I thought that since I posted yesterday on Bible translation, I would follow up with a few more posts along those lines. Sometimes people say, "Why do we need all these translations?" We may not need the hundreds of English translations that are being churned out, but we do need a translation.
Translation is the only possible way for us to understand the Bible because it was written in Hebrew (Old Testament), Greek (New Testament), and Aramaic (Ezra 4:7–6:1; 7:12–26; Dan 2:4–7:28). Short of learning these ancient languages, we will never be able to understand the Bible without a translation.
Bible translation is not a new concept; it has been done ever since Scripture was given. The Levites in Ezra’s day read aloud the Law in Hebrew and then gave an oral Aramaic translation (Neh 8:8). The New Testament church used the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. It is quoted many times in the New Testament, sometimes where it has a different reading than the Hebrew Old Testament (e.g., cf. Heb 11:21; Gen 48:2).
So why not just find one perfect translation and use that? I will try to answer that in another post.
Translation is the only possible way for us to understand the Bible because it was written in Hebrew (Old Testament), Greek (New Testament), and Aramaic (Ezra 4:7–6:1; 7:12–26; Dan 2:4–7:28). Short of learning these ancient languages, we will never be able to understand the Bible without a translation.
Bible translation is not a new concept; it has been done ever since Scripture was given. The Levites in Ezra’s day read aloud the Law in Hebrew and then gave an oral Aramaic translation (Neh 8:8). The New Testament church used the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. It is quoted many times in the New Testament, sometimes where it has a different reading than the Hebrew Old Testament (e.g., cf. Heb 11:21; Gen 48:2).
So why not just find one perfect translation and use that? I will try to answer that in another post.
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