Translations of the Bible

Hundreds of translations and interpretations of the Bible circulate among readers around the globe today. Literary scholar Keith Perry notes that "the Catholic Truth Society's 1957 printing of the Douay version of the Holy Bible" was the "edition O'Connor herself owned, and therefore would have consulted" (57). While O'Connor may have used this translation because it was an accepted one for Catholics of her time, the Douay translation does not provide the most understandable language for modern readers. Although there is a variety of reasons explaining why readers may choose to study one version of the Bible over another, readers today commonly choose a version they enjoy reading and find understandable. For my own study, I selected the English Standard Version (ESV) and the New Living Translation (NLT) because they are the translations of the Bible I prefer. Considering an essentially literal translation like the ESV in conjunction with a meaning-based translation like the NLT makes for rich, thorough study.

English Standard Version (ESV)

The English Standard Version (ESV) is one of the most accurate English translations of the Bible in terms of language. According to the Preface of the ESV Study Bible, translated by a team of scholars at Crossway, a well-known Bible publishing company, “the ESV is an ‘essentially literal’ translation that seeks as far as possible to reproduce the precise wording of the original text and the personal style of each Bible writer. As such, its emphasis is on ‘word-for-word’ correspondence, at the same time taking full account of differences in grammar, syntax, and idiom between current literary English and the original languages” (19). The translators at Crossway specifically note that "the ESV Bible emphasizes 'word-for-word' accuracy, literary excellence, and depth of meaning" ("About the ESV"). Crossway published the ESV translation of the Bible in 2001. The ESV Study Bible, published in 2008, adds footnotes and resources written by a team of Crossway scholars, thus helping readers not only read but study the Bible. As a result, "the ESV has gained wide acceptance and is used by church leaders, numerous denominations and organizations, and millions of individuals around the world" (“Publishing”).

New Living Translation (NLT)

The New Living Translation (NLT) of the Bible was written and developed by a team of scholars at Tyndale House Publishers. The Tyndale House Publishing Company, named after William Tyndale, a sixteenth-century Christian and English translator of the Bible who was burned at the stake for his work in translation, was founded in the early 1960s by Dr. Kenneth Taylor, whose life's passion was "making Scripture accessible for all people" (“Our Founder”). Taylor’s company went on to produce and publish the NLT in 1967. This version is a meaning-based translation of the Bible, unlike the ESV, which is a literal translation. This means that during the process of translation from the original languages, translators rework the text into a flow of language best suited to readers and speakers of English. Translators at the Tyndale House Publishing Company explain that "translators start with a source-language text and dig beneath the surface to discover its meaning. The translators then search for the best ways to re-express that meaning using words and phrases from the language into which the text is being translated" (“What is Meaning-Based Translation?”). As a result, meaning-based translations like the NLT are better suited for being read aloud to audiences.

Works Cited

"About the ESV." ESV.org, Crossway, www.esv.org/translation/.

ESV Study Bible: English Standard Version. Translated by Crossway, ESV text ed., Wheaton, Crossway Bibles, 2011.

"Our Founder: Kenneth N. Taylor." Tyndale, Tyndale House Publishers, www.tyndale.com/kenneth-n-taylor.

Perry, Keith. "Straining the Soup Necessarily Thinner: Flannery O'Connor's 'Greenleaf' and Proverbs 11:28." English Language Notes, vol. 42, no. 2, Dec. 2004, pp. 56-59. MLA International Bibliography, https://doi.org/10.1215/00138282-42.2.56.

"Publishing." Crossway, www.crossway.org/publishing/.

"What is Meaning-Based Translation?" New Living Translation, Tyndale House Publishers, www.tyndale.com/nlt/meaning-based-translation.