NationStates Jolt Archive

Every culturally literate person (whether an individual of faith or not) should read the Jewish and Christian Bibles (the Tanakh, or Old Testament, and the New Testament). Together they are the source of countless themes, allusions and references in literature, theatre, film and the arts.

Does the translation matter and why do you read the one that you do? Below are a few translations of the famous opening lines of Genesis:

The Tanakh (New JPS Translation) -

When God began to create heaven and earth – the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water – God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

King James Version –

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

The Message –

First this: God created the Heavens and Earth--all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.
God spoke: "Light!"
And light appeared.

New American Standard –

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

The Five Books of Moses (new translation by Robert Alter)

When God began to create heaven and earth, and the earth then was welter and waste and darkness over the deep and God's breath hovering over the waters, God said, 'Let there be light.’

I read mostly the Revised Standard Version and The Interlinear Bible edited by Jay Green, I also read a Douay-Rhiems Version and I have a copy of the Septuagint handy. Overall I would say i have about 15 different versions that I use off and on.

I've read the usual King James version as well as the New International, but I'd love to get my hands on a copy of the Jeffersonian Bible. Supposedly, Jefferson edited the Bible to remove everything that didn't make sense; people have said that it's about half as thick as most others.

New American Standard for actually studying it. King James if I want to quote it.

Tanakh - don't need translation. I know Hebrew.

Gospel - I tend to absorb a mix of the NIV, the KJV, and the Darby translation, but I would someday like to learn Greek.

The rest of the NT - I ignore it.

Qur'an - Abdullah Yusuf Ali's translation, but I am learning Arabic.

I've read the usual King James version as well as the New International, but I'd love to get my hands on a copy of the Jeffersonian Bible. Supposedly, Jefferson edited the Bible to remove everything that didn't make sense; people have said that it's about half as thick as most others.

http://www.angelfire.com/co/JeffersonBible/ there is a printable version you can download I has a pdf myself

The Amplified Bible

I actually prefer the new living translation.

King James.

Goofball version: 'God stared at the puddle of goo for a while and said, "Eww. If I'm gonna make anything out of this crud, I'm gonna need more light.'

:D

I look to The Message first, and then check other translations (online).

I grew up with the New World Translation, but since I left the Jehovah's Witnesses ten years ago, I hardly use it anymore. I actually preferred the Bible in Living English even when I was a Witness, but I also use the King James, the New American Standard, the Jerusalem and the Emphasized Bible as well.

My first was the Good News Bible, now reading King James. The one I have was bought for me right after the 1989ish revision.

I grew up with the New World Translation, but since I left the Jehovah's Witnesses ten years ago, I hardly use it anymore. I actually preferred the Bible in Living English even when I was a Witness, but I also use the King James, the New American Standard, the Jerusalem and the Emphasized Bible as well.
Not to be nosy, but why'd ya leave?

My first was the Good News Bible, now reading King James. The one I have was bought for me right after the 1989ish revision.

Not to be nosy, but why'd ya leave?
The Witnesses suffer from the same disease any fundamentalist religion suffers from--absolute certainty in their version of Biblical truth. No deviation is tolerated and when I realized that their version of reality was far different from what exists in the real world, and let them know that, I was kicked out.

It's not been all bad though--I write poetry about it, and that poetry won me a fellowship to Stanford. :D

Annotated Martin Luther. The single most published version in german.

Finnish translation, used by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. But I don't read it, I just have it. :p