Is it possible the Bible has Translation Problems?

Copyright © 2002
by Tim Roach


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There are those that say the Bible can not have translation errors.

Let me ask you to consider the possible meanings of the following statement.

If I said to you, "There is a hot mustang outside."

What exactly am I trying to tell you? What do I mean by that statement?
Obviously I want you to know that a mustang outside is hot.

However by Mustang do I mean:

a car
or do I mean a horse?

And I am telling you that the Mustang is hot.

But by the word Hot do I mean:

it is stolen,
do I mean it looks good,
or do I mean it has been sitting out in the sun too long and physically hot?

But the real question to consider would be ... With the information you have, is it even possible to know what the statement is really saying? Or will the true meaning of the statement always be conjecture?

A phrase that was commonly used a few years ago and now often misunderstood is, "The buck stops here." (A common phrase used heavily by former U.S. President Harry S. Truman during his term of office.)

Many people believed that the phrase indicates that money, the buck, stops with Truman. When in reality the phrase is saying that he (Harry Truman) is taking final responsibility for all actions taken during his administration.

The phrase is a counterpart to the phrase, "passing the buck.". Which is to say one is passing the responsibility on to someone else.

The word buck itself comes from Poker, it is a pointer indicating whose turn it is to deal. If the person did not wish to deal, they could pass the buck/responsibility to the next person.

What does this have to do with the Bible you ask?

As I understand the primary languages of the original Bible's text are Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. One of the more common translations use today is the King James Bible. I have a great deal of respect for King James' efforts trying to translate the original manuscripts as accurately as possible into a language and style of writing that the people of his day could understand. It was a major accomplishment. Especially considering the time period when he did this. Remembering in those days much of the work was done by hand as there were not computers nor a lot of automation equipment to make the translation available to everyone.

However, if you have ever tried to translate from one language to another you know the difficulties involved in trying to get the exact meaning of a sentence between languages. Add to this that the English language itself has changed over the years and you now have another level of complexity and possibilities for misinterpretations.

There are many Bibles and translations available today. While many people will disagree with me, I think all of them have the possibility for misinterpretation and translation issues. This being caused by problems as simple as the meanings and understanding of words changing over the years to misunderstandings/misinterpretations of the original text. Which means that unless we wish to go back and learn to read the languages of the original text and try to understand all the possible variations of word meanings in those days, it is probably best to consider what multiple reliable translations say about any given section of the Bible. While most will have the same basic meaning, just worded a little differently, for any given section many will be just enough different to give us a little something different/extra to think about.

As we learn and consider all possibilities, each of us, in time, will discover which sources of information are more accurate.




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Copyright © 2002 by Timothy Allen Roach All Rights Reserved.
No part of this document may be reproduced, published, etc.,
without written permission from the author.
Updates: 2002
Page Last Updated: 1/27/02 8:03:19 AM