Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
Yes I did goof and say literal translation. What I should have said was neutral translation with no slant on anything. As direct a translation as possible. That's what I want. I don't want a Bible such as the KJV that has their own slant on things and also includes bits that are not really part of the Bible (the entire new testament).
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A neutral translation with no slant on anything? If you can get God to create one to order for you, you may have a chance. Failing that, good luck.
You are probably really looking at learning Hebrew and Aramaic and delving as much as possible into the original sources. Among other things, the bible is the result of a millennia long political process that determined just what texts are considered part of the bible. The RC bible, for instance, contains an assortment of things not in the Protestant version.
And "neutral translation" is in the eye of the beholder. Do you know enough of the original source material to determine whether the translation you have
is neutral? You must also contend with the variance in languages, and the concept that "the map is not the territory". Many things won't
have exact translations, because there may not be a word or phrase in English that exactly captures the meaning of the original statement.
And you must contend with your own inherent biases (which you can't help having), that will affect just what you consider to be a neutral translation of the text, and must confront the issue of "What did this statement mean to the folks who
wrote it?" They lived in a very different time under very different conditions. The best translation we might devise would still be imperfect because of the difference in viewpoint. The words likely meant something different to the folks who wrote them than they do now.
And when you drop the New Testament from the equation, you still have choices. Are you interested only in Torah (in which case study under a Rabbi might be appropriate, depending upon which particular form of Judaism you espouse, and which Rabbi you would consider a good guide), or are you interested in the entire Old Testament?
And last, you have to consider why you are doing it, and what you expect to get from the process.
Personally, I like the KJV as a work of literature, because I like the language. I don't consider it authoritative, but then, I don't consider
any work of scripture authoritative. I'm interested in religions in general, but a believer in none of them. What fascinates me the the manifold different ways the spiritual urge has manifested itself in human cultures through history. So I have a variety of sacred texts on my PDA, including several versions of the Bible, the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, a version of the Babylonian Talmud, the Book of Mormon, and several other things.
My preferred view is Palm Bible+, an open source PalmOS program designed for displaying bibles, which has a split-screen view with synchronized scrolling, so you can do phrase by phrase comparisons of different texts, and (if you have the appropriate skin loaded) display in Greek or Hebrew as well as English). The format is documented, and what you read with it doesn't have the be the Bible: I have a version of the Koran in Bible+ format.
Good luck on your quest. I'm not sure your goal is attainable, but I think in this case the journey is more important than the destination.
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Dennis