A.W. Bowman
Member
- Joined
- May 18, 2025
- Messages
- 16
Have you ever misinterpreted something someone said or wrote? Has anyone misunderstood what you expressed in either writing or speech? I answer yes to both questions. My usual explanation is that English is not my first language. I refer to it as Universal Infantile Gibberish (UIG), the language I remain proficient in and often revert to.
Have you ever hand-copied a document (such as a letter, recipe, or directions) and made a mistake? Did you leave out a word or add a clarifying term to your writing? Have you ever “slanted” communication to enhance your idea, position, or agenda? Well, welcome to the world of Bible Translators! This is a primary reason for having more than one translation and explains why so many are available today. One must be very careful when making their translation choices. Where possible, investigate the translation author’s background and theological foundation. This will give a clue as to a potential bias in the translation. This holds for individual translators as well as religious groups and publishers. Fortunately, I have not found any "good" mainstream translation that negates the essential requirements for salvation and living a life acceptable to God! However, out of necessity, I had to expand my Bible studies to include word studies, and this required me to go to the text’s source, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
Question: Must one learn these languages before they can effectively do a comprehensive word usage evaluation? The answer is an emphatic NO! Several tools are available to assist in this task, either to purchase or use online for free. A good place to start online to exercise free study tools and to start your selection of preferred translations, commentaries, language tools, lexicons, etc., is blueletterbible.org. To access the study material, click STUDY at the top of the page. Another excellent free reference source is archive.org and https://theword.net/.
The attachments below contain sample studies and translation steps that I found helpful. Next, for your consideration, the questions are: (1) Does the scripture I am studying apply to the church today? (2) Does it apply to me? And (3) If it applies to me, where, how, and when do I apply it?
Start With Hebrew
May your studies be fruitful.
Have you ever hand-copied a document (such as a letter, recipe, or directions) and made a mistake? Did you leave out a word or add a clarifying term to your writing? Have you ever “slanted” communication to enhance your idea, position, or agenda? Well, welcome to the world of Bible Translators! This is a primary reason for having more than one translation and explains why so many are available today. One must be very careful when making their translation choices. Where possible, investigate the translation author’s background and theological foundation. This will give a clue as to a potential bias in the translation. This holds for individual translators as well as religious groups and publishers. Fortunately, I have not found any "good" mainstream translation that negates the essential requirements for salvation and living a life acceptable to God! However, out of necessity, I had to expand my Bible studies to include word studies, and this required me to go to the text’s source, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
Question: Must one learn these languages before they can effectively do a comprehensive word usage evaluation? The answer is an emphatic NO! Several tools are available to assist in this task, either to purchase or use online for free. A good place to start online to exercise free study tools and to start your selection of preferred translations, commentaries, language tools, lexicons, etc., is blueletterbible.org. To access the study material, click STUDY at the top of the page. Another excellent free reference source is archive.org and https://theword.net/.
The attachments below contain sample studies and translation steps that I found helpful. Next, for your consideration, the questions are: (1) Does the scripture I am studying apply to the church today? (2) Does it apply to me? And (3) If it applies to me, where, how, and when do I apply it?
Start With Hebrew
May your studies be fruitful.
