
The disadvantage of a literal translation is often comprehensibility and ease of reading. "But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you." (2 Corinthians 10:13 New American Standard Bible) "We now not to the things beyond measure will boast, but according to the measure of the rule which divided to us the God of measure to reach to also you." (2 Corinthians 10:13 The Interlinear Literal Translation of the Greek New Testament) An example of a completely literal versus and a normal literal translation are below: However, most translations we consider "literal" do have some deviance taken from the original wording to allow for the differences in linguistic structure and allow us to comprehend what has been written. They excel when it comes to accurately bringing the words of the original documents to the English language and are usually the translations preferred by biblical scholars (when they are not reading in the original languages themselves). Literal translations of the Bible can be a very good thing. In general terms there are three: Literal, paraphrase, and dynamic. The Kinds of Translationsīefore we move on to look at the individual Bible translations, it is beneficial to have a grasp on what categories of Bible translations exist. This post will focus largely on these "Big Five" translations and their merits and shortcomings.

New King James Version (NKJV) July 2013 CBA Best Sellers, Christian Booksellers Association,.The Five Most Popular English Translations:Īccording to the Christian Booksellers Association, the five best-selling Bible translations in June 2013 were as follows: While you may be able to force yourself to read a difficult translation you may find it difficult to understand which may cause you to abandon reading the Bible all together! On the other side, choosing too "liberal" of a translation could cause you to misunderstand key areas of Scripture, which is not something that you want to do. Ranging from the Middle English translation called "the Ormulum" to the Geneva Bible, King James Version, right through to "The Message", finding the right Bible for your devotional time can become overwhelming. With so many translations to choose from, which one should I choose?ĭid you know that there are currently over 450 English translations of the Bible?
