Modern English Bible translations

A sampling of the many English translations

Many attempts have been made to translate the Bible into modern English, which in this context is defined as the form of English in use after 1800 (different from the linguistic meaning of Modern English).

Development of Modern English Bible versions

The Authorized King James Version of 1611 was sporadically altered until 1769, but was not thoroughly updated until the creation of the Revised Version in 1885; it was not until the Revised Standard Version of 1952 (New Testament in 1948) that a rival to the KJV was composed, nearly 350 years after the KJV was first published. The RSV gained widespread adoption among the mainstream Protestant Churches in America and a Catholic Edition was released in 1962. It was updated as the New Revised Standard Version in 1989.

In the late twentieth century, Bibles increasingly appeared that were much less literal in their approach to translation. In 1946, the New English Bible was initiated in the United Kingdom, intended to enable readers to better understand the King James Bible. In 1958, J. B. Phillips (1906–1982) produced an edition of the New Testament letters in paraphrase, the Letters to Young Churches, so that members of his youth group could understand what the New Testament authors had written. In 1966, Good News for Modern Man, a non-literal translation of the New Testament, was released to wide acceptance. Others followed suit. The Living Bible, released in 1971, was published by its author Kenneth N. Taylor, based on the literal American Standard Version of 1901. Taylor had begun because of the trouble his children had in understanding the literal (and sometimes archaic) text of the King James Bible. His work was at first intended for children, but was later positioned for marketing to high school and college students, as well as adults wishing to better understand the Bible. Like Phillips' version, the Living Bible was a dramatic departure from the King James version.

Despite widespread criticism due to being a paraphrase rather than a translation, the popularity of The Living Bible created a demand for a new approach to translating the Bible into contemporary English called dynamic equivalence, which attempts to preserve the meaning of the original text in a readable way. Realizing the immense benefits of a Bible that was more easily accessible to the average reader, and responding to the criticisms of the Living Bible, the American Bible Society extended the Good News for Modern Man to the Good News Bible (1976) by adding the Old Testament, in this more readable style. This translation has gone on to become one of the best selling in history. In 1996, a new revision of Taylor's Living Bible was published. This New Living Translation is a full translation from the original languages rather than a paraphrase of the Bible.

Another project aimed to create something in between the very literal translation of the King James Bible and the more informal Good News Bible. The goal of this was to create a Bible that would be scholarly yet not overly formal. The result of this project was the New International Version (1978). This version became highly popular in Evangelical Protestant circles.

The debate between the formal equivalence and dynamic (or 'functional') equivalence translation styles has increased with the introduction of inclusive language versions. Various terms are employed to defend or attack this development, such as feminist, gender neutral, or gender accurate. New editions of some previous translations have been updated to take this change in language into account, including the New Revised Standard Version (1989), the Revised English Bible (1989), and Today's New International Version (2005). Some translations have approached the issue more cautiously, such as the English Standard Version (2001).

A further process that has assisted in increasing the number of English Bible versions exponentially, is the use of the Internet in producing virtual bibles, of which a growing number are beginning to appear in print – especially given the development of "print on demand".

Today, there is a range of translations ranging from the most literal, such as the Young's Literal Translation to the most free such as The Message and The Word on the Street.

18th and 19th century translations

Name Date
Challoner's revision of the Douay-Rheims Bible 1752
John Wesley, Wesley's New Testament 1755
Quaker Bible 1764
Gilbert Wakefield, A Translation of the New Testament [1] 1791
Thomson's Translation 1808
Alexander Campbell's The Living Oracles 1826
Webster's Revision 1833
Young's Literal Translation 1862
Julia E. Smith Parker Translation 1876
English Revised Version 1885
Darby Bible 1890

20th and 21st century translations

King James Version and derivatives

The King James Version of 1769 still has an immense following, and as such there have been a number of different attempts to update or improve upon it. The English Revised Version and its derivatives also stem from the King James Version.

Abbreviation Name Date
Webster Webster's Revision of the King James Version 1830
(Johannes Lauritzen) 1920
CKJV Children's King James Version Jay P. Green 1960
KJ II King James II Version of the Bible Jay P. Green 1971
KJ3/LITV King James 3 Version of the Holy Bible (by Jay P. Green) 1985
KJV20 King James Version—Twentieth Century Edition Jay P. Green
NKJV New King James Version 1982
KJ21 21st Century King James Version 1994
TMB Third Millennium Bible 1998
MKJV Modern King James Version 1999
AKJV American King James Version[2] 1999
KJV2000 King James 2000 Version[3] 2000
UKJV Updated King James Version[4] 2000
KJVER King James Version Easy Reading[5] 2001
HSE Holy Scriptures in English[6] 2001
CKJV Comfort-able King James Version[7][8] 2003
NCPB New Cambridge Paragraph Bible[9] 2005
AV7 AV7 (New Authorized Version) 2006
AVU Authorized Version Update[10] 2006
KJV-CE King James Version—Corrected Edition[11]
DNKJB Divine Name King James Bible[12] 2011
MEV Modern English Version [13] 2014

English Revised Version and derivatives

The English Revised Version was the first official attempt to update the King James Version of 1769. This was adapted in the United States as the American Standard Version. The translations and versions that stem from them are shown in date order:

Abbreviation Name Date
RV English Revised Version 1881, 1885, 1894
ASV American Standard Version 1901
RSV Revised Standard Version 1952, 1971
NASB New American Standard Bible 1971, 1995
NRSV New Revised Standard Version 1989
WEB World English Bible 2000
ESV English Standard Version 2001

New International Version and derivatives

The popular New International Version has appeared in a number of editions.

Abbreviation Name Date
NIV New International Version 1978, 1984, 2011[14]
NIrV New International Reader's Version 1996
NIVI New International Version Inclusive Language Edition (discontinued) 1996-unknown
TNIV Today's New International Version (discontinued) 2005-2011

Dynamic translations and paraphrases

A significant aspect in translations from the latter half of the 20th century was much greater use of the principles of dynamic equivalence.

Abbreviation Name Date
TLB The Living Bible 1971
GNT/GNB/TEV Good News Translation/Good News Bible/Today's English Version 1976, 1992
The Clear Word (paraphrase, non-official Seventh-day Adventist) 1994
CEV Contemporary English Version 1995
GW God's Word 1995
NLT New Living Translation 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015
MSG The Message 2002
RNT Restored New Testament 2009

Internet-based translations

The New English Translation (or NET Bible) is a project to publish a translation of the Bible using the Internet. It is freely available and accompanied by extensive translator's notes. Another is The Work of God's Children Illustrated Bible, which uses a collaborative MediaWiki website that interlinks the words of the Bible to articles and image galleries about the topic. The Open English Bible aims to create the first modern public domain English translation of the Bible, using an open-source process for corrections and modernizing verses.

Abbreviation Name Date
NET New English Translation 2005
WGCIB The Work of God's Children Illustrated Bible 2010
OEB Open English Bible In progress.[15]
CBP Conservative Bible Project In progress[16]

Messianic translations

Some Bible translations find popular use in, or were prepared especially for, the Messianic Judaism movement.

Abbreviation Name Date
AENT Roth, Andrew, Aramaic English New Testament  2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
TS The Scriptures  1993, 1998, 2009
HRV Hebraic Roots Version  2004
CJB Stern, David H, Complete Jewish Bible  1998
CNT Cassirer, Heinz, God's New Covenant: A New Testament Translation AKA Cassirer New Testament  1989
OJB Goble, Phillip E, Orthodox Jewish Bible  2002
TLV Tree of Life Bible 2014

New English Bible and derivatives

Main article: New English Bible

The initiative to create the New English Bible began in 1946, in an attempt to make an entirely new translation of the Bible in modern English.

Abbreviation Name Date
NEB New English Bible 1970
REB Revised English Bible 1989

Public domain translations

Abbreviation Name Date
WGCIB The Work of God's Children Illustrated Bible 2010
OEB Open English Bible In progress
WEB World English Bible In Progress

Catholic translations

Abbreviation Name Date
WVSS Westminster Version of the Sacred Scriptures 1913–19351
SPC Spencer New Testament 1941
CCD Confraternity Bible 19412
Knox Knox Bible 1950
KLNT Kleist-Lilly New Testament 19563
JB Jerusalem Bible 1966
RSV-CE Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition 1965–664
NAB New American Bible 1970
TLB-CE The Living Bible - Catholic Edition 1971
NJB New Jerusalem Bible 1985
CCB Christian Community Bible 1986
NRSV-CE New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition 1989
GNT-CE Good News Bible / Today's English Version - Catholic Edition 2001
RSV-2CE Revised Standard Version - Second Catholic Edition (Ignatius Version) 2006
NABRE New American Bible Revised Edition 2011/1986 (Old Testament and Psalms)/New Testament

1Released in parts between 1913–1935 with copious study and textual notes. The New Testament with condensed notes was released in 1936 as one volume.
2NT released in 1941. The OT contained material from the Challoner Revision until the entire OT was completed in 1969. This Old Testament went on to be the base for the 1970 NAB
3New Testament only; Gospels by James Kleist, rest by Joseph Lilly.
4Second Catholic Edition released 2006.

In addition to the above Catholic English Bibles, all of which have an Imprimatur granted by a Catholic Bishop, the authors of the Catholic Public Domain Version of 2009 and The Work of God's Children Illustrated Bible of 2010 refer to them as Catholic Bibles. Additionally, in September, 2013 the Message, a paraphrase of the Holy Bible, released a Catholic/Ecumenical Edition. However these three versions have not been granted an Imprimatur so they're technically not Catholic Bible's per se, but are versions of the Sacred Scriptures that utilize the Catholic Biblical Canon of 73 books.

Sacred Name translations

These Sacred Name Bibles were all done with the specific aim of carrying into English the actual Name of God as they were in the originals. Most have been done by people from the Sacred Name Movement. They are distinguished by their policy of transliterating Hebrew-based forms for sacred names, such as "Yahweh", "YHWH", etc.

Abbreviation Name Date
SNB Restoration of Original Sacred Name Bible 1976
HNB Holy Name Bible 1963
SSBE Sacred Scriptures Bethel Edition 1981
SN-KJ Sacred Name King James Bible 2005
SSFOY Sacred Scriptures, Family of Yah Edition 2000
TWOY The Word of Yahweh 2003
TS The Scriptures 1993, 1998, 2009
HRV Hebraic-Roots Version 2004
TBE Transparent English Bible In progress
NOG Names of God Bible (Available in 2 editions, GW or KJV) 2011, 2014

Masoretic Text / Jewish translations

Jewish translations follow the Masoretic Text, and are usually published in bilingual editions with the Hebrew text facing the English translation. The translations often reflect traditional Jewish exegesis of the bible. As translations of the Masoretic bible, Jewish translations contain neither the apocrypha nor the Christian New Testament.

Abbreviation Name Date
JPS Jewish Publication Society of America Version[17] 1917
Judaica Press[18] 1963
Koren Jerusalem Bible[19] based on a translation by Harold Fisch 1962
Kaplan, Aryeh, The Living Torah [20]
Elman, Yaakov, The Living Nach  		1981
1996
NJPS New Jewish Publication Society of America Version 1985
Artscroll Stone Edition (Artscroll) 1996
The Holy Scriptures, Hebrew Publishing Company, revised by Alexander Harkavy 1936,1951

Septuagint translations

Abbreviation Name Date
Charles Thomson's The Holy Bible, Containing The Old And New Covenant, Commonly Called The Old And New Testament: Translated From The Greek 1808
Brenton's English Translation of the Septuagint 1851
ABP Apostolic Bible Polyglot 2003
AB The Apostles' Bible 2004
OSB Orthodox Study Bible 2007
NETS New English Translation of the Septuagint 2007
LES Lexham English Septuagint 2013
EOB Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible In progress
HOB Holy Orthodox Bible

Simplified English Bibles

There have been a number of attempts to produce a Bible that greatly simplifies the English. (Some of these versions are also listed in other categories: for example, the NIrV is also found under the NIV section). These are translations that are not necessarily a very dynamic translation, but go beyond simply everyday English into a restricted vocabulary set, often aimed at non-native speakers of English.

Abbreviation Name Date
BBE Bible in Basic English 1949
BWE Bible in Worldwide English [New Testament only] 1969
NLV New Life Version (Gleason Ledyard) 1986
SEB Simple English Bible (Dr Stanley Morris) 1980
ERV Easy-to-Read Version (previously English Version for the Deaf) 1989
NCV New Century Version 1991
NIrV New International Reader's Version 1998
EEB EasyEnglish Bible[21] 2001+

Translations exclusively published by Jehovah's Witnesses

Abbreviation Name Date
NWT New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures 1950 (NT only), 1961, 1981, 1984, 2013
By The Bible in Living English (Steven T. Byington) 1972
Diaglott The Emphatic Diaglott (Benjamin Wilson) 1864, 1942

Translations exclusively published by the Latter Day Saints movement

Abbreviation Name Date
JST Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible 1830

Adaptive retellings

Some versions have been labelled "adaptive retelling"[22] as they take many liberties with the form of the text.

Abbreviation Name Date
Black Bible Chronicles 1993, 1994
CPG Cotton Patch Gospel[23] by Clarence Jordan 1968–1973 (4 vols)
The Aussie Bible; also More Aussie Bible[24] by Kel Richards 2003

Other translations

Abbreviation Name Date
ERB Rotherham's Emphasized Bible 1902
Fenton The Holy Bible In Modern English (by Ferrar Fenton) 1903
MNT A New Translation (by James Moffatt) 1926
Lamsa Lamsa Bible (by George Lamsa) 1933
AAT An American Translation (by Smith and Goodspeed) 1935
BV Berkeley Version (by Gerrit Verkuyl) 1958
AMP Amplified Bible 1965
Knoch Concordant Literal Version (by Adolph Ernst Knoch) 1966
MLB The Modern Language Bible (New Berkeley Version) 1969
TSB The Story Bible 1971
BECK An American Translation (by William F. Beck) 1976
Anointed Standard Version 1995
TMB Third Millennium Bible 1998
RcV Recovery Version (Living Stream Ministry) 1999
Purified The Holy Bible: A Purified Translation (The New Testament) 2000
ABP Apostolic Bible Polyglot 2003
VW A Voice In The Wilderness Holy Scriptures[25] 2003
The Holy Bible In Its Original Order (by Fred R. Coulter) 2004
AB The Apostles' Bible 2004
HCSB Holman Christian Standard Bible 2004
CAB The Complete Apostles' Bible 2005
DTE The Writ, Dabhar Translation[26] (by Fritz Henning Baader) 2005
ACV A Conservative Version (NT only in print OT & NT Internet versions) 2005
NJV The New Jubilees Version (The Beloved and I: The Sacred Scriptures in English Verse, McElwain) 2005+
ARTB Ancient Roots Translinear Bible (Old Testament Only) 2006
The Literary Bible (by David Rosenberg)(Old Testament Only) 2009
NEV New European Version (NT only in print OT & NT Internet versions)[27] 2011
CEB Common English Bible 2011

Partial translations

New Testament

Abbreviation Name Date
Diaglott Emphatic Diaglott by Benjamin Wilson 1864
  Jefferson Bible, or The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, by Thomas Jefferson 1895
  The Epistles of Paul in Modern English (includes Hebrews), by George Barker Stevens 1898
  The Twentieth Century New Testament 1902
  Weymouth New Testament (New Testament in Modern Speech) 1903
  Centenary New Testament (by Helen Barrett Montgomery) 1924
  The Four Gospels, by E. V. Rieu, Penguin 1952
  The Authentic New Testament, by Hugh J. Schonfield 1955
Phi / PME Phillips New Testament in Modern English and Four Prophets (by J. B. Phillips) 1958
  The Simplified New Testament, by Olaf M. Norlie 1961
WET Wuest Expanded Translation (by Kenneth Wuest) 1961
  The New Testament: a New Translation, by William Barclay 1968
  TransLine, by Michael Magill 2002
  The Four Gospels, by Norman Marrow, ISBN 0-9505565-0-5 1977
  The Original New Testament, by Hugh J. Schonfield, ISBN 0-947752-20-X 1985
int-E The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures by The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society 1969,1985
McCord's New Testament Translation of the Everlasting Gospel by Hugo McCord 1988
A Fresh Parenthetical Version of the New Testament[28] by B. E. Junkins ISBN 0-7618-2397-2 2002
God's New Covenant: A New Testament Translation by Heinz Cassirer, ISBN 0-8028-3673-9 1989
  Jewish New Testament, by David H. Stern 1989
Gaus The Unvarnished New Testament[29] by Andy Gaus 1991
Christian Bible The Christian Bible: Its New Contract Writings Portion (Christian Bible Society, Mammoth Springs, AR) 1991
  The New Testament, by Richmond Lattimore, ISBN 0-460-87953-7 1996
TCE The Common Edition New Testament[30] 1999
COM The Comprehensive New Testament[31] 2008
ALT Analytical-Literal Translation 1999?
A New Accurate Translation of the Greek New Testament, by Julian G. Anderson ISBN 0-9602128-4-1 1984
The Voice ISBN 1-4185-3439-0 2008
MLV Modern Literal Version 2012
JNT Jewish New Testament by David H. Stern 1989
The Source New Testament With Extensive Notes on Greek Word Meaning, by Dr A. Nyland ISBN 0-9804430-0-8 2004
The Last Days New Testament, Ray W. Johnson 1999
The Kingdom New Testament: A Contemporary Translation, N T Wright[32] 2011
The Wilton Translation of the New Testament, Clyde C. Wilton 1999, 2010
The Original Aramaic Bible in Plain English with Psalms & Proverbs, David Bauscher2010

Hebrew Bible

Name Date
The Wisdom Books in Modern Speech (Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, and Song of Songs), John Edgar McFadyen 1917
Four Prophets (Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah), J.B. Phillips 1963
Job Speaks (Job), David Rosenberg 1977
The Book of J (Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), Harold Bloom and David Rosenberg 1990
A Poet's Bible (Psalms, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, Maccabees, Job, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, Jonah, Ruth, Esther, Judith, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah), David Rosenberg 1991
The Book of Job, Stephen Mitchell 1992
The Five Books of Moses, Everett Fox 1995
The Lost Book of Paradise: Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis and related apocrypha), David Rosenberg 1995
Genesis, Stephen Mitchell 1996
The Book of David (2 Samuel), David Rosenberg 1998
Give us a King! (1, 2 Samuel), Everett Fox 1999
The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible,[33] Martin Abegg, Peter Flint, Eugene Ulrich 1999
The David Story (1, 2 Samuel), Robert Alter 2000
The Five Books of Moses, Robert Alter 2004
The Bible with Sources Revealed, Richard Elliott Friedman 2005
The Book of Psalms, Robert Alter 2007
The Wisdom Books, Robert Alter 2010
Ancient Israel (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings), Robert Alter 2013
The Psalms Translated and Explained, Joseph Addison Alexander 1850

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wakefield, Gilbert (1820). A Translation of the New Testament
  2. ↑ American King James Version
  3. ↑ King James 2000 Version
  4. ↑ Updated King James Version
  5. ↑ King James Bibles
  6. ↑ The Holy Scriptures. Rabon Vincent Jr., translator. Victoria: Trafford, 2001. ISBN 1-55369-199-7
  7. ↑ The Evidence Bible
  8. ↑ Amazon Online Reader : The Evidence Bible
  9. ↑ New Cambridge Paragraph Bible
  10. ↑ http://www.avupdate.org/ (Broken link)
  11. ↑ King James Version - Corrected Edition
  12. ↑ http://www.dnkjb.net/
  13. ↑ modernenglishversion.com/
  14. ↑ "About the New International Version". Electronic version available; print version available March 2011.
  15. ↑ OEB
  16. ↑ Bible project, Conservapedia.
  17. ↑ The Hebrew Bible in English, Mechom Mamre.
  18. ↑ The Judaica Press Complete Tanach with Rashi, Chabad
  19. ↑ Jerusalem Bible (Koren), UK: CAM.
  20. ↑ The Living Torah, ORT
  21. ↑ Simple Translations of the Bible in Easy English
  22. ↑ Boswell, Freddy. 2006. Classifying "Cotton Patch Version" and similar renderings as adaptive retelling rather than translation (La clasificación de la "cotton patch version" y de otros tipos de versiones más como reescrituras adaptadoras más traducciones)." Hermēneus, Vol. 8: 45–66.
  23. ↑ The Cotton Patch Version
  24. ↑ http://www.theaussiebible.com.au/
  25. ↑ A Voice in the Wilderness
  26. ↑ The Writ, Dabhar Translation
  27. ↑ New European Version
  28. ↑ Review
  29. ↑
  30. ↑
  31. ↑ http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/6583_7128.pdf
  32. ↑ http://www.harpercollins.com/books/?isbn=9780062064912
  33. ↑ The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible

External links

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