Anyone who reads the Bible should understand what they are dealing with. The differences between the original, the basic text and the translations are considerable. This article is intended as a guide.
The Bible is available in many languages. These are mostly translations. A German or English or French Bible is therefore never “the” Bible, but a translation. This is significant, especially when you hear things like “the Bible says”, what do we mean? It is therefore useful to understand what the Bible is that we are reading.
Original text of the Bible
The “original text” of the Bible no longer exists. These were the first copies of a Bible book. We should not think of the Bible as it exists today. The idea of an “original” is about the original and first text of parts of the Bible. There are 66 books in the Bible today. So we are talking here about 66 original documents, the first to be written. Such “originals” no longer exist. The Bible was written over a period of around 1500 years and not in a single weekend. Many scribes were involved in their creation until these books were eventually compiled into the Bible (“library”). By then, many parts had already been copied many times so that they could be distributed more widely.
The original text of the Bible is the first copy of a book. It’s about the original, the first copy. Here is an example: Luke, the physician, writes two different books on behalf of a “Theophilus”, namely the Gospel according to Luke (Luke 1:3) and the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:1). Luke wrote these texts down. What he wrote himself was the original, so to speak. These original first texts are no longer available.
Basic text of the Bible
While the original text of the Bible is not known, there are copies of it. There are old manuscripts that were once copied from the original text. These texts are called the basic text.
The basic text of the Bible appears in different languages. In the Old Testament (the Jewish Tenach), the basic language is Hebrew, although there are also parts in Aramaic. The New Testament, on the other hand, was written in Greek, the universal language of the time. The terms Old Testament and New Testament are theologically coined terms that have little to do with the content. You could also call the Old Testament “the Hebrew Scriptures” and the New Testament “the Greek Scriptures”.
The basic text of the Bible is available in different versions. There are minimal differences between the variants. In modern Hebrew and Greek editions of the Bible there is a “text-critical apparatus” in which other readings and variants of the text are mentioned. This makes it possible to check the differences between various manuscripts in one edition.
Translations of the Bible
Few people can read ancient Hebrew and Greek. Translations from the basic text into other languages are therefore particularly important. Without translations, we would hardly have had access to the Scriptures.
Creating a translation is no easy task. There are many reasons for this. A translator must first understand before he can translate. Then there are differences between the languages that need to be taken into account. In addition, sentence structure is different in different languages. A translation is therefore only ever an approximation.
When translating, we should also bear in mind that the books were written in a different time and in a different culture. There are major differences between the culture of that time and our culture today, for which bridges must be sought in translation. We don’t even have to go back to biblical times for this. Luther, for example (first half of the 16th century), used the language of his time. Today, the same words sometimes sound different, more negative or are missing altogether in today’s language. The language and the meaning have shifted. That is why there are always new editions of well-known translations, so that the editions can be adapted to the current language. This is intended to aid understanding.
All translations are created with one goal in mind. This shapes the translations. Most translations fall somewhere between the extremes of “literalness” and “comprehensibility in today’s world”. Because of the many differences between languages and cultures, a “literal” translation is not always very comprehensible to modern people. However, if one has a Bible edition in today’s language, then the reliability of the original expressions suffers. A great deal needs to be reformulated to adapt it to modern times. This can only be achieved through extensive interpretation. The reference to the basic text fades into the background.
For these reasons, you should be aware of what serves you best: comprehensibility today or rather a better view of the original ideas and thoughts? Quite a few people are switching to using multiple translations. For example, you have a “reading Bible” for everyday use and a “study Bible” for more in-depth study.
What does the Bible say?
Anyone who comes up with arguments such as “But, the Bible says …” should be aware of what they are basing this statement on. Rarely is such a statement helpful, because every Bible edition, every translation and even the basic text must be interpreted. An interpretation is not bad, it is simply what needs to be done. If I want to find out what the Bible says, I can distinguish between the following things:
- What does the text (and basic text) say?
- What is in the context and what could the original listeners have understood at the time? What was known? What were their topics?
I have often heard the expression “it’s in the Bible”. However, this rarely concerned effective references to the basic text and the original context, but almost always involved an interpretation of a particular religious community. They said “the Bible says”, but meant “I tell you how it is”. The certainty with which some refer to the Bible does not always correspond to the information in the text, but rather to the thoughts that are projected onto the text. This is more of an obstacle to a sober consideration of the Bible.
Which translation do I choose?
Anyone can read the Bible with profit. Hardly anyone will understand everything, but some translations are more helpful in answering certain questions than other translations. The question of a Bible translation therefore seeks the best tool for the intended purpose. If you just want to read a few good thoughts to relax, choose a Bible in today’s language, or even a paraphrase. However, anyone looking for concrete answers to theological questions cannot avoid a study Bible with a translation close to the basic text. In the latter case, it may also be worth using aids to the basic text. The “Concordant New Testament” is very useful for this. It tries to make a translation as transparent as possible with the help of some tools, so that you get a view of the basic text through the translation(German | English | Dutch)
