron's comparison, but have a few comments:
Word order in the KJV exactly follows Greek texts: 1-Jesus, 2-Yourself, and 3-Others.
Well, maybe not
exactly. The exact order would be something like:
Answered Jesus, "from yourself you this (thing) say, or others told you about me?"
The Greek is:
ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς, ἀπὸ σεαυτοῦ σὺ τοῦτο λέγεις ἢ ἄλλοι εἶπόν σοι περὶ ἐμοῦ;
Nobody translates like that, because it makes no sense. Some reordering is necessary in turning a Greek sentence into an English one, because of differences between the two languages. The question is: how
much reordering?
Both the NIV and KJV add words to the 13 in Greek, because you have to (although the KJV adds "him" for no reason that I can see). The closest to the Greek word order is probably the ESV:
Jesus answered, "Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?"
The Greek "from yourself" becomes "of your own accord" in the ESV (probably best), "of thyself" in the KJV (also good), and "your own idea" in the NIV (which I think is good, though Heron doesn't agree).
Jesus clause is moved to the middle and is changed into a question which departs from Greek texts where the interrogative begins after the Jesus clause.
I'm not sure what this means, because the sentence
is a question, and the KJV, NIV, and ESV all translate it that way.
I would say the NIV, ESV, and KJV are all
translations, though with different philosophies. I usually read the NIV and the Greek together, and I'm usually happy with the NIV's translation.
The "Living Bible," as a
paraphrase, is something quite different.
several different words have been substituted for modern readers who prefer short sentences
Well, the original Greek had no punctuation, and tends to tie phrases together with "and" and "but." In English we use either commas (,) or full stops (.) to divide things up.
Another example... Luke 1:15
Greek: ... καὶ πνεύματος ἁγίου πλησθήσεται ἔτι ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς αὐτοῦ
Slightly reordered literal: ".... and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even out from his mother's womb."
ESV: "... and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb." ("out from" becomes "from", which is a little ambiguous in English)
KJV: "... and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb." ("out from" becomes "from" again)
NIV: "... and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth." (takes "out from his mother's womb" to mean "birth", but adds a footnote that it could also mean "from his mother's womb")
NASB: "... and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb." (completely changes the meaning of the Greek, "out from" becomes "in")
NLT: "... He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth." (changes the Greek to insert "before", but adds a footnote that it could also mean "even from birth")
CEV: "... and the power of the Holy Spirit will be with him from the time he is born." (changes "filling" to "power")
Here most versions are good, except for the NASB and NLT, which actually change the meaning of the Greek to make it fit better with verses 41-44. Understandable, but still bad translation. Better to just say what the Greek says, and let the reader work out what it means.
In general, neither the ESV nor the NIV will lead you astray -- they both follow the Greek fairly closely (the ESV perhaps a little more word-for-word, the NIV perhaps a little more readably).
