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Study Section 3: Methods of Translating the Bible

3.1 Connect.

The Bible was written in mainly two languages: Hebrew and Greek. Maybe you don’t know
Hebrew or Greek and could not read the Bible in its original languages. Most of us have to
read it in our mother tongue or a language we know. So someone had to take the time to
TRANSLATE the words from Hebrew and Greek into my language for me to read it. We will
find out today how that is accomplished, and why it takes sometimes many years of very
difficult work to complete.

3.2 Objectives.

1. The student should be able to explain the difficulties of translating the Bible from one
language to another.

2. The student should be able to describe the two methods used in translation and explain
which is more accurate and which is more readable.

3.3 Methods of Translating the Bible

There are many versions or translations of the Bible today. Why so many? Is one better
than another? Is there only one true and faithful translation? Let’s look into the difficulties
that translators encounter.

Translating from one language to another is not as simple as it
may sound. A word in one language cannot necessarily be
matched with a similar word in another language. Why?

1. Sometimes there is no match between languages. For example, in
Koine Greek (the language of the New Testament), there are four main
words for the word “love” in English. Each word expresses the kind or degree of love and reflects a
different meaning to the word. When translated, “love” in English, much of the original meaning
may be lost.

2. Sometimes the word order in one language does not match the word order in the other. For
example, in German when they ask you your name, they say, “Wie heissen sie?” which when literally
translated is, “What called you?” In English, we would change the word order to “What are you
called? Or “What is your name?”

A Biblical example can be found in I John 3:6. Here is the order of the Greek text: “Anyone in him
abiding not sins, anyone sinning not has seen him nor has he known him.” The word order in Greek
is quite different than how an English person would say this verse. Here is a translation in the ESV

for I John 3:6: No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either
seen him or known him. The translator must rewrite the sentence so that the word order is more in
line with acceptable standards.

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