What is the most accurate Bible translation?
Ask which English Bible is "most accurate" and you will get different answers even from careful writers — some name a version, some say compare several, and all of them draw a line between the inspired original and any translation of it. The commentators quoted below agree on the settled part: God's Word has reached us intact, and the ordinary reader can hold his Bible with confidence.
Inspiration Belongs to the Original
Before comparing versions, the writers make one distinction. Inspiration was given to the men who wrote, not to the men who later translated their work.
W. W. FeredayNo one would be so foolish as to argue for the inspiration of a translation... In such efforts there may be — and are — blemishes, since God does not work perpetual miracles; and here the study of languages comes in as an important and valuable work. All that is claimed is that the original writings, as sent out by Matthew and the rest, were inspired in every word by the Spirit of God.
That places translation in a different category — not a miracle, but a duty done under God.
William KellyTranslation, like interpretation, and like editing the text from the varying witnesses, belongs to the responsible use of Scripture, and is quite distinct from the fact of its divine inspiration... Hence the danger and evil for anyone to give, whatever the cause of failure, his own mind and not God's in editing, translating, or interpreting.
The Text Itself Is Secure
Copies made by hand for centuries did pick up small slips. The writers say so openly — and then say what those slips did and did not touch.
Samuel RidoutIt is worth noting, however, that among the hundreds of manuscripts in existence, even in the most faulty of them, not a single doctrine of divine truth has been affected, if we take the Bible as a whole. The vast majority of these errors are so obvious and so unimportant that correcting them raises no question.
A Good Translation Is Enough to Live On
Accuracy is not an all-or-nothing test. A version can have flaws and still be safe to trust.
Samuel RidoutWith all the help of better knowledge of the original and of earlier manuscripts, it remains a fact that this version we hold in our hands — the Authorized Version — is remarkably free from blemishes. To all intents and purposes it is a faithful representation of the original Scriptures. The simple, untaught Christian who knows nothing of Hebrew and Greek can take it up with confidence as the perfect Word of God. No vital truth is clouded in it as a whole.
Which Versions Are Named
Commentators differ on the top choice. Several name the same one for close accuracy:
Leslie M. GrantOf course, it is important that one should have a reliable translation, and we may be deeply thankful that the King James Version has been prominent in English-speaking countries for centuries, for in the main it is an excellent translation. A few others will be helpful, though, in giving a more correct rendering in certain passages, and this is advisable for study purposes. But many of the modern translations, and all paraphrased versions, should be avoided. For careful study, the New Translation by J. N. Darby is highly recommended.
One writer goes further and ranks them:
VariousThe better translations are, from most accurate to least accurate, the New Translation by J. N. Darby (JND), the New American Standard Bible (NASB), the New King James Version (NKJV), the King James Version of the Scofield Study Bible III... the English Standard Version (ESV), and the New International Version (NIV).
Ridout, by contrast, would keep the Authorized Version as the main text and add others alongside it.
Reading More Than One
Using several versions is presented not as doubt but as gain.
Samuel RidoutThe original Greek or Hebrew can be rendered in different ways and the translation still be faithful. It is this variety of translation that proves so helpful as one grows in Bible knowledge. The way a sentence is translated, the different words used, or their arrangement, often prove a very suggestive help.
What to Watch For
The warnings fall on versions that trade exactness for ease, and on renderings that touch the Person of Christ.
A. J. PollockFirst of all, the attempt to present the inspired Word of God in everyday slang is not a happy one. It robs the sacred book of its dignity and beauty, and its effect is to lower the Scriptures to the level of what is ordinary and human.
Dr. Daniel W. PatersonIf we look at the many modern translations very carefully, I am afraid that since the King James Version the Lord's deity has been downgraded. There has been a steady erosion of the clear textual testimonies to the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am not saying this is true of all the translations, but read them very carefully on this particular point.
Darby, who made his own translation, states the aim that any honest version should share: to serve the reader who cannot open the original, offering "as faithful and exact a rendering of the Word of God, in their own language, as possible" (J. N. Darby).
Summary
- Source — Inspiration was given to the original writings word by word; no translation is itself inspired.
- Preserved — Copying introduced small errors, but not one doctrine of divine truth is affected by them.
- Sufficient — A faithful version clouds no vital truth; the reader who knows no Hebrew or Greek can trust it fully.
- Sharpened — Comparing faithful versions is a help, not a threat; different renderings open up shades of meaning.
- Guarded — Avoid paraphrases and slang renderings, and check any modern version carefully on the deity of Christ.