4 ms·

Except that they (non-KJV) are all copyrighted and thus you better not get caught reading them out loud in public or cutting and pasting quotes online. I agree

by esaym 11y ago

Except that they (non-KJV) are all copyrighted and thus you better not get caught reading them out loud in public or cutting and pasting quotes online. I agree, the KJV is not the easiest to read and a new Christian might want to start on something a little easier. But it is my advice that one hopefully outgrow the easier version as quick as possible. The KJV authors were genuine people as well. They were not bent on making a name for themselves which is what the basis for every modern translation is (other than money). I disagree that new translations are somehow "more accurate". From a handful of older manuscripts, that disagree not only with the originals used in the KJV but they also disagree amongst themselves, we get a hodgepodge of missing sentence fragments, and re-wordings that for what ever reason where backported into the Nestle greek from which most modern translations are derived. There are plenty of books written on the topic, the most recent being: http://amzn.com/B00KTV5GM2 http://amzn.com/B00KTV5GM2 (note I am not advocating any particular one,nor have I read any. What I speak of is from my own personal study). And the worst thing of all is none of the "modern bible" movements were ever lead by Christians. It was the complete opposite; lead by secularists and skeptics alike who's only goal seemed to be how many verses they could get away with removing. Verses were never added, only removed. In the end, there was no reason for the Christian community to be involved in this. The Christians already had a bible that had proved itself to be trustworthy and well liked. "Yea, hath God said?" --Satan, Genesis 3:1

steve19 11y ago
The American Standard Version is a slightly more modern revision of the KJ and is out of copyright and widely distributed online. The Standard Version and ESV build on it with successively more modern language and are in copyright. Comparison between the three: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+1&version=KJV;ASV;ESV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+1&version=... Personally, I don't think that any edition written in English (or latin for that matter) can be close to a canonical version of the Bible... nor do I think it is necessary that one is.
- baldfat 11y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_English_Bible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_English_Bible It is based on the ASV but is being translated to avoid copyright.
gecko 11y ago
There is a project, called the World Edition Bible (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_English_Bible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_English_Bible), that is attempting to rectify this with an open-source, scholarly translated Bible. I have generally been impressed by what they're trying to do, and I think they're mostly an unequivocal step up from the ASV, but they've got a ways to go yet. If you speak Biblical Greek or Hebrew, you might take a look at volunteering; I believe they've largely updated the Gospels, but the translations for a lot of the Hebrew Bible were still a bit wanting last I looked.
shoover 11y ago
Peers have mentioned updates to the ASV, and the Bibliotheca project is also updating the ASV. Interestingly, the rationale for editing the ASV given in the Kickstarter campaign [0] does not mention copyright as a factor, instead it focuses on literary factors. However, in the comments on the last update [1], amidst general grousing about the translation choice (and mainly how long the editing effort is taking) someone speculated about copyright, so maybe we'll hear more about that angle in a future update. [0] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/530877925/bibliotheca/description https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/530877925/bibliotheca/d... [1] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/530877925/bibliotheca/posts/1359911 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/530877925/bibliotheca/p...
- strictnein 11y ago
  Hope that's not the case. Or, if it is the case, I hope it doesn't delay things further. I'm more excited by the idea of the Bibliotheca than any other thing I've backed on Kickstarter. I currently have four sets on order. One for myself and three as gifts for some close friends. They'll be for Christmas 2016 now, which is too bad, but oh well.
  - shoover 11y ago
    I didn't meant to imply there's any potential legal issue bearing on the schedule beyond what the editing is taking for literary reasons. The comment (from someone ostensibly not in the know) suggested that out-of-copyright was a reason the ASV was selected. Whereas that hadn't been mentioned officially, my curiosity is whether that's true. I have posted a comment asking about copyright intentions for their edition.
    - strictnein 11y ago
      ahh, sorry, misread that.
coliveira 11y ago
There is no such a thing as ideal translation of the bible, simply because there is no single bible. Each tradition has a different set of sources for the biblical text. Just for the old testament you can choose between Septuagint and Massoretic texts, and we know these two traditions existed for centuries already at the time of Jesus. For the new testament, you will learn that all existing copies differ from each other, sometimes with entire chapters or even books being added or removed. Modern translations use the so-called Text Receptus, which is an invention of Erasmus. So, a translation of the bible is just like the picture of a unicorn. Most people will agree on the general shapes, but when it comes to the details there is no way to determine if it is true or not, because there is no original to compare.

by esaym 11y ago

steve19 11y ago

The American Standard Version is a slightly more modern revision of the KJ and is out of copyright and widely distributed online. The Standard Version and ESV build on it with successively more modern language and are in copyright. Comparison between the three: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+1&version=KJV;ASV;ESV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+1&version=... Personally, I don't think that any edition written in English (or latin for that matter) can be close to a canonical version of the Bible... nor do I think it is necessary that one is.

baldfat 11y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_English_Bible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_English_Bible It is based on the ASV but is being translated to avoid copyright.

gecko 11y ago

There is a project, called the World Edition Bible (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_English_Bible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_English_Bible), that is attempting to rectify this with an open-source, scholarly translated Bible. I have generally been impressed by what they're trying to do, and I think they're mostly an unequivocal step up from the ASV, but they've got a ways to go yet. If you speak Biblical Greek or Hebrew, you might take a look at volunteering; I believe they've largely updated the Gospels, but the translations for a lot of the Hebrew Bible were still a bit wanting last I looked.

shoover 11y ago

Peers have mentioned updates to the ASV, and the Bibliotheca project is also updating the ASV. Interestingly, the rationale for editing the ASV given in the Kickstarter campaign [0] does not mention copyright as a factor, instead it focuses on literary factors. However, in the comments on the last update [1], amidst general grousing about the translation choice (and mainly how long the editing effort is taking) someone speculated about copyright, so maybe we'll hear more about that angle in a future update. [0] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/530877925/bibliotheca/description https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/530877925/bibliotheca/d... [1] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/530877925/bibliotheca/posts/1359911 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/530877925/bibliotheca/p...

strictnein 11y ago
Hope that's not the case. Or, if it is the case, I hope it doesn't delay things further. I'm more excited by the idea of the Bibliotheca than any other thing I've backed on Kickstarter. I currently have four sets on order. One for myself and three as gifts for some close friends. They'll be for Christmas 2016 now, which is too bad, but oh well.
- shoover 11y ago
  I didn't meant to imply there's any potential legal issue bearing on the schedule beyond what the editing is taking for literary reasons. The comment (from someone ostensibly not in the know) suggested that out-of-copyright was a reason the ASV was selected. Whereas that hadn't been mentioned officially, my curiosity is whether that's true. I have posted a comment asking about copyright intentions for their edition.
  - strictnein 11y ago
    ahh, sorry, misread that.

coliveira 11y ago

There is no such a thing as ideal translation of the bible, simply because there is no single bible. Each tradition has a different set of sources for the biblical text. Just for the old testament you can choose between Septuagint and Massoretic texts, and we know these two traditions existed for centuries already at the time of Jesus. For the new testament, you will learn that all existing copies differ from each other, sometimes with entire chapters or even books being added or removed. Modern translations use the so-called Text Receptus, which is an invention of Erasmus. So, a translation of the bible is just like the picture of a unicorn. Most people will agree on the general shapes, but when it comes to the details there is no way to determine if it is true or not, because there is no original to compare.