Is The Nlt A Paraphrase Or A Translation
The New Living Translation is actually one of my favorite Bible versions, due to its simple reading level and beautiful English composition. But there is a bit of confusion about the title. Is the NLT actually a translation? Or is it just a paraphrase?
The New Living Translation is an accurate and legitimate translation from Hebrew and Greek. The confusion, however, is understandable, since the NLT began as a revision to the 1971 paraphrase by Kenneth Taylor, the Living Bible. However, the final product grew into much more than a revision. The result was a complete translation from the ground up.
The NLT is no ordinary translation, however. Its very unique in the way it came about and in the way it was translated. Keep reading to learn more about how this descendant of the Living Bible Paraphrase became the complete translation that it is today.
How Easy Is The Nlt To Read
The NLT Bible is written at a 6th Grade Reading Level. This means that readers from the ages of 11 and up should be able to confidently read the majority of the NLT text and roughly understand what it means.What determines this level is the total number of unique words and sentences, as well as sentence length and the length of the words themselves. Other grammatical features also carry weight in the score. The reading level doesnt take into account any understanding of history and context. Just the words and grammar of the text.As an example, this sentence you are currently reading would score at a Grade Nine on the readability test.This sentence would be at Grade Two.
Why I Prefer The New Living Translation Bible
by Pastor Priji | May 27, 2014 | Life Principles
Those who have been following my posts and sermons/podcasts for a while would have, by now, noticed that I follow and use scriptures from the New Living Translation of the Holy Bible. I have been trying out different translations for a long time now. The one translation that has caught my heart is New Living Translation.
Heres a little information about NLT Bible I found out, just to give you the background.
In 1989, ninety evangelical scholars from various theological backgrounds and denominations were commissioned to revise the Living Bible. The project began with the purpose of merely correcting parts of the Living Bible. However, as the 100 scholars began to work, the decision was made to complete an entirely new translation.
Each work of translation went through the channels of critique: the individual, a book committee, a general reviewer committee, and back to the individual. In 1994, the translators gathered again to make the revisions determined by the reviewers. Due to the extensive efforts put in by world-class Bible scholars, the New Living Translation is the most expensive translation project in the history of Bible translation.
Can I please highlight the few reasons for why I have stuck to NLT?
1. The Simplicity of Language
KJV: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. The Dynamic Translation
3. The Richness of the Text
5. Where to get one?
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Free Online Access To The Nlt Text And Study Bible Resources
Purchase of the NLT Study Bible also provides readers with free online access to the entire text, study resources, illustrations, and maps. This has been a great resource for me to use in outlines I provide to students, when needing to copy large chunks of scripture digitally, etc. It also provides me access to my Bible when traveling so I do not have to bring my physical Bible.
Reasons To Use The New Living Translation Study Bible
Carpenters have tool belts, surgeons have scalpels, dentists have picks, and Christians have their Bibles. For three years I have used the New Living Translation Study Bible and believe it is one of the best resources for students who want to study the Bible and learn from it.
I began using the NLT Study Bible in February of 2010 when it was given to me as a gift. Before this, I had used the Students Life Application Bible which seemed a little irrelevant since I was no longer a student at that time.
I began to use the NLT Study Bible and understand the tools and resources contained within it and have never stopped since. I use it for my daily prayer time reading, when I attend church, and when I do in-depth Bible studies for this blog.
The one item I consult the most in writing for this blog is the NLT Study Bible. It is my daily companion and is almost always within reach on my desk. Here 10 reasons I use the New Living Translation Study Bible.
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Bhs Fascicles And Editors
The work has been published in 15 from 1968 to 1976 according to this release schedule taken from the Latin prolegomena in the book.
| Fascicle | |
|---|---|
| 1975 |
The processing and development of the Masoretic annotations and notes within all editions of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia was the privilege of . He also released the book Massorah Gedolah iuxta codicem Leningradensem B 19a at the in 1971, which is the very first Edition of the Masora Magna, what gives an idea of his unique expertise in relation to the .
New Living Translation Bible Overview
- General Biblical Studies, Interdenominational Christian Training Center
In July 1996, Tyndale House Publishers launched the New Living Translation , a revision of the Living Bible. The NLT was seven years in the making.
The New Living Translation was founded on the most recent scholarship in the theory of translation, with the goal of communicating the meaning of the ancient Bible texts as accurately as possible to the modern reader. It seeks to preserve the freshness and readability of the original paraphrase while providing the accuracy and reliability of a translation prepared by a team of 90 biblical scholars.
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The Five Most Popular English Translations:
According to the Christian Booksellers Association, the five best-selling Bible translations in June 2013 were as follows:
This post will focus largely on these “Big Five” translations and their merits and shortcomings.
What Is The New Living Translation Bible
Posted by Aaron Lewendon · Be the first to
Finding the right Bible isnt easy. There are dozens of translations and hundreds of editions to choose from. Our new series of guides is here to answer your questions about the different Bibles on offer today.
Every Bible translation is pulled in two directions: whether to be accurateor to be clear.
The very act of Bible translation is itself a careful balance. There’s a fine line between achieving word-for-word accuracy and authentic thought-for-thought contemporary meaning. The New Living Translation of the Bible gives you a modern English translation that is accurate in meanings while keeping to the form and structure of the original scriptures.
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The Original Language Of The Bible
Translations exist because the Bible was originally written in Hebrew, with some Aramaic and Greek . Because of the multiple languages of the original text, all English versions we read today are a translation.
Until the mid-twentieth century, the oldest copies of the Old Testament were known as the Masoretic text, which were manuscripts translated between 500 and 950 A.D. In 1947, caves were discovered that held 900 ancient scrollsthe Dead Sea Scrollswhich dated back to the 2nd century B.C., well before Jesus was born. The Dead Sea Scrolls helped translators get much closer to the date the text was originally written. Remarkably the scrolls were found to be practically identical with the Masoretic textmost variants being minor spelling differences and none that impacted the meaning. In fact, since then, New Testament transcripts have been found dating as far back as the 2nd century A.D. confirming the reliability of the ancient texts.
Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic languages have different complexities compared to the English language. For example, there are often multiple English words for just one word in Greek. So when a person is translating the Greek biblical text from the original manuscripts into English, there may be many words to choose from to communicate the authors intended message. Bible translators can focus on either a literal or readable translation and many fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum.
Study Guide Scripture Notes
Almost every verse within the New Living Translation Study Bible has study notes for use by the reader. These notes help the reader by:
- providing literal meanings to the words translated dynamically
- cultural and historical background for assistance to understand the meaning of the text
- geographical helps to understand what happened where and how they are related
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Hebrew And Greek Word Definitions
The NLT Study Bible contains over 200 Hebrew and Greek word definitions and helps readers to locate those words in the text while reading. These word studies help Bible students understand the deeper meaning of specific words which offer particular reference to our Christian theology and application.
New Living Translation Of The Bible
1996: The first edition of the complete NLT Bible was a revision of Kenneth Taylors Living Bible paraphrase by a team of scholars who compared it to the original languages. But it remained a fairly loose translation, and thats why we recommend only the second edition and onward.2004: The second edition, sometimes known as the NLTse, was a major revision that greatly improved accuracy.2007 Revision includes minor textual or footnote revisions.2013 Revision include minor changes throughout.
Translation philosophy: The New Living Translation, NLT for short, differs from word-for-word translations such as the NASB, KJV, NKJV and ESV in that it is more of a sentence translation. Translators attempted to produce a faithful and accurate translation in modern language which stays true to the original manuscripts in thought, while not necessarily translating each word literally. This is generally termed a dynamic equivalence approach. It has made the Bible accessible for thousands of people who could not get into the Bible through the older translations. That said, for serious study, it is well to compare any passage with a word-for-word translation, such as the NASB.
You can get a sense of this translation by reading a book, such as Acts on Biblia.com. If you love the majesty and rhythm of the KJV, this may not be for you, but if you find the KJV a bit of a challenge, you will probably enjoy the NLT a lot especially if you choose one of the study bibles.
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What Is The Best Translation To Use
The answer to that question depends on who you are and how you plan to use the Bible. If you are a new Christian, or if you want to read the Bible through from cover to cover, or if you want an easier reading level, you will probably enjoy the NLT. Even mature Christians who have read and studied the Bible for many years find that the NLT brings new life to their Bible reading and helps with applying Gods word to their lives.
If you are a more mature Christian, or if you are at a high school reading level or above, or if you plan to do in-depth Bible study, the ESV is a good choice as it is a more literal translation. Its also readable enough for daily devotional reading or even reading through the Bible.
The best answer is to select a translation you will read daily! Before buying a print edition, you may want to try reading and comparing the NLT and the ESV online at the Bible Hub website. They have all the 5 translations mentioned above and many more, with parallel readings for whole chapters as well as individual verses. You can also use the interlinear link to check out how close a verse adheres to the Greek or Hebrew in various translations.
The English Language Continually Evolves
A modern translation takes into consideration words and phrases that are no longer used or have changed over time. For instance, the word let meant restrain in 1611 when the KJV was first published, but today it means allow. Its not uncommon to see modern translations come out with an updated version every 10-15 years to reflect todays language.
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The Difference Between The Niv And The Nlt
This raises a common question many people today have about the NLT and the New International Version. Both versions are more dynamic in their translation theory. Both versions are more idea-for-idea than they are word-for-word. So whats the difference between the NLT and the NIV?
The biggest difference lies in the amount of dynamic equivalence in the text. The NIV is broadly dynamic, but is still more word-for-word than the NLT. As such, the NIV is less interpretive, leaving more interpretation up to the reader than the NLT does. The NIV also did not have English stylists on the translation committee ensuring smooth and literary English.
To compare the two, the NIV is close to an 8th-grade reading level, whereas the NLT is closer to a 6th-grade reading level.
At the end of the day, the NIV is a great dynamic equivalent translation with more of an emphasis on accurately representing the words of the original scriptures. The NLT, on the other hand, is a great dynamic equivalent translation with more of an emphasis on accurately communicating the words of the original scriptures in English. The difference is a small one, to be sure. But the difference is noticeable, to say the least.
What is your experience with the NLT? Do you enjoy the translation, or do you prefer something less interpretive? Let us know in the comments below!
New American Standard Bible
The New American Standard Bible is a literal translation from the original texts, well suited to study because of its accurate rendering of the source texts. It follows the style of the King James Version but uses modern English for words that have fallen out of use or changed their meanings. It uses capital letters for pronouns relating to divinity, eg ‘there He sat down with His disciples’.
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A Solid Research Team
Almost 100 people from various denominations, evangelical schools, and theological backgrounds participated in the translation of the New Living Translation. At minimum, each book within the NLT had three scholars assigned to it in order to ensure no theological or personal preference found its way into the text. This is important to prevent personal meanings or theological implications from being conveyed in the translation. Compiling and coordinating a team of this magnitude must have been very difficult, but it was well worth the effort because of the end result of a solid text.
More On Love And Hatred
11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brothers were righteous.13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
Footnotes
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The Nlt Translation Philosophy
The translation philosophy of the New Living Translation is to emphasize English clarity. As such, it is a very dynamic equivalent translation, which means the text reflects an idea-for-idea philosophy instead of word-for-word.
The NLT is one of the most dynamic translations out there, since it aims to capture the clarity and beauty of the original Living Bible paraphrase. Its readability is unmatched by most other modern translations. So if youre looking for a readable and understandable translation thats still totally based on the most up-to-date textual evidence that we have at our disposal, the NLT is probably the Bible for you.
Now, its not perfect. There is some give and take. The more dynamic a translation becomes, the more interpretive it is. This means the NLT is quite a bit more interpretive than a translation like the NIV.
But heres the thing. The translation is interpretation. In order to take words from ancient Hebrew and reflect those same ideas in modern English, interpretation has to happen. The question is, how much interpretation needs to take place?
A formal equivalent translation, such as the ESV, will do only as much interpretation as is necessary to get the words into English. This is great because it allows the reader to make interpretive decisions on their own without being guided by the translation committee.
A Print Edition Of The Leningrad Codex
The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia is meant to be an exact copy of the as recorded in the . According to the introductory prolegomena of the book, the editors have “accordingly refrained from removing obvious scribal errors” . Diacritics like the and which were missing in the Leningrad Codex also have not been added.
The only exception to that is the diacritic which has been consistently omitted in the BHS due to “almost insuperable technical difficulties” with its implementation in the typeface. This is not untypical, since almost every Hebrew Bible print edition, starting with ‘s Bombergiana omits the diacritic .
Like its predecessor the the BHS adds the letters samekh “ס” and “פ” into the text to indicate blank spaces in the Leningrad Codex, which divide the text into sections.
One more difference to the Leningrad Codex is the book order, the have been moved to the end as it appears in common Hebrew bibles, even though it precedes in the codex.
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