Expert: Brian Thompson - 10/31/2011

Question
Thanks for your time. My question is which bible translation is the closet to the Greek that the new testament was written in? Which translation is the most accurate?  And What is your thoughts on commentaries and study bibles vs just reading the bible for yourself?

Answer
Hi Josh

Difficult questions and much debated. In determining which text is most accurate you are actually discussing contemporary language since an arcane version (KJV 1611) would have also been accurate according to the language of the time. in the english language today probably the Engish Standard version is a recent accurate word for word translation. I definately think you should read and study the Bible for yourself but commentaries and study Bibles are useful for gaining perspective. Be careful however as I have found some notes to contain demoninational bias.

Please be aware that the various contemporary english language versions offer a range of intrepretations which range from word for word ( ESV, KJV ) to thought for thought (Message, CEV) and paraphase (GNB) the NIV for example is about in the middle of these approaches. an explanatory chart is found at http://www.apbrown2.net/web/TranslationComparisonChart.htm. A good parallel Bible will enable you to see the differences and you will quickly learn they might not be as many or important as you might think.