Hooked on King Jimmy
One day I thought I would read in a different Bible translation than usual. I picked up a New Living Translation. I read a familiar passage but it was NOT familiar in that version. THIS CAN’T BE RIGHT! Yes I was angry.
I pulled out my KJV and once again read the familiar wording. That was better, or was it? I got my New American Standard and read it. That was close to the reading in my King James. Now it is the New International’s turn. That was not as far removed as the New Living Translation. I have two daughters who are reading NLT! What is the deal?!?!?!?
What was I doing wrong? It took me about a week to figure it out, again. I went to biblehub.com and checked with the Greek. After all that study and sweat, do you know which one best translated this passage? Believe it or not, the New Living was the best this time.
I confess that I fell for the old idea that if it ain’t King Jimmy it ain’t Bible. How many times have I gone to Dr. White’s videos and still fall into that mindset? The King James is a translation among many. If you don’t know Greek and you don’t know Hebrew you will need others to explain the text to you. That is why we need more than one translation.
Many times I have heard Dr. White say that he is not interested in how it was in the KJV. He wanted to find out what was originally pinned. In order for me to do that I have to compare translations and check with Strong’s numbers along with whatever else that would help. What is really crazy is that there are verses in the KJV that were not in the oldest available Greek. It does not matter how good they sound or how well we like them, if it is not in the oldest available manuscripts it was added later.
I toggle between NIV 1984 and NAS 1978. There are other versions that help me too.
God bless you real good!
Terry
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