Chinese original: 有關聖經（五）：為什麼聖經有這麼多的譯本？如何選擇合適的譯本呢？
Question: Why are there so many different Bible translations? And how should we choose which one to read?
The Bible Is the Word of God — Written in Human Languages
Christians confess that Scripture comes from God. But Scripture did not fall from heaven in a finished modern language. God spoke through human authors, using real human languages, literary forms, vocabulary, and historical settings.
Most of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, with several sections written in Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Koine Greek, the widely used form of Greek in the eastern Mediterranean world.
The original manuscripts written by the biblical authors themselves have not survived. What we possess are many manuscripts and manuscript fragments, together with early translations and quotations in ancient writings.
This may initially sound troubling. But having many manuscripts is actually an advantage: scholars can compare them with one another and identify where copying differences arose.
The Dead Sea Scrolls, for example, gave us Hebrew biblical manuscripts roughly a thousand years older than the medieval Masoretic manuscripts previously available for many Old Testament books. They show both substantial continuity in the transmission of the Hebrew Bible and the existence of some textual variation.
The important point is not that every surviving manuscript is identical. They are not. The important point is that because we possess many witnesses, textual differences can normally be identified and evaluated rather than simply guessed at.
What Kinds of Differences Appear in Manuscripts?
1. Small Copying Differences
One interesting example is 1 Samuel 8:16. The Masoretic Text reads something like “your best young men,” while the ancient Greek tradition reflects “your best cattle.” The latter fits the immediate list particularly well, and some scholars regard it as preserving an earlier reading. But the evidence should not be overstated.
Notice what does not change: Samuel is warning Israel that a king will take their servants, animals, property, and resources for royal service. Whether one particular item is “young men” or “cattle” does not create a different theology of kingship.
This is a useful example of how textual criticism actually works. A textual variant can be real and worth studying without making the central meaning of the passage inaccessible.
2. Later Explanatory Expansions
Sometimes later manuscripts contain a longer reading that may have arisen to clarify or expand the wording.
For example, the King James Version of 1 Corinthians 6:20 reads: “Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Most modern translations omit the final phrase because it is absent from earlier and stronger manuscript witnesses.
The shorter reading is therefore generally regarded as more likely to represent the earlier form of the text. But while we may be able to identify a later expansion, we should be cautious about reconstructing the scribe’s precise theological motive unless there is evidence for it.
Why Do We Need Translations?
Most Christians cannot read biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. If Scripture is to be read by ordinary believers, it must therefore be translated.
Translation is not a modern compromise. Jewish communities were translating Scripture long before Christianity began.
In the time of Jesus and the early church, the Jewish world was multilingual. Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek were all used in different contexts. For many Greek-speaking Jews, Greek translations of Israel’s Scriptures were the Bible they actually read, and many New Testament quotations reflect Greek textual traditions.
These Greek translations are commonly grouped under the name Septuagint (LXX). At the same time, it would be too simple to say that everyone in first-century Judaism read only the Septuagint. Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek forms of Scripture all circulated.
The larger point is simple: people were reading Scripture in translation long before the modern period.
Why Do Modern Translations Differ?
1. Different Judgments About the Underlying Text
Biblical manuscripts sometimes differ. Translation committees therefore first have to ask: What is the earliest recoverable form of the text? This is the work of textual criticism.
Modern critical editions benefit from a far wider knowledge of manuscripts than translators several centuries ago possessed. This does not mean that every newer translation is automatically better than every older translation. It means that modern translators have access to textual evidence and scholarly work that earlier translators did not have.
2. Different Translation Philosophies
Even when translators agree about the underlying Hebrew or Greek text, they may still translate it differently, because languages do not correspond word-for-word.
A single Greek word may require several English words. An idiom that works naturally in Hebrew may sound meaningless if reproduced literally in English. Word order, tense, metaphor, and sentence structure also function differently across languages. Translation therefore always involves interpretation.
Formal Equivalence and Functional Equivalence
Bible translations are often placed on a spectrum. At one end are translations that try to preserve the form and wording of the original language as closely as practical. This is usually called formal equivalence. Translations such as the NASB and ESV tend more strongly in this direction.
At the other end are translations that give greater priority to communicating the meaning or effect of the original text naturally in the target language. This is often called functional or dynamic equivalence. The NIV generally moves further in this direction.
Still further toward free expression are paraphrastic works such as The Message.
But we should not imagine that one side is “faithful” and the other “unfaithful.” A very literal translation may preserve the structure of the original while obscuring its meaning in English. A more functional translation may communicate the meaning clearly while making interpretive decisions less visible to the reader. They serve different purposes.
Different Translations Can Affect How We Understand a Passage
Matthew 11:12
This is an especially useful example because the Greek itself is genuinely disputed. The verb biazetai can formally be understood as middle or passive, and interpreters disagree over whether the imagery is positive or negative. That is why English versions differ so sharply.
The lesson is not that one translation obviously “got it wrong,” but that we should not build a major exhortation on one striking rendering when the Greek itself is genuinely disputed. If we want a clear text encouraging earnestness in entering God’s kingdom, Luke 13:24 is much less ambiguous.
Acts 17:26
An older edition of the NIV rendered Acts 17:26 by saying that God determined “the exact places where they should live.” That English wording could easily be taken to mean that God predestined the precise house, apartment, or neighborhood in which every individual person would live.
But the context is about the nations inhabiting the earth and the boundaries of their habitation. The NIV 2011 wording, “the boundaries of their lands,” makes the corporate and geographical sense clearer. The older wording is not necessarily simply “wrong,” but it is easier to over-read in an individualistic way.
Can Theology Influence Translation?
Every act of translation involves interpretation, but that does not mean every interpretation is equally defensible.
The better question is not, “Does this translation agree with my theology?” but: Can this rendering be reasonably defended from the Hebrew or Greek grammar, vocabulary, context, and textual evidence?
A translation becomes problematic when theological commitments are allowed to override the normal evidence of the language. Our theology should be corrected by Scripture rather than Scripture being rewritten to protect our theology.
So Which Translation Should I Use?
- Know what kind of translation you are reading. A more functional translation may communicate the meaning very clearly, but you should be cautious about constructing an argument from one particular word used by that translation.
- Compare translations when something seems important or unusual. If substantially different translations give the same basic meaning, that increases confidence that you are not simply relying on one translator’s decision.
- Do not build doctrine from one translation alone. Important doctrines should emerge from the broader teaching of Scripture, not from an isolated wording found in only one version.
- Once you know one translation well, deliberately read another. Familiarity is useful, but it can also cause us to stop noticing what the text actually says.
- Newer does not automatically mean better, and older does not automatically mean more faithful. Every translation should be evaluated on its textual basis, translation philosophy, scholarship, and clarity.
- Remember that translation is already interpretation. When translations disagree, the right response is not panic. It is an invitation to investigate the text more carefully.
For serious Bible study, a useful combination would include a relatively formal translation such as the ESV or NASB, together with a translation that balances accuracy and natural English such as the NIV (2011) or CSB. The CSB has replaced the older HCSB that I recommended when the original Chinese version of this article was written.
Conclusion
Why are there so many Bible translations?
Not because the Bible is hopelessly uncertain. There are many translations because languages are different, manuscripts sometimes contain variants, scholarship continues to develop, and translators make different judgments about how best to communicate ancient texts to modern readers.
The existence of multiple translations can therefore be an advantage.
Instead of asking, “Which translation is the one perfectly correct Bible?” a better question may be: “What can I learn by comparing faithful translations, and where do their differences alert me that I need to look more closely?”
A translation is a window onto the biblical text. It should help us see through the window — not mistake the window itself for what lies beyond it.
About the Bible Series
- Was the Bible Written to Us, or for Us? What Is the Difference?
- If We Are New Covenant Christians, Why Should We Still Read the Old Testament?
- How Did God Inspire the Bible? Did God Simply Take Over the Authors’ Minds and Hands?
- Does the Bible Have a Modern Scientific Worldview?
- Why Are There So Many Bible Translations, and How Should We Choose One?
Further Reading
Gordon D. Fee and Mark L. Strauss, How to Choose a Translation for All Its Worth: A Guide to Understanding and Using Bible Versions.