5. Tools for Looking at the Text
Translations Choosing a good translation of the Bible is probably the single most important physical thing we can do to grow in understanding of the word of God. But there are dozens of Bible translations or "versions" available in English – how can you choose the "best" one for your purposes?
First, we need to realize that there is no such thing as a "perfect" translation, although some are certainly much less imperfect than others! We often need to choose a translation based on our specific requirements – perhaps an easy reading version for daily study or a more precise, though not as easy to read, version to check scriptures regarding doctrine or important details. Ideally, we might find a single translation that works well for both needs, but often it is a good idea to have two translations if possible. We should always check several translations to decide important questions.
As we mentioned in the preceding chapters, translation can be done in two ways – a word-for-word (technically called the "formal equivalence") approach, versus a meaning-for-meaning or thoughtfor-thought ("dynamic equivalence") approach. While an exact word-for-word translation might seem desirable, we can't always do that without actually clouding the meaning of what is being translated. For example, the Hebrew Bible uses the expression "God's nostrils enlarged" and even the King James Version, a wordfor-word translation, had to use a meaning-for-meaning approach for this expression which means "God became angry."
On the other hand, while this approach works well for translating idioms, if we just translate for "meaning" all the time, we run the risk of the translator's understanding of the meaning entering into the picture, so that what is translated is not really in the text at all. The New International Version, for example, translates Ephesians 6:6 to say that slaves should "Obey [their masters] not only to win their favor..." But the word "only" is not in the original Greek, and this addition changes the sense considerably. More heavily meaning-based versions such as the Living Bible or The Message Bible are really paraphrases – often using different words entirely to try to convey the meaning. While they can be very easy to read, these are not always appropriate for serious study.
Some Bible versions try to balance between formal and dynamic equivalence in their translation. The results are not always perfect, but some of these versions do a very creditable job. The New International Version and New English Translation are good examples of such versions, liked by many. Sometimes, however, we need a version that is more literal to make sure we are getting exactly what was said. In those cases, versions such as the English Standard Version and the World English Bible can be good choices.
Often, simply reading a difficult passage in a number of translations can greatly help in coming to understand it. The good news is that if cost or availability are issues, or for electronic reading convenience, a number of these Bibles are available for free download from the www.FreeChristianEBooks.org website. The versions of the Bible mentioned above and a great many others – including Bibles in most foreign languages – can also be read online for free on some of the many internet Bible sites such as www.BibleGateway.com and www.BibleHub.com. Basic Tools for Studying the Text When we are unsure of the meaning of a given verse or passage of Scripture, the fastest way to get help is often to turn to a good Bible commentary, but commentaries vary considerably in quality, and some can be biased toward a particular denominational or doctrinal position. For this reason, mainstream commentaries produced by interdenominational teams or scholars recognized for their impartial work are often the most reliable. Whenever possible, it is always good to compare multiple commentaries in order to get a range of interpretations on any given verse. When dealing with both translations and commentaries, comparison is key!
A good resource for this is www.BibleHub.com – which not only provides a good number of translations of each Bible verse on the same page, but also has many Bible commentaries conveniently linked to each verse. Another website that can be helpful in choosing a Bible commentary is www.bestcommentaries.com which provides reviews and links to a great many single and multivolume commentaries.
Sometimes, in our study, the precise meaning of a word in the biblical text may be needed. Even when this involves working with Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic words, there are some basic tools anyone can use to accomplish this. The Blue Letter Bible website www.blueletterbible.org has a "Lexicon" search feature to find the Hebrew or Greek words underlying a given English word such as "love" or "obedience" and shows where those words appear in the Bible. A number of other Bible web pages, such as the one at www.biblehub.com/interlinear, also provide basic "interlinear" translations that allow users to find what the Hebrew or Greek words are in any biblical verse, and then to click on a given word to get its full definition and the instances where it appears in the Bible.
Using such sites cannot make us "overnight Bible scholars," of course, and we must always remember that other factors such as the grammar of the original biblical languages are also involved for in-depth understanding. But if we want to do basic level searches, these tools can certainly provide much good information that can be helpful in increasing our understanding of the text of the Bible.
STEP TWO: LOOKING AT THE CONTEXT