Trying a new translation...

While I'll probably always have a favorite translation (or two, or three, or four), I do like to experiment with trying new versions. I like seeing how different translators choose to translate different passages. I was recently asked to 'try' the Common English Bible. So I thought I would share the process with you.  There are plenty of passages that I "judge" a translation by. Here are just a few of them:

John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God
and the Word was God.
The Word was with God in the beginning.
Everything came into being through the Word
and without the Word
nothing came into being
through the Word was life,
and the life was the light for all people.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness doesn't extinguish the light. (Common English Bible)

John 3:13-18

No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Human One. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Human One be lifted up so that everyone who believes him will have eternal life. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. God didn't send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him isn't judged; whoever doesn't believe in him is already judged, because they don't believe in the name of God's only Son. (Common English Bible)

John 14:1-6

Don't be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. My Father's house has room to spare. If that weren't the case, would I have told you that I'm going to prepare a place for you? When I go to prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me so that where I am you will be too. You know the way to the place I'm going. Thomas asked, "Lord, we don't know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus answered, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (Common English Bible)

Initial thoughts: Well, at the very least, I can say I like it MUCH better than the Message. (I don't think I've talked about it on the blog, but, reading The Message is like nails on a chalkboard for me. We're just NOT a good match for each other.) These passages in the CEB are more casual, more relaxed, more informal than what I'd typically prefer in a translation. I love beauty and majesty. (I'd rather it be more literary than common.) Take for example, John 1:5:

• The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (ESV)
• The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (NASB)
• That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it. (HCSB)
• And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (KJV)
• And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (NKJV)
• The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (NIV)
• The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. (NLT)
• His life is the light that shines through the darkness--and the darkness can never extinguish it. (Living Bible) 
• The light shines in the dark, and the dark has never extinguished it. (God's Word)
• The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn't put it out. (The Message) 
• The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out. (GNT)
• The light still shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out. (Phillips) 
• The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it. (NCV)

Yes, they all essentially (for the most part) say the same thing--mean the same thing. No BIG changes in meaning. But don't some translations *sound* better?!

Another example, and I'll keep it shorter. It comes from John 14:2.

• "more than enough room" (NLT)
• "many rooms" (NIV, ESV, NCV, GW, CEV, Phillips, GNT, RSV)
• "many mansions" (KJV, NKJV, Young's, Webster's, English Revised Version, American Standard Version)
• "many dwelling places" (NASB, HCSB, Lexham English Bible, NET Bible)
• "many resting places" (Weymouth)
• "many homes" (World English Bible, Living Bible) 
• "plenty of room" (The Message) 

I don't know that I exactly have a favorite. I'm torn between mansions and dwelling places. CEB translating it 'room to spare' doesn't bother me at all. I actually like the way it sounds.


© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible