My bible translation of choice for ordinary reading is the contemporary english version (”CEV”) (You can check out some of the text of the CEV here. For those that are not familiar with it, I would describe it as using ordinary modern language in a similar fashion to the Message, but in the form of a direct translation rather than a paraphrase.

The really interesting thing about this version is the translation notes. In short, the translators of the CEV hark back to the King James Version for the principles that they adhere to in translation. The introduction to the notes begins:

The most important document in the history of the English language is the King James Version of the Bible. To measure its spiritual impact on the English speaking world would be more impossible than counting the grains of sand along the ocean shores. Historically, many Bible translators have attempted in some measure to retain the form of the King James Version. But the translators of the Contemporary English Version of the Bible have diligently sought to capture the spirit of the King James version by following certain principles set forth by its translators in the document “The Translators to the Reader,” which was printed in the earliest editions.

The notes go on to discuss each of these points in detail, with specific examples of decisions made in translation to reflect those principles. And the first time I read these notes, my understanding of the KJV was radically changed. To me, it was an archaic version filled with language which I don’t use and sometimes struggle to understand. I remember as a child visiting my great-aunt and looking at the big old family bibles and laughing at phrases like “they that pisseth against a wall” (meaning “men”).

But some of the quoted sections from the KJV translation notes struck me. Some of the citations (and I admit I haven’t gone back to the original) are:

This is the word of God, which we translate.
What can be more available thereto than to deliver God’s book unto God’s people in a tongue which they understand?
…variety of translations is profitable for the finding out of the sense of the Scriptures.

I was particularly struck by the idea that the translators of the KJV were putting it into every day language - accessible to ordinary people. I went shopping for a bible yesterday for a gift for a guy set to be ordained on the weekend and in whose ordination I am privileged to take part. The breadth and variety of translations on offer at the christian bookstores in the city was pretty poor - every version of KJV and NKJV available, quite a few NIV, but very few of anything else.

It seems that the KJV’s wish for a variety of translations and the desire to deliver the bible to the people in a tongue they understand has fallen somewhat by the wayside. Who cares? What difference does it make? Well, I will let the KJV translators answer that:

Translation it is that opens the window, to let in the light; that breaks the shell, that we may eat the kernel; that puts aside the curtain, that we may look into the most holy place; that removes the cover of the well, that we may come to the water.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2003 at 12:37 pm by dan and is filed under random musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.