By what authority does one translate the Bible?

Scribes and Pharises

Before the bible was translated men had to depend on educated men to translate the scripture and a simple man could not.

God had the bible translated for us in our language and many other languages for a simple man can read His word and not to depend on others.

One word in greek and hebrew can mean many things. If you want to go study in the scripture by greek and hebrew by all means The problem I find that people don't want to believe all what one word means in thier language, but the one that suits thier belief.

Those who translated the scripture's did it with fear and trembling thinking that if they miss handled the word of God they would be stuck down dead as the one who carried the arc by an ox.

 

They translated under the authority of King James. Nothing more, nothing less.

peace to youraying:

 

Scripture

If only the King James is the only one under the authority of God that was tranlated then what about The Holy Bible that was translated in other languages other than English is wrong.

So other countries should throw thier Bible away and either learn English or Greek and Hebrew so they can read the word of God or was God in authority when He had The Holy Bible tranlated in thier languages.

 

The Word is preach and dispersed by the authority of Jesus Christ through the great commission, and is annointed by the Power of the Holy Spirit. When one takes the gospel to a people of a different language, one must first learn their language to verbally communicate with them and teach them, preaching the gospel of Christ to them in terms which they understand: If that language has symbols or an alphabet, then translation may take place into a form which they can reread and consult. This is a sobering endeavor. Initially there may be mistakes made, but it is the Holy Spirit which draws men to Jesus, not the perfection of our words or translation.

As more missionaries are moved to minister to a culture, refinements take place in regards to understanding the culture, the language and its structure, the idioms, the history and myths with which may lend support or interfere with the understanding, and refinements to clarify or correct take place. This is not without its problems, as the person(s) translating from an accepted work into another language is dependant on his submission to the Holy Spirit to assist in the communication:

Human, as we are, we bring to such endeavors our own interpretations, theology and understandings, and may present translations which are biased by our own filters of experience and knowledge. Over a period of time, the desire to have a 'perfect' text moves some to critical studies to prove that the translation is correct in understanding as the original language or corrections are made to bring it into line.

When the KJV was authorized, there already existed several 'English' Bibles. The 'team' that was put together, 54 in number (if I recall correctly) were reduced by natural attrition to 47 devout men, highly educated in the ancient languages, most of which could speak and write fluently in those several languages and/or had much familiarity with the Scriptures. Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Aramic translations were all used, with tedious comparison between that which was considered to be closest to the original compared with previous English translations in the developement of the KJV. These folks were not content with their new authorized version, but continued to scrutinize and correct errors of typing, spelling, etc. Embarassingly, the type was set and one edition was printed to find out, when proofed, that the word 'not' was accidentally left out by the printer when some thing related to 'shalt [not] commit adultry'.

My brother in law informs me that the KJV went through 6 printings/attempts to correct errors of oversite, spelling, omissions, etc., until arriving at the 7th edition of 1769. At a site on the internet I find where a gentleman by the name of 'White' reports that there were 7 complete text in existance which were established by consensus of the translating team as being of purity in standards and consistancy to be used in consulting and comparison to arrive at the English AV. Either way, it seems there may be some evidence to support those who feel the Bible declares its own authorized continuance in the verse Psalms 12:6-7 "The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." Whether this is accepted as pertaining to the KJV by others or not, I do believe it is the will and power of God that His word will be preserved in some common global language to the establishment of His Kingdom. I think the church (the Body of Christ) by its acceptance either recognizes or disproves a translation's authority.


Today the KJV, is one Bible in the public domain, not dependant on copywrite to use, quote or reprint. The language is simple and the vocabulary is small and easily understood. When it says 'thee' or 'thou' it is speaking to a specific person in the Scripture whereas when it uses the word 'you' it is inclusive of all who may be listening and present when the remarks were made. These distinctions may seem small, but the clarity is enhanced by the more specific and personal use of pronoun. While the language is simple, it is clean and Godly in presentation, and avoids the commonness of street language and slang.....which really are more subject to times and fashion. Current dictionaries recognise the terms used and give definitions consistant with the meanings of the words at the time of its development.

While one might debate that the Roman Catholic Bible was 'authorized' by the government/church...... the KJV is the only English Bible actually 'authorized' by a monarch, without eclesiastical interference on behalf of a church or special interest. While the Roman Catholic Church had much control over the literature and the education, and control of their Scriptures, they had depended heavily on Alexandrian texts and Septuagint: But Greek Churches were also established in early Christian history, and the text of these were available for comparison as they were closest to the original and indeed the New Testament was originally written in Hebrew and Greek.

I don't know as well about the Old Testament. It seems that during the captivity by Babylon, scribes were assembled to translate the Hebrew into Aramic and Greek. For a long time the Jewish people in the disporia accepted the English translation of our Old Testament. But in more recent times they have translated their Scriptures, from a Russian Hebrew text (I may be wrong about this) into an English version for those who speak English only. If comparing Scripture with Scripture, one should be aware that the JPS version may not compare favorably to our Old Testament Scriptures, especially in those Messianic evidences we normally accept as cited in the New Testament. For example Psalm 22: verse 16 does not say 'they pierced my hands and feet' in their preferenced edition. One may view their Scriptures at Chabad.org. The JewishVirtualLibrary.org is also an interesting resource of Jewish literature and history.

 

Are suggesting that the KJV is the only translation authorized by Almighty God? If that is the case, you really don't know your history about translation and not even the translation of KJV.

KJV was authorized by King James. When did he become God? Please don't forget that the KJV is itself a revision and not a pure translation.

 

I'm currently translating the TR Greek NT into Japanese. I'm about 70% done with the rough draft, and my Japanese linguist and I are about 27% done with the revision. So I've thought about this subject a lot.

My authority for translating is that I am a priest, based on the Biblical doctrine and Baptist distinctive of the priesthood of the believer. In the OT it was the job of the priests to preserve the Word of God in the form of a special copy (Deut. 17:18; see also Ezek. 44:8, Mal. 2:7) in the Temple (2 Kings 22:9-10), and in the ark of God (Deut 31:26).

Since in the church age we believers are priests (1 Peter 2:5&9, Rev. 1:6, 5:10, 20:6), we have a responsibility from God to preserve His Word by: having our own copy (like the kings of Israel were supposed to), hiding it in our hearts, sharing it with others and translating it.

Having said that, it is not wise for just anyone to translate. I believe that God gifts and leads people to translate. I interpret the gift of "tongues" and the "interpretation of tongues" to be the gift of language ability, miraculous in Acts 2 but normal in other places in the Bible. In my own case, I did not know I was gifted by God in this area until I went to Japanese language school for two years full time and absolutely loved it!

For descriptions of the process of preservation through translation, see my recent thread in the Bible Versions/translations forum, "The Mechanics of a Perfect Translation." :type:

 

translation

I believe God protected the word and it was not King James in the authority when The Holy Bible was translated for us, but God is in authority when He had the Holy Bible translated for us.

It is God who is in the authority of King James..

I read the KJ, NIV, NASB and the NKJ. Now I have a NASB that I use with Greek and Hebrew dictionary. It has history of the book that was written and I find the index wonderful to. The index is important to read also when studing the scripture. It tells you what was in some manuscrips and not in others and what words may mean also, it points you to other scriptures. It is best to read The Holy Bible from the beginning to the end.