16 Answers
-
Actually, they don’t. Some are minor differences in translation, others have taken great liberties in twisting scripture to match the beliefs of its translator. Sometimes in an attempt to sound modern, words and stories are dropped entirely. King James was rewritten to sound like poetry and removed references people interpreted as supporting reincarnation. A century ago, one translator decided “arsenokoitai” didn’t mean pervert but specifically meant “homosexual” and changed the entire meaning of 1 Corinthians 6:9. It’s important to keep in mind that the Bible is not the word of God but something mutable in the hands of man. Just ask the Council of Nicea about the editorial process.
I like reviewing verses on http://www.biblegateway.com/ which compares various translations and includes Greek and Hebrew.
P.S. The Catholic Apocrypha has a lot of good stories, particularly the Books of Tobit (his son fights a sex demon with angel Raphael) and Judith (who seduces Holofernes from the enemy tribe and cuts off his head in his drunken slumber).
-
If you are talking about the ideas and general themes, then probably, if you mean the specifics, then no. When words are translated from one language to another, they are approximated. Many words do not have a direct literal translation, for example the German word Schadenfreude which can be translated as ‘happiness at the misfortune of others”. As you can see this is somewhat vague, and some people might prefer to word it slightly differently (e.g. ‘laughter’ instead of “happiness”) which is very similar but can have very different connotations. However the original word refers to a very specific idea, and Germans would use the word amongst each other without confusion.
The bible has been translated several times from various different languages, and each time it changes a bit. Many of these are insignificant, passed over, however the difference between “friend” and “neighbour” could change the meaning of a sentence. In English one means people you like to spend time with, the other means people you share a geographic location with but may or may not like or even know. In Aramaic, the two words may have been interchangeable, or maybe “friend” was used to refer to other Jews and “neighbour” the Romans.
These are just hypothetical examples, not meant to be taken literally, but only show that even if all bibles are taken from the same source (I don’t know if they are or not) they will often have the same general theme, but will differ in many of the fine details, which are often significant when people read through their bibles assiduously and take these fine details literally.
-
Well, if it’s not the same words, then it’s not exactly the same thing. Some do have a few phrases added or removed, but they usually try to keep that to a minimum. They more try to get their own message across using their translation philosophies. And some just have ridiculously archaic English.
-
I entirely agree and actively support the wise answer of Sparkle 1. I’m not a Christian, but love many things about Christianity.
-
theres different translations. God goes beyond such trifle things.
i remember reading a KJV and it was a bit hard and read a NLT version and made more sense, but it was still saying the same exact things. its spiritual you know.
there are ancient texts that show modern bibles are almost 100% accurate with the discrepancies only being misspellings and minor stuff like that
-
No they do not and not all “Bibles” are the inspired, inherent word of God.
Some (NIV) leave out important words, verses, and chapters, others add to the books of the Bible (Catholic Bible, that’s not the name of it but that’s who generally uses it).
-
For the most part, but there is some problem with Bibles that are paraphrased. The thing to remember is that, if your heart condition is right and you are truly seeking God, he is powerful enough to have preserved enough of his word that you can find him.
-
Yeah- there’s a bunch of different editions, but they all say basically the same thing.
-
All religious texts say the same things.
-
No. There are some bad translations out there. Stick with New King James or King James versions.