A few years ago I got into a discussion on the Internet about Bible versions. One man who worked as a missionary in India insisted that it was possible to perfectly translate something from English to Hindi then have someone else translate it back into English without changing a word from the original. All I can guess is that he didn’t speak Hindi and was easily fooled by his translators.

There is no direct correspondence from one language to another. Some are closer than others, like Portuguese to Spanish. The best a translator can hope to do is communicate the same idea in the target language as that in the original.

That’s where the tension between literal translation (“word by word”) and dynamic equivalence (“thought by thought”) comes in to play. In Bible translations, we have everything from Young’s Literal Translation to paraphrases like the Living Bible or the Message.

Here are a few of my thoughts on selecting a version:

1. For the majority of us, it really shouldn’t come down to choosing just one version, at least for serious study. We should use multiple versions, especially with the number of versions available online today.
2. For devotional reading, you need a version you can understand. I recommend switching versions now and again to avoid letting one translation’s rendering shape our interpretation.
3. Whatever version you choose, go for one with good footnotes that show you when the translators have chosen an interpretive translation over a literal one.

What are some of the prime considerations that you would add?

P.S.—For some fun, check out the Lost in Translation web page.

{Photo by Andrew Beierle, sxc.hu}