A

Paper Presentation
on
“The Translation of Bible”

Submitted to:
Prof: Ningchangbe Pame

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Course of Systematic

Theology one for the degree
“Master of Divinity I”

Submitted by:
Josiah Thiumai
Roll no. 14

Submitted On:
May 2023

Chil Chil Global University

Kanglatongbi, Manipur
 CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1. ENTYMOLOGY OF BIBLE TRANSLATIONS…….…………………..............

2. THE HISTORY OF BIBLE TRANSLATIONS ………………………………….

3. THEORIES OF BIBLE TRANSLATIONS……………………………………….

4. LINGUISTIC IN BIBLE TRANSLATIONS …………………………………….

5. THE RESULT OF BIBLE TRANSLATION …………………………………….

6. WORST BIBLE TRANSLATION TODAY…………………………………….

7. CORRECT BIBLE TRANSLATIONS ……………………………………

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY
 INTRODUCTION

The Bible is the most translated and retranslated book in the world. The process of
Bible translation involves a complex, multidisciplinary effort that is aimed at rendering what
is in essence a library of diverse literary genres in the various world languages. It consists of
the 39 books of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament, OT), the 27 books of the Greek New
Testament (NT), and some major religion translated an Apocrypha or Deuterocanon (DC) up
to 15 books depending on the church tradition. The practice of Bible translation is at once a
science, an art, a craft, and a technology that benefits most from a coordinated team
approach. the main theories that inform Bible translation, the practical principles and
procedures whereby it is accomplished, and some of the chief ways in which applied
linguistics, computer technology, and related studies contribute to these worldwide
endeavours.
 1. ETYMOLOGY OF THE BIBLE

The English word Bible is derived from koine Greek word biblia which means the
books, the bible itself had the literal meaning of scroll and came to use as the ordinary
words for books.

The total collection of the Bible is 66 in the Christian tradition emerged over and
estimated period of 1,400 years by forty different authors originally writing in Hebrew,
Greek and Aramaic. The bible is accepted as scared writing come from God written by
men through the work of Holy spirit.1

2. THE HISTORY OF BIBLE TRANSLATIONS

The first translations of the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Tanakh, were largely
informal (e.g., Nehemiah 8:7-8) and resulted from Israel's period of exile in Babylon
around the fifth century BC, when Aramaic gradually became the lingua franca of the
Middle East. As the Hebrew language grew less familiar to a majority of the people, oral
translations or paraphrases of the text, often accompanied by commentaries, were made
by the rabbis. These Targumim (sg. Targum) were later written down and became more
or less standardized in different collections and versions. A widely used Targum, known
as the Samaritan Pentateuch, was rendered in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic.

Between 250 and 100 BC, the first translation of the Hebrew Bible was made in koine
Greek, the common language of the Mediterranean world. It is known as the Septuagint
(LXX, from the Latin meaning “seventy”) because it was allegedly prepared by 70 (or 72)
Jewish scholars. It included the “apocryphal” or deuterocanonical books, and this became
a significant factor in the later choice of formally authorized books that constitute the
Christian canon. Because this first major translation of the Scriptures was the “Bible”
used and referenced in citation by most NT writers, it was highly influential in the
development of Christian vocabulary and theology.

1
D. Daniell, The Bible in English (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003), 89.
 After Aramaic, Greek and Latin became the language of wider communication in the
increasingly Christianized Western world, especially in northern frontier regions of the
Roman Empire. Latin served as the vernacular for another prominent early translation, the
Vulgate (vulgate meaning “common”). The OT translation, dating from around AD 405,
was rendered from the original Hebrew by Jerome (Eusebius Hieronymus), while the
Greek NT and DC books were probably translated by his protégé, Rufinus the Syrian
(Burke, 2007, p. 85). Jerome was distinct in his stated endeavour to render the sense of
the original text, instead of reproducing the literal form. Although he did not always
succeed in this effort, his version became the Bible of the Western Church for the next
1,000 years.
Later on, The Septuagint and the Vulgate are considered to be primary versions,
having been translated from the original languages. And Armenia, Cyril and Methodius,
Martin Luther's, John Wycliffe they keep effort on the translation of the bible in different
form and in different language.
By the first decade of the 21st century it been characterized by an eclectic and flexible
translation approach that normally makes use of a greater number of supplementary aids
such as explanatory notes and glossaries, newer publishing formats, and multimedia text
delivery systems. Bible translation in any language is a never-ending task due to new
scientific discoveries and the practical factor of constant linguistic and sociocultural
change, as well as the religious desirability of having each new generation and speech
community confront the challenge of thoroughly investigating and clearly communicating
the Scriptures for themselves in their local circumstances.2

3. THEORIES OF BIBLE TRANSLATIONS

Theories employed to support a particular approach to the translation task, whether

more or less foreignized/domesticated, tend to be grounded in one or more of these fields
of investigation: communication studies, comparative literature, discourse analysis, or
cognitive processes. The six prominent models and methods that explicitly or implicitly
inform the work of contemporary Bible translation, each exemplified by a recognized

2
K Barnwell. An introductory course in translation principles (Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of
Linguistics, 1989),72.
 proponent or practitioner they are: Literalist, Text linguistic, Interpretive, pragmatic,
functionalist, and Cognitive.3

4. LINGUISTIC IN BIBLE TRANSLATIONS

As Bible translation efforts continue to multiply in manifold ways the world over, a
number of issues pertaining to applied linguistics and related studies maintain their
relevance, some with greater urgency now than in the past.
Dialectology: It is not only a matter of deciding whether a certain language and speech
community is still viable for supporting a new Bible translation (or revision). A project
must also determine which dialect and sociolect would provide the most widely
acceptable sociolinguistic basis for any version under consideration.
Para text: A project must decide which supplementary helps with such as cross-
references, marginal notes, book and chapter introductions, illustrations, glossary entries,
a basic concordance or index they are the most necessary to increase the average person's
comprehension of the biblical text.
Orality: This factor closely relates to the preceding issue in that the Scriptures are meant
to be heard aloud, and therefore translations must be carefully composed with the crucial
oral–aural dimension in mind. The Bible is heard much more often than it is read by
individuals from a printed page; therefore, it is logical that the characteristics of orality
should be given prime consideration during the entire production process. Careful
research is needed to determine the possibility of functionally matching the literary genres
and linguistic styles of the biblical texts with oral or written genres and styles of the
translation language.
Biblical illiteracy: This is proving to be one of the most challenging current issues in the
field of Bible translation. There are two major concerns: first, how to accurately discern
and document the widespread phenomenon of general ignorance about the content and
setting of the Scriptures; second, how to effectively combat this deficiency by providing a
more suitable hermeneutical context for understanding, one that is appropriate both for
the medium of transmission and for the intended audience group.4

3
D, G Burke, A history of Bible translation (Italy: Edizioni di Storia Literature, 2007), 76–89.
4
E, A Gutt, A guide to successful communication in translation (New York: United Bible Societies, 1992), 1856.
 5. THE RESULT OF BIBLE TRANSLATION

During the first 1,800 years of the Christian era, at least one book of the Bible was
translated into some 70 languages. Another 460 languages were added in the 19th
century, and nearly four times that many (1,768) during the 20th century despite two
world wars and other major conflicts. By the end of 2014, at least a portion of Scripture
had been translated and published in 2,883 of the world's languages; however, only 531
languages possessed a complete Bible, and of those only about 200 included the DC
books.5

6. WORST BIBLE TRANSLATION TODAY

There are many accurate translations of the Bible into English. But here are five of the
worst translation of the bible on the earth: The mirror bible (1980), The passion
translation, The New world translation (1950), The Message Bible, The Living Bible.
And one of the biggest criticisms of the 1984 NIV was that sometimes words in the
Greek text simply were not translated. The most notorious example was the gospel of
mark which make frequent use of the Greek words euthus “immediately.” There are many
verses the are simply ignored in NIV, about 45 verses are omitted in NIV bible, almost all
the modern English bible translations make similar decision about these 45 verses 6 these
translations are so bad its not even right to call them translations, some of them are a
strange hybrid of paraphrase and commentary ball rolled into one it is also described as
deliberate mistranslations.

7. CORRECT BIBLE TRANSLATIONS

The most accurate Bible translations is King James Version published in 1604-1611 by
50 scholars, The King James spread quickly throughout Europe because of the wealth of
resource devoted to the project, it was the most faithful and scholarly translated to date
and its still the most favoured biblical translation of many Christians fundamentalists and
some Christians New religious movement. This KJV was the world most wide known
bible translation using early seventeenth century English. Since the King James is known

5
E Nida and C, Taber, The theory and practice of translation (Netherlands: Brill, 1969), 193.
6
Dr Doulas moo, Translation Philosophy (California: Harper Colin, 2023), 84.
 as the authorized version it is powerful, majestic in style has made it a literary classic,
with many of its phrases and expressions embedded in language7.