0:04 hey everyone welcome to the Council of
0:07 Trent podcast I'm your host kers
0:09 apologist and speaker Tren horn and
0:11 today we're talking about what is the
0:14 best translation of the Bible before we
0:15 do that though a big thanks to our
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0:47 Tren horn podcast.com now onto the
0:49 subject of today's episode So today
0:52 we're asking what is the best
0:54 translation of the Bible but the problem
0:56 with a question like that is it's sort
0:58 of like what is the best car you
1:02 naturally ask best for what right like
1:04 the best car for going at top speeds is
1:06 going to be different than the best car
1:09 for moving a large family across town to
1:11 run errands now you might be thinking
1:13 well cars have lots of different
1:15 purposes but the Bible has only one
1:18 purpose so we we can really say there is
1:20 a best translation for that single
1:22 purpose now it's true the Bible has one
1:24 general purpose in being divine
1:26 revelation but people often have
1:29 different purposes in reading the Bible
1:33 for example reading the Bible aloud at a
1:36 funeral is a different purpose than
1:39 reading the Bible in a library to
1:42 discover facts about the biblical world
1:44 so in order to answer this question
1:46 though we also have to understand a
1:48 basic concept in translating any work
1:51 two translation philosophies formal
1:54 equivalence which would be word to word
1:57 translation and dynamic equivalence
2:00 which would be idea to idea
2:03 translation so in formal equivalence the
2:05 translator tries to bring out the
2:07 literal meaning of the original words of
2:11 the text as much as possible now you
2:13 might think well all we should do just
2:16 take the original Greek Hebrew Aramaic
2:18 of the biblical manuscripts and just
2:20 take those words and turn those words
2:22 into English and you've got the best
2:24 formal translation right the problem is
2:27 though if you do that the Bible becomes
2:28 really hard to read and you sort of
2:31 sound like Yoda Star Wars consider John
2:33 3:16 right A lot of people know John
2:36 3:16 by heart for God so loved the world
2:37 that he gave his only begotten son that
2:39 whoever believes in him should not
2:42 perish but have eternal life but if you
2:45 read a common Greek Interlinear Bible in
2:48 John 316 this is what it literally says
2:50 if you swap the Greek for English thus
2:53 indeed loved God the world that the son
2:56 the only begotten he gave that everyone
2:59 believing in him not should perish but
3:02 might have life so translator has to get
3:05 the words to conform to Modern English
3:07 rules of grammar in order to preserve
3:09 their meaning sometimes he has to add
3:12 articles for example a or one that are
3:14 not in the original Greek text to make
3:17 the meaning be clear but this also even
3:18 if we do this so it doesn't mean we
3:21 should only use the original words in
3:24 the Bible sometimes the biblical authors
3:27 they'll use Expressions whose literal
3:30 meaning would mislead a modern person
3:31 just like how there are modern
3:34 expressions like lady killer or it's
3:35 rigning cats and dogs that if we
3:37 translated them into Greek and Hebrew
3:40 and gave them to a first century person
3:41 they wouldn't know what we were talking
3:44 about I'll give you an example in Exodus
3:48 34:6 it says the Lord a god merciful and
3:51 gracious slow to anger and abounding in
3:53 steadfast love and faithfulness if you
3:55 read an Interlinear Bible it might show
3:59 the Hebrew word Eric for slow and apim
4:02 for anger but that's not what these
4:05 words exactly mean Eric it means long
4:07 it's used in Ezekiel 17:3 to talk about
4:11 long feathers and apim means face or
4:14 nose so when the text says God is slow
4:16 to anger it literally says in Hebrew
4:19 he's long of nose this may be an
4:21 expression to how older people have a
4:23 patient wisdom and that when you get
4:26 older the cartilage in your nose it
4:28 weakens and it droops so it makes your
4:30 nose seem longer it's it's a sign of old
4:32 age which is another sign of of wisdom
4:35 and patience you've acred in a long life
4:39 but if we just wrote God is long of NOS
4:41 a modern reader might not know what
4:43 we're talking about or he might think
4:45 that we're saying that God is a liar
4:47 because we associate long noses with the
4:50 story of Pinocchio when he told a lie
4:52 his his nose would grow
4:57 so even formal translations they'll have
5:00 to use idea for idea if in order to
5:02 preserve the original meaning uh so but
5:04 you you can go too far though with the
5:08 idea for idea in these Dynamic
5:11 translations this is true in paraphrases
5:14 of the Bible like Eugene Peterson's the
5:16 message the Bible and contemporary
5:18 language so in a paraphrase the author
5:20 doesn't really translate the original
5:23 biblical text he gives you the gist of
5:25 what it says his summary of it for
5:27 example here's how the message
5:30 translates in quotation marks The Lord's
5:33 Prayer this is their paraphrase Our
5:36 Father in Heaven reveal who you are set
5:39 the world right do what's best As Above
5:42 So Below Keep Us Alive with three Square
5:44 meals keep us forgiven with you and
5:46 forgiving others keep us safe from
5:49 ourselves and the devil you're in charge
5:51 you can do anything you want you're a
5:57 blaze in Beauty yes yes yes so between
6:00 these extremes there's a a lot of
6:02 different translations that take the
6:05 words and ideas the biblical authors
6:07 composed and translate them to make them
6:10 accessible to a modern audience so
6:12 formal translations try to keep the
6:16 original wording as much as possible and
6:19 dynamic translations try to communicate
6:22 the ideas more in things like modern
6:25 language so keeping that in mind that so
6:27 formal it tries to be really word to
6:30 word and dynamic is idea to idea it
6:32 doesn't mean that one philosophy is
6:35 better or worse than the other uh
6:37 they're going to find principles of both
6:40 in any translation but in understanding
6:42 those two principles now we can look at
6:43 a lot of the different translations and
6:45 we can you know ask the question what is
6:47 the best translation of the Bible now at
6:49 this point though some people might say
6:51 well why not just use the Latin Vulgate
6:54 that was first translated by St Jerome
6:56 and has been used in the church for
6:58 centuries now the church does say the
7:00 Vulgate has a pride of place in the
7:03 Latin right of the church it's not the
7:04 official Bible of the Catholic church
7:07 because Eastern Catholics have used
7:09 other translations for centuries in
7:11 Greek and syak and other Eastern
7:14 languages the second Vatican Council
7:17 said the church quote has always given a
7:19 place of honor to other Eastern
7:22 translations and Latin ones especially
7:24 the Latin translation known as The
7:26 Vulgate but since the word of God should
7:29 be accessible at all times the church by
7:32 her Authority and with material concern
7:35 sees to it that suitable and correct
7:38 translations are made into different
7:41 languages especially from the original
7:44 texts of the Sacred books and should the
7:46 opportunity arise and the church
7:48 authorities approve if these
7:50 translations are produced in cooperation
7:53 with the separated brethren as well all
7:56 Christians will be able to use them so
7:58 the church does have a private place for
8:00 certain translations like the Vulgate
8:01 but the most important Source are going
8:03 to be the original biblical texts
8:06 themselves in the 2001 address from the
8:09 congregation of the doctrine of worship
8:11 they said that new translations of the
8:14 Liturgy they must be made directly from
8:17 the original text namely the Latin as
8:20 regards the texts of ecclesiastical
8:23 composition or church documents or the
8:25 Hebrew Aramaic or Greek as the case may
8:28 be as regards the text of sacred
8:30 scripture furthermore in the preparation
8:33 of these translations for lurgical use
8:35 the Nova vulgata adiso the newest Latin
8:39 Vulgate promulgated by the apostolic SE
8:41 is normally to be consulted as an
8:45 auxiliary tool so the Latin Vulgate is
8:47 considered an important translation in
8:49 the western Church's history but it's
8:51 not the church's official Bible or
8:53 anything like that but if you like
8:55 translations that are based on the
8:57 Vulgate that's great uh one example of
8:59 this kind of translation would be the
9:02 Dewey Reams Bible uh the Dewey Reams was
9:04 published in its final form in France
9:06 two towns in France D and Reams
9:10 completed in 169 it was a Catholic
9:13 alternative to popular vernacular
9:15 Protestant translations like the Tindale
9:17 Bible and later the King James version
9:20 that came out in 1611 so one of the
9:22 strengths of the Dey Reames Bible is
9:23 that it captures it sounds like the King
9:25 James version but it's Catholic so it
9:28 has that kind of majesty of older
9:32 English in it to give you an example in
9:34 the Dey Reams the first commandment is
9:37 rendered this way I am the Lord thy God
9:38 who brought thee out of the land of
9:41 Egypt out of the house of bondage Thou
9:45 shalt not have strange Gods before me
9:46 and whereas though modern translations
9:48 not just in the Commandments and other
9:49 places the modern translations don't
9:53 have the older pronouns like Thy or thee
9:55 or thou but the problem is there's
9:56 drawbacks with older English sometimes
10:00 it's hard to understand Matthew 19 14 in
10:03 the Dewey Reams Jesus says suffer the
10:05 little children and forbid them not to
10:08 come to me most people like suffer the
10:10 children what does that mean that's why
10:12 modern Bibles usually put allow or
10:15 permit the children to come to me but in
10:17 any case you should pick a translation
10:19 that is approved by the holy sea or by
10:22 your local Conference of Catholic
10:23 Bishops that's because even if you just
10:26 did a word forword inter Interlinear
10:29 translation a translator could still
10:32 show show his non-catholic bias in the
10:35 text that's because Greek and Hebrew
10:37 words can have more than one meaning in
10:40 English so your choice of of that word
10:43 based on its its valid meaning can color
10:45 what the text says based on what you
10:48 choose I'll give you an
10:50 example consider the Greek word
10:54 paradosis it's a compound word it's para
10:57 means beside and diomi means to give
11:00 paradosis literally means to give over
11:03 what is close beside to hand over to and
11:06 to communicate this idea with a single
11:09 word you might use the English words
11:12 tradition or teaching but when you read
11:14 some Protestant Bibles you'll notice a
11:16 funny thing happens with the Greek word
11:20 paradosis so in Mark 7:13 Jesus says you
11:23 nullify the word of God by your
11:26 tradition parados that you have handed
11:28 down and you do many things like that so
11:31 if you read this verse you might think
11:34 religious Traditions are bad and so you
11:36 know we should only rely on the written
11:38 word of God but that can't be right
11:42 because 2 Thessalonians 2:15 uses a
11:45 variant of paradosis and in that verse
11:48 St Paul says stand firm and hold to the
11:50 Traditions which you were taught by us
11:53 either by word of mouth or by letter now
11:55 however the Protestant translation of
11:58 the Bible The New International Version
11:59 the NIV
12:02 it takes paradosis or parad doen in that
12:06 verse and it renders it teaching rather
12:08 than tradition stand firm and hold fast
12:11 to the teachings you were given so that
12:13 ends up making it look like Jesus
12:15 condemns religious tradition and Paul
12:17 affirms religious teaching but it's the
12:20 same word teaching and tradition are the
12:23 same paradosis what is handed on and
12:25 that can be handed on in a written form
12:28 or in an Unwritten form sacred scripture
12:30 and sacred tradition now sometimes the
12:33 issues are blatant far more blatant than
12:36 this such as in the Jehovah's witness's
12:39 New World Translation of the Bible this
12:43 Bible mistranslates several passages to
12:46 affirm Jehovah's Witness theology for
12:48 example Jehovah's Witnesses say that
12:51 Jesus is not God only the father is God
12:54 and the father created Jesus but we have
12:56 a problem here because in Colossians
13:00 chapter 1 Paul says that in Christ quote
13:03 all things were created in Christ all
13:05 things were created in heaven on Earth
13:08 visible and invisible whether Thrones or
13:09 dominions or principalities or
13:12 authorities all things were created
13:15 through him and for him he is before all
13:17 things and in him all things hold
13:19 together so here's the problem if Jesus
13:22 is not God if he's just a creation how
13:25 could Jesus create everything if he's a
13:28 part of the father's creation he can't
13:29 that's why the new world trans
13:31 translation the witnesses use renders
13:33 the passage this way because by means of
13:36 him all other things were created in the
13:39 heavens and on the Earth all other
13:41 things have been created through him and
13:44 for him also he is before all other
13:46 things and by means of him all other
13:48 things were made to exist except the
13:51 Greek word for other hetro or alos is
13:53 not in the text and this is a m
13:56 translation to sport their theology so
13:57 that's why it's important to get a
13:59 really solid Catholic Bible uh to make
14:01 sure you have a good translation and to
14:02 make sure your Bible has all the books
14:04 in it because Protestant Bibles lack the
14:07 dudo canonical books of scripture books
14:11 and passages that Protestants rejected
14:13 uh you know things like serak Tobit
14:15 first and second mccabes portions of
14:17 Daniel and Esther for more on the Duro
14:19 chonicles check out a few of the other
14:21 videos on my channel on that subject so
14:24 examples of the formal equivalents in
14:26 Catholic Bibles like word for word would
14:28 be like the Dewey Reams would be an
14:31 example of word to word formal the
14:33 revised Standard Version Catholic edition
14:35 edition
14:39 rsvce is an another example I prefer the
14:42 rsvce both for personal reading and for
14:44 study but what's interesting is that my
14:46 favorite Bible verse that's ingrained
14:49 into my mind comes from a dynamic
14:52 translation of the Bible idea for idea
14:53 so in the
14:57 RSV uh sirak 2 4-6 my favorite verse in
15:00 the Bible goes like this accept whatever
15:02 is brought upon you and in changes that
15:05 humble you be patient for gold is tested
15:08 in the fire and acceptable men in the
15:10 furnace of humiliation trust in him and
15:13 he will help you make your way straight
15:15 and hope in him so that's my favorite
15:17 Bible verse in the RSV uh but the way I
15:19 learned it was I liked the wording in
15:21 The New American Bible which like the
15:24 New Jerusalem bible is more of a dynamic
15:27 Catholic translation idea for idea uh
15:30 this is how the NAB renders Sak 2:
15:33 4-6 accept whatever befalls you in
15:36 crushing Misfortune be patient for in
15:39 fire gold is tested and worthy men in
15:42 The Crucible of humiliation trust God
15:44 and he will help you make straight your
15:47 ways and hope in him since Dynamic
15:50 translations idea for idea they can be
15:52 easier for people to listen to they're
15:54 usually preferred for use in the Liturgy
15:56 at least in the western church which is
15:59 why the USCCB authorizes the new
16:02 American Bible to be read at mass and we
16:03 can see the differences here for example
16:06 in the RSV Genesis chapter 1 uses the
16:09 word firmament to describe the big blue
16:12 thing over our heads uh whereas the NAB
16:14 will call it the sky that's a looser
16:16 translation but it might be helpful for
16:18 the average person in Mass who who
16:20 doesn't know what a what a firmament is
16:23 so uh now I do have some concerns about
16:24 The New American Bible some of the
16:26 things in the study notes of The New
16:29 American Bible are really problematic so
16:30 if you're going to use the NAB you need
16:33 to watch out for them for example
16:35 recently a Catholic priest he posted
16:39 online saying that the church teaches or
16:41 affirms that the gospels were written
16:44 later in the first century after ad70
16:45 because the study notes in The New
16:48 American Bible say so the problem is
16:49 though those study notes in The New
16:52 American Bible they have qualifiers like
16:54 Scholars say this is when the gospels
16:56 are written that doesn't mean the church
16:58 teaches this it's just saying here's
17:00 what the scholars say say also even if
17:02 it did make this claim some of the study
17:04 notes in the NAB are really questionable
17:07 or just outright bad Jimmy Aken actually
17:09 pointed one out to me in Matthew 16 a
17:12 note explaining Jesus's prediction of
17:14 his passion and death it says this
17:17 neither this nor the two later passion
17:20 predictions can be taken as sayings that
17:24 as they stand go back to Jesus himself
17:27 however it is probable that he Jesus
17:30 foresaw that his mission would entail
17:33 suffering and perhaps death but was
17:35 confident that he would ultimately be
17:40 Vindicated by God wait a minute Jesus it
17:42 possible perhaps he would die the
17:44 catechism says by its Union to the
17:46 Divine wisdom in the person of the word
17:49 incarnate Christ enjoyed in his human
17:52 knowledge the fullness of understanding
17:54 of the Eternal plans he had come to
17:56 reveal that means for Jesus it wasn't
17:59 just probable or maybe he would die he
18:01 knew it was God's Eternal plan that he
18:03 would die for the sins of the world so
18:05 this study note seems to Divi deny
18:08 Jesus's prophetic nature or his divinity
18:10 I'd be really careful there but when it
18:12 comes to the text of The New American
18:15 Bible the the actual translation uh it's
18:17 a fine translation and some people
18:19 prefer how it sounds in the Liturgy some
18:21 people don't prefer it uh others prefer
18:25 the RSV uh but just because the RSV is a
18:26 formal translation by the way it doesn't
18:29 mean that it's hard to listen to uh
18:30 father Mike schmidtz for example uses
18:32 the revised Standard Version Catholic
18:34 edition the
18:37 rsvce for his Bible in year podcast and
18:40 a lot of people enjoy listening to that
18:41 and of course there's going to be
18:44 mixtures between the two in 1949 Manor
18:47 Ronald Knox published the Knox Bible
18:49 which if you read it it's an interesting
18:52 synthesis of formal translation word for
18:55 word while using a lot of uh modern uh
18:57 sayings or Expressions to help uh the
18:59 modern reader understand so it's kind of
19:01 in the middle the KNX Bible sort of in
19:03 the middle between formal equivalence
19:06 and dynamic equivalence so just a
19:09 summarize uh there are a lot of
19:13 different good or satisfactory Bible
19:16 translations of Catholic Bibles and
19:17 they're going to go between two
19:19 different philosophies formal
19:21 equivalence getting the original words
19:23 and sticking to that literal meaning as
19:25 much as possible which can be helpful
19:27 especially for personal study of the
19:30 Bible or or dynamic equivalence which
19:32 tries to take the idea the biblical
19:34 author was expressing and communicate
19:37 that idea as clearly as possible in
19:39 modern language and as we showed with
19:42 the God is long of NOS even formal equ
19:45 formally equivalent translations will
19:47 have to do that with original literal
19:49 meanings that just don't make sense
19:51 today but you'll see there's a there's a
19:53 spectrum here formal equivalence more
19:55 like Dewey Reams RSV uh Dynamic
19:57 equivalence you'll see that more like
19:59 The New American Bible the New Jerusalem
20:02 bible KNX Bible and a few other Bibles
20:04 might be in the in the middle uh between
20:07 the two so what is the best of these
20:10 translations well it depends what you're
20:13 choosing to use it for uh so I would say
20:15 that that's a very long answer to the
20:18 question what is the best translation if
20:19 I had to give a short answer like a one
20:21 sentence answer I would borrow a line
20:23 from Carl keing the founder of Catholic
20:26 answers who said the best uh translation
20:29 of the Bible is the one you will read so
20:30 I would say look go and get a
20:33 translation that is a solid Catholic
20:35 translation of the Bible uh the
20:37 ignatious Catholic Study Bible is an
20:38 excellent one I would definitely
20:40 recommend that get a solid Catholic
20:42 translation just get one that you're
20:44 excited to read and jump into it if
20:46 you're not a big reader check out father
20:49 Mike Schmid's Bible in a year podcast
20:51 super duper helpful also at Tren horn
20:53 podcast.com I have a new testament study
20:56 series for our silver level subscribers
20:58 if you subscribe at Tren horn
21:00 podcast.com if you subscribe there you
21:04 get access to an 18-hours video study
21:06 Series where I take you through the
21:08 entire New Testament so definitely go
21:10 and check that out be sure to do that in
21:12 this new year because as St Jerome says
21:14 ignorance of scripture is ignorance of
21:16 Christ and we don't want to do that
21:18 right so hey thank you guys I hope this
21:19 was helpful for everybody and I hope
21:22 that you have a very blessed day hey
21:24 thanks for watching this video if you
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