I think, for most of us, the answer is obvious: we want an understandable translation that is faithful to the original textual witnesses.
A Bible translation is not helpful or useful if it can’t be read and understood. Nor is a Bible translation helpful or useful if it veers away from what the original authors of Scripture actually wrote. We want something that can be understood when we read it, and something that doesn’t make us wonder where it came from.
It’s hard to overstate how good we’ve got it in the English speaking world when it comes to Bible translations. You can go to www.biblegateway.com right now and choose from around 60 different translations. Almost all of which fit what I’m assuming is our shared expectation for a translation. This cannot be said for any other language in the world. The wild thing is that with these amazing options at our hands, we can become picky, start to worry, and sometimes become paralyzed from just making a decision and reading.
Peter Gurry, of the Text & Canon Institute, wrote a helpful article on where this pickiness, worry, and paralyzing feeling comes from. It’s worth looking into and considering for yourself because, if you’re anything like me, you’ve thought once or twice about the translation you read and whether or not there’s a better one out there. You might have even had someone point out something in your translation or in another that’s caused you to wonder if you’d be better served by reading a different one.
This was one of the reasons why I took several years to study Greek and Hebrew. I found myself wondering again, and again, if the translation or translations I was reading were the best. What I learned in my limited time in Greek and Hebrew was that it was the wrong question from the start. And you and I both know, if we start by asking the wrong question, we’re bound to come up with a wrong answer.
Instead of trying to find the “best” translation, I slowly started to believe that I was far better off just picking one, or two, or three, and appreciating each of them for what they each do well, while being gracious to them for those places where they bothered me. It’s honestly hard to find an overtly bad translation—they’re out there, to be sure, but you have to look for them. Whether you’re reading the ESV, NIV, NLT, KJV, NKJV, NASB, NRSV, CSB, LEB, NET, etc., you’re more than likely going to find a translation that is understandable and faithful to what was originally written. What you’ll also find, though, are the differences between even really good translations.
We know that the ESV is not like the NIV. And the NIV is not like the KJV. And the KJV is not like the NLT. The differences are obvious. The question for us, though, when it comes to what we want from a translation, is: What differences actually make a difference? It might be helpful for us to look at just two passages for an example of what I’m talking about.
In Luke 7, we have a story about a woman “who lived a sinful life” crying over the feet of Jesus and wiping his tear soaked feet with her hair. Jesus, makes a comment on this situation to those around him, saying, “…I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little…Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Lk 7:48, 50, NIV) Remember that bolded portion of the verse.
Later in Luke 8, we have a story about a sick woman coming to Jesus in a crowd of people being able to just touch the edge of his cloak. Jesus knew that something had happened after the woman touched him— “…I know that power has gone out from me.” (Lk 8:46b, NIV)—and the woman’s sickness ceased. Jesus, commenting on the situation, said, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” (Lk 8:48b, NIV) Again, the bolded portion is what we’ll be looking at closely.
In these two passages there are stories of a person’s faith doing something for them. In the first story from Luke 7, the woman’s faith saved her, while in the story from Luke 8, the woman’s faith healed her. No big deal, right? Right. That is, until you consider the underlying Greek text from these two passages.
In Luke 7:50, the Greek word underlying the English translation—has saved you—is σέσωκέν (sesoken). In Luke 8:48, the Greek word underlying the English translation—has healed you—is σέσωκέν (sesoken). You didn’t just misread anything. It’s the same Greek word, but with two different English translations. Now, depending on your preference for an English translation, you either like what is happening here or it bothers you (even if you aren’t quite sure what’s going on).
The two Greek words from Luke 7:50 and 8:48 are both built on the word, σῴζω (sozo). Now, sozo generally means to save, and that’s how it’s often translated. But, there are more than a few times in the New Testament where translating sozo as to save might not quite get the actual meaning across. Of all the Bible translations I regularly use, I’m only able to find a couple that translate both Luke 7:50 and 8:48 the same way with has saved you, because context determines translation, and translations determines interpretation.
We’ve already seen that the contexts for Luke 7:50 and 8:48 although similar (both stories have a woman coming to Jesus and Jesus saying something about their faith) are not the same. In the first, the context is about forgiveness of sins, while the second is about the healing of a sickness. Because of the different contexts most translators have made the decision to translate the first use of sozo as has saved you and the second as some version of has healed you.
There are folks out there who advocate for translating both passages with the same has saved you translation, which then allows the reader to make the interpretive decision that these two has saved you statements aren’t really talking about the same thing even though the same words are being used. This reasoning makes sense to me. Some would rather have their translation keep those types of linguistic connections more visible on the page.
There are other folks out there who advocate for translating the passages differently with has saved you and has healed you, which makes it clear to the reader that the contexts, although similar, are quite different and should be interpreted differently. This reasoning makes sense to me, as well. Some would rather have their translation reflect the interpretive choices based on the contextual situations of each story on the page.
So coming back to our earlier question—What differences actually make a difference?—and the overall question—What do we want from a Bible translation?—I think we can give some answers.
To the first question about the differences, we can for sure say that differences abound in different translations; however, what I think we’ll find again, and again, as we actually read different solid translations, is that the majority of those differences really don’t make a difference to you and I being able to understand what we’re reading and trusting that the text isn’t being messed with. In short, if you’re anxious about translations, you can relax. The good ones are there if you want them.
To the second question about what we want from Bible translations, we can rejoice that our expectations are being met. And they’re not just being met once or twice, they’re being met over, and over, and over again by faithful translators all over the English speaking world who want nothing more than folks like you and I to be able to read the Bible for ourselves to know the God who is revealed in the pages of the Bible as the crucified and resurrected Jesus Christ.
God has done an amazing thing with the gift of these translations, and the shame would be if we were too busy driving ourselves crazy with the options out there that we never received and enjoyed the gifts God has given. So, enjoy them by understanding and trusting whatever translation you pick up and read.