BIBLE English  Versions  

KING  JAMES  VERSION  (KJV)  Also  called  the  Authorized  Version  (AV),  1611  

Ma#hew  2:13    the  angel  of  the  Lord  appeareth  to  Joseph  in  a  dream,  saying,  Arise,  and  take  the  young  child  and  his  mother,  and  flee  into  Egypt    Genesis  6:8    Noah  found  grace  in  the  eyes  of  the  LORD.      Genesis  15:17    And  it  came  to  pass,  that,  when  the  sun  went  down,  and  it  was  dark,  behold  a  smoking  furnace,  and  a  burning  lamp  that  passed  between  those  pieces.    Deuteronomy  32:10    He  found  him  in  a  desert  land,  and  in  the  waste  howling  wilderness;  he  led  him  about,  he  instructed  him,  he  kept  him  as  the  apple  of  his  eye.    Psalm  8:1-­‐2      who  hast  set  thy  glory  above  the  heavens.  Out  of  the  mouth  of  babes  and  sucklings  hast  thou  ordained  strength  because  of  thine  enemies,  that  thou  mightest  sPll  the  enemy  and  the  avenger.    

KING  JAMES  VERSION  (KJV)  Also  called  the  Authorized  Version  (AV),  1611  

-­‐  Primary  concern:  a  version  that  would  be  appropriate,  dignified  and  resonant  in  public  reading.  

-­‐  Avoided  contemporary  idioms,  preferred  archaic  style:  Thou,  Thee,  Thine;2nd  person  sing.  Verb  -­‐est  3rd  person  sing.  Verb  –eth,  etc.  

-­‐  No  marginal  interpretaPon.  -­‐  8,500  marginal  notes  of  alternaPve  Eng.  wording,  e.g.  with  

original  languages  or  LaPn  version.  -­‐  9,000  scriptural  cross-­‐references  (as  used  in  LaPn  version).  

REVISED  STANDARD  VERSION  (RSV)  Derived  from  American  Standard  Version    NT:  1946,  OT:  1952,  Apocrypha:  1957  

-­‐  Reverted  to  the  pracPce  of  the  KJV  in  the  translaPon  of  the  Divine  Name,  YHWH  as  "Lord"  or  "God"  (i.e.  Adonai"  or  "Elohim”),  whereas  the  American  Standard  Version  had  translated  it  "Jehovah".    

-­‐  Use  of  archaic  English  pronouns  and  verbs  only  for  God,  e.g.  "thou",  "thee",  "thy",  and  verb  forms  "art,  hast,  hadst,  didst"  etc.,  while  the  KJV  used  these  terms  for  both  God  and  humans.  

-­‐  RSV  followed  the  latest  available  version  of  Nestle's  Greek  text  for  the  New  Testament,  whereas  the  KJV  had  used  the  Textus  receptus.    

-­‐  Fundamentalists  and  evangelicals,  in  parPcular,  accused  the  translators  of  deliberately  tampering  with  the  Scriptures  to  deny  the  doctrine  of  the  Virgin  Birth  of  Jesus,  and  they  cited  other  tradiPonally  Messianic  prophecies  that  were  allegedly  obscured  in  the  RSV  (i.e.  Genesis  22:18).    

Good  News  Bible  (GNB)    Also  called  the  Today’s  English  Version  (TEV)  NT:  19766,  OT:  1976,  Deuterocanonicals:  1979    

-­‐  Dynamic  equivalence  （動態對等） =  Thought  to  thought  translaPon  (Eugene  Nida).(vs  Formal  equivalence形式對等.)  

-­‐  The  GNB  is  wrijen  in  a  simple,  everyday  language,  with  the  intenPon  that  everyone  can  appreciate  it,  and  so  is  oken  considered  parPcularly  suitable  for  children  and  for  those  learning  English.  

-­‐  IntroducPon  to  each  book;  line  drawings;  poePc  form  sacrified,  e.g.  "For  God  loved  the  world  so  much  that  …",  rather  than  "For  God  so  loved  the  world…".    

 -  In the beginning, when God created the universe, the earth was

formless and desolate. The raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness, and the Spirit of God was moving over the water. Then God commanded, "Let there be light" — and light appeared. (Gen 1:1-3)    

New  InternaPonal  Version  (NIV)  NT:  1973,  OT:  1978  

-  Team work of 100 scholars from the USA, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, including many denominations such as Anglicans, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Christian Reformed, Lutheran and Presbyterian.

-  The translation is a balance between word-for-word and thought-for-thought. Recent archaeological and linguistic discoveries helped in understanding traditionally difficult passages to translate.

-  Familiar spellings of traditional translations were generally retained.

-­‐  No  marginal  interpretaPon.  

Jerusalem  Bible  (JB)  Publ.  in  1966,  modelled  aker  the  French    La  Bible  de  Jérusalem,  1956  

-  Inspired by Pius XII’s 1943 encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu, translated from the original Hebrew and Greek, rather than from Jerome's Latin Vulgate.

-  Translated by Dominicans and other scholars at the École Biblique in Jerusalem originally in French.

-  The introductions, footnotes, and even the translation itself reflect a modern scholarly approach and the conclusions of scholars who use historical-critical method.

-  The overall text seems to have somewhat of a "Mid-Atlantic" nature, neither overwhelmingly British nor particularly American

New  Jerusalem  Bible  (NJB)  Revised  1985  

-­‐  SubstanPally  revised,  less  literary,  more  literal.  Basically  a  translaPon  based  on  the  principle  of  “dynamic  equivalence”.  

-­‐  The  introducPons  and  footnotes,  translated  almost  enPrely  from  the  French.    

-­‐  Some  “inclusive  language”  is  used,  as  in  Exodus  20:17:  "You  

shall  not  set  your  heart  on  your  neighbor's  spouse,"  rather  than  "neighbor's  wife"  or  "neighbor's  woman".    

-­‐  God’s  name  rendered  as  “Yahweh”  like  the  Jerusalem  Bible.

New  American  Bible  (NAB)  Publ.  in  1970,  revised  1986,  1991,  2003,  2010.  

-  Inspired by Pius XII’s 1943 encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu, translated from the original Hebrew and Greek, rather than from Jerome's Latin Vulgate.

-  NT revised in 1986 (more dignified for liturgical use) more literal and formal in tone. In  some  respects  it  was  made  less  literal,  for  the  sake  of  “inclusive”  language.  

-­‐  The  Book  of  Psalms  was  revised  in  1991.  In  2003  another  revision  of  the  enPre  Old  Testament  was  made  but  needed  further  revision,  and  finally  completed  in  2010.  The  new  ediPon,  which  the  publisher  has  called  the  New  American  Bible,  Revised  Edi=on  (NABRE),  was  issued  in  March  2011.  

Example  of  compared  texts  Genesis  22:2  

-  NJB: God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, your beloved Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, where you are to offer him as a burnt offering…’

-  JB: ‘Take your son,’ God said ‘your only child Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer himas a burnt offering…’

-  KJV:  And he said, ‘Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering…’

-  NAB: Then God said: ‘Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust…’

-  RSV: He said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering…’

-  NIV: Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering…’

-  GNB: ‘Take your son,’ God said, ‘your only son, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah. There … offer him as a sacrifice to me.’

-  和合本：神說：「你帶着你的兒子，就是你獨生的兒子，你所愛的以撒，往摩利亞地去…把他獻為燔祭。」