Are some of the translations in the Bible wrong?

Answer 1

AnswerThe various translations of the Bible are not wrong in principle, but some are more faithful than others to the intended meaning, while some are more literal even if the intended meaning does not come through, and yet others try to depict the biblical events more accessibly to modern readers.

Whether or not the orignal writings were themselves authentic or accurate, no modern Bible translation is entirely accurate:

• First of all, we do not really know the earliest texts, before they went through a process of redaction and amendation over periods of centuries.

• Also, the Christian Old Testament is based on the Septuagint, a flawed early Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. But even the Masoretic text used by modern Jews is not without its errors.

• Scholars have identified thousands of changes that occurred to the New Testament in the early centuries of Christianity. Most of these have no theological significance, but occasionally they are of particular importance. Yet, even the most recent translations include many of these interpolations, although sometimes with a footnote about their validity.