Jinksy

I mean in the language it was originally written (Hebrew?). How does it compare with the KJV, which, I keep being told, is the most accurate & inerrant translation?

Are there any direct comparisons between significant passages of the two written by capable translators available online?

Vorkosigan

Jinxy, the KJV is not among the more accurate translations. As new manuscript evidence and new scholarship and methodologies became available during the 19th century, newer translations have superseded it. Daniel Wallace, a conservative Christian scholar, has a pretty good lecture on the problems and issues of the KJV here:

http://www.bible.org/docs/soapbox/KJVtoRV.htm

Hope this helps.

Vorkosigan

frostymama

Is there any clear winner(s) as to which is the most accurate translation(s)?

I am constantly being asked which translation is closest to the meaning of the original texts and I have no clue which one to suggest.

funinspace

I'm not sure of your real question, but there is no original Bible. There even isn't any originals of the seperate books that make up the western canon. And most of the NT was written in Greek, maybe a little Aramaic. The various extant copies of the books, are compared to draw up most of the newer versions of the "Bible" today. They are compared because even the oldest copies have variances. The formation and production of the canon was quite a convoluted process. This sites library has some good articles on it if you want to read more.

Dean Anderson

I've often been told that the Young's Literal Translation is the most accurate.

Don't take that as gospel, though. (Pun intended!)

Magdlyn

The Bible being written in Hebrew is your first mistake. The Hebrew Bible (Jewish) was. The Christian Scriptures were written in Greek.

I like the New Oxford Annotated Bible b/c it offers notes with variant translations of words and phrases, according to different ancient texts.

RRK

Pity it's based on the Textus Receptus, though.

There really is no such thing as the "best translation" -- different translations have different translation philosophies, whether good prose (Jerusalem Bible), more literal rendering (NASB) or to support a theological viewoint (NWT).

CX

I can only speak for the New Testament. I own a copy of the Nestle-Aland 27th Edition Greek New Testament which is the most widely accepted Greek critical text. Most modern translations are based on it. The KJV is derived from an entirely different (and late) set of manuscripts known as the Byzantine family. NA27 is derived from the bestand earliest greek manuscripts we have. Ultimately I'd say that most scholars (and even most Xian theologians) would regard the KJV as the LEAST accurate English translation available aside from a paraphrase like the Extreme Teen Bible or somesuch.

Aaron Thrash

This is an anonymous qoute from The Atheist Bible Study:

Does that help any?
And the original tran. of the scriptures is a machination of Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. No one language can be given credit, truly.

-A

Jinksy

Thanks, but I'm really after a comparison/contrast between the original and the KJV, rather than a comparison between translations - I don't need a large knowledge base to doubt someone who claims to know all versions of the bible so well that they can assuredly claim that the KJV is the best. I just want to be point out some significant discrepancies to the next person who tells me there are none.

Although, out of curiousity, does anyone know how many languages you'd have to be able to speak to claim that no other versions are as good?