English translations of the Bible: Encyclopedia II - English translations of the Bible - Modern translations

English translations of the Bible - Modern translations

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Much like early English Bibles, which were based on Greek texts or Latin translations, modern English translations of the Bible are based on the best-available original texts of the time. The translators put much scholarly effort into cross-checking the various sources such as the Pentateuch, Septuagint, Textus Receptus, and Masoretic Text. Relatively recent discoveries such as the Dead Sea scrolls provide additional reference information. There is some controversy over which texts should be used as a basis for translation, as some of the alternate sources do not include verses which are found in the Textus Receptus. Some say the alternate sources were poorly representative of the texts used in their time, whereas others claim the Textus Receptus includes passages that were added to the alternate texts improperly. These controversial passages are generally not the basis for disputed issues of doctrine, but tend to be additional stories or snippets of phrases. The majority of modern English translations, such as the New International Version, contain extensive text notes indicating where differences occur in original sources.

English translations can be broken down into Christian, Critical and Jewish sections.

English translations of the Bible - Christian translations

There are over 50 complete modern English Christian translations and many more partial translations. See main article: Modern English Bible translations.

English translations of the Bible - Critical translations

Although most translations of the Bible have been authorised or made by religious people for religious use, historians and philologists have studied the Bible as a historical and literary text and have presented secular translations.

The best known is the Anchor Bible; each book is translated by a different scholar, with extensive critical commentary.

English translations of the Bible - Jewish translations

Main article: Jewish English Bible translations.

Jewish English Bible translations are modern English Bible translations that include the books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) according to the masoretic text, and according to the traditional division and order of Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim.

Jewish translations often also reflect traditional Jewish interpretations of the Bible, as opposed to the Christian understanding that is often reflected in non-Jewish translations. For example, Jewish translations translate עלמה ‘almâh in Isa 7:14 as young woman, while many Christian translations render the word as virgin.

While modern biblical scholarship is similar for both Christians and Jews, there are distinctive features of Jewish translations, even those created by academic scholars. These include (besides the avoidance of Christological interpretations) either complete adherence to the Masoretic Text or a greater preference for it, and a tendency to prefer transliterated instead of Anglicised names.

The first English Jewish translation of the Bible was by Isaac Leeser in the 19th century.

The Jewish Publication Society produced two of the most popular Jewish translations, namely the JPS The Holy Scriptures of 1917 and the NJPS Tanakh (first printed in a single volume in 1985).

Since the 1980s there have been multiple efforts among Orthodox publishers to produce translations that are not only Jewish, but also adhere to Orthodox norms. Among these are The Living Torah and Nach by Aryeh Kaplan and others, and the Artscroll Tanakh.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Modern translations", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki