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[Music] You might not know this, but the Bible actually wasn't written in English, nor was it written in any languages similar to English. Rather, it was written in ancient languages that can be hard to translate.
There's different decisions you could make when translating the Bible, and that's why there's so many translations of the Bible. For example, some translations are more literal, which means they try to translate word for word. But just because you have the same words doesn't mean you have the same meaning behind those words. So, some translations try to translate the meaning by paraphrasing the text. So, the literal ones are more true to the text, text, whereas the paraphrases might be more true to the meaning of the text.
Sometimes there's debate over how to translate a certain text, so some translations will translate it so that it fits a Christian message better, whereas others will translate it based on what secular scholars think it means. So, you can graph all the translations based on how literal they are and based on how much they try to make the text align with Christian doctrine.
The King James Version is that famous old version of the Bible from 1600's England, and historically, it's been the most most used version of the Bible ever. It's very beautiful and poetic, partly because of all the archaic language that it uses. But this also means it can be very hard to understand in certain places. So, the King James Version is probably most useful if you're writing music or poetry. And the stereotypical users of it are those independent fundamental Baptists who take the Bible so literally they think there's only one true translation of it.
Now, the New King James Version tries to renovate the castle of the Old King James Version by rewriting it in modern language, language. So, it tries to keep the poetic structure and beauty of the King James Version while also making it more understandable to modern audiences. Another thing is that it makes a few changes to the KJV in light of modern scholarship. So, it's probably most useful for pastors that are trying to lead a high church liturgy. And the stereotypical users of this are those Trad guys who want to be traditional but are not actually traditional enough to understand traditional language.
So, the ESV, the Evangelical Standard, I mean, the English Standard Version, is as well very popular among evangelicals. This is because the translation committee for the ESV had a lot of prominent evangelical scholars and theologians. They made a study Bible to go along with it because it's a pretty literal translation, so they have a lot of notes that explain generic evangelical teachings. So, this is why pastors will often recommend the ESV for their congregations to study on their own. So, ESV is probably most useful for individual Bible study. And the stereotypical users of it are those Christian ladies that are obsessed with coloring, marking up, and highlighting their Bibles just as much as those 20 highlighter girls from school will color their class notes.
The New International Version tries to be a balance between a literal translation and a paraphrase translation. The literal ones can be a bit hard to understand in some places, but the paraphrases can make the Bible not quite sound like the Bible. So, the NIV tries to be easy to understand while still sounding like the Bible. This is why it's so popular because it's easy to understand. So, it's probably most useful for a pastor preaching a sermon to a large congregation because everyone's going to be able to understand it. And the stereotypical users of this one are guys who want to read the Bible but don't have the greatest reading comprehension skills.
The Christian Standard Bible also tries to have a balance between a literal and a paraphrase translation. However, the difference between this one and the NIV is the NIV uses more Christianese, more theological language, whereas the CSB tries to use more common language for people who are not as familiar with Christian terms. So, the CSB is probably most useful for people that are handing out Bibles in public. And the stereotypical user of this one is probably your average friendly neighborhood Baptist pastor.
The NASB is a very literal translation, and the translators explicitly laid out their priorities when translating it. One of them is that it gives Jesus Christ his proper place. So, that means this is a very explicitly Christian translation as well, and it's very popular among conservatives and fundamentalists for that reason. And so, this is probably most useful for people who are already strong in their faith having a Bible study together or something. And the stereotypical users of this are people who treat John MacArthur like the Pope.
Now, the NRSV is the complete opposite because it's a secular translation, meaning it has no Christian agenda or theology behind it. It's an updated version of the RSV, which was an updated version of the ASV, which was an updated version of the old KJV. And for each of these updates, they factored in new developments in Bible scholarship. This is considered the most scholarly translation. So, it's most useful for those seriously studying the Bible in an academic setting. And the stereotypical users of this one are probably liberal mainline Protestants.
The New Living Translation is one of those paraphrase translations that tries to be very engaging and dynamic. It's a much more free translation than something like the ESV, for example, and it tries to flow smoothly like a stream. It's most useful for a Bible study made up of Christians who are new to their faith. And the stereotypical user of this one is, honestly, a popular Christian bookstore salesman.
The Good News Translation is another one of the paraphrases, but it's specifically designed for children and those who didn't grow up speaking English, so that it can share the good news with everyone. So, it avoids using any weird figures of speech or confusing language. It tries to be very straightforward without simplifying the text in any way. So, it's probably most useful for people going on a mission trip around the world. And the stereotypical user of this one is a Sunday school teacher.
And now it's time for The Message. In case you're not familiar with this one, it's got a reputation for being kind of silly. It's seen as more of a commentary than a translation, anyway, especially because much of it is like this. Yes, this is actually the Bible. Supposedly, the whole thing is one guy's interpretation of the Bible. It's all done by a Presbyterian minister named Eugene Peterson, and he was actually a really smart guy. So, it still could be useful if you're really struggling to understand a certain passage and you want a second opinion. And the the stereotypical user of this is a slightly liberal, light-hearted Boomer, I guess.
Now, enjoy this bruh compilation of various parts of The Message. So, there's a lot of translations that could be used many ways by many different types of people. But in all of these translations, the message, no, not you, the message is the same. The entire Bible is the unfolding of the story about Jesus Christ.
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