Why a New Translation?

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>For The Believers In The Body Of Christ</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="For The Believers In The Body Of Christ"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id444.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Recovery Version"><U>The Recovery Version</U></A><B>   |   </B><B>Why a New Translation?</B><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id446.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="To Receive a Complimentary Bible"><U>To Receive a Complimentary Bible</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id766.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="An Independent Assessment"><U>An Independent Assessment</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="02ad2c00dkelyh.gif"> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Spiritual Food"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011899330000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Spiritual Food</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Psalms, Hymns Spiritual Songs"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011899330000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id147.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gospel Outreach"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011899330000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Gospel Outreach</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id159.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Us"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011899330000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">"About Us"</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id186.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011899330000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Contact Us</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id187.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Related Links"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011899330000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Related Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id639.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="JESUS IS LORD!"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011899330000.gif" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">JESUS IS LORD!</B></U></A></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  </div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Why a New Translation?</I></div> <div> <A HREF="id444.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Recovery Version"><U>A Brief Explanatio</U></A><A HREF="id444.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Recovery Version"><U>n of the Recovery Version (Witness Lee)</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id446.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="To Receive a Complimentary Bible"><U>To Receive a Complimentary Bible</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id766.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="An Independent Assessment"><U>An Independent Assessment</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B>In February 2001 in Cambridge, England, Bibles for America interviewed Dr. Kerry Robichaux of Living Stream Ministry.   Dr. Robichaux obtained his Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Texas at Arlington and is the lead translator of the Recovery Version.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>What would you say to those who ask, “Why did you translate the Bible when there are so many translations already?”</B></div> <bR> <div> This is the most common question we get, and it's a very good question. We certainly don't mean to say that other versions are inadequate.  In my own personal study of the Bible, I make use of at least twenty other versions in the English language, not to mention German and French language versions.</div> <bR> <div> The whole situation with Bible translation is extremely rich today. We agree that there are some very good translations of the Bible already.  Each one has its particular characteristic, merit, and use.  Our feeling in doing the Recovery Version was not to deny the value of other versions but to contribute more value to the translation of the Bible in the English language.  I believe the main reason Living Stream Ministry got into the work of translating the Bible is very simple: it's because it is the Bible.  The Bible is the one book in the universe that is worth translating again and again.</div> <div> I think every translator will tell you that his or her own work is not perfect and can always be improved and adjusted.  Translation is not a perfect process.  So there's much room for doing translation work of the Bible.  I don't think it's stealing from the glory of God that we translate the Bible yet again.  Rather it's glorifying Him as the Author that we would translate the Bible once more.  In fact, as a translator of the Recovery Version, although the work is done, I'm always thinking I'd like to go back and redo it from scratch and do it from a different perspective, with a different emphasis.  When people translate the Bible they are indicating that they love the Bible, that they are serious students of the Bible, and that they feel we should get into the study of the Bible to such an extent that we actually go into the original languages to pull out as much as we can from God's Word.  I believe this is what the Living Stream Ministry has done, and we continue to do this in other languages besides English.</div> <bR> <div> Our translation of the Bible compares with other translations in several ways.  I think the chief characteristic of ours is that it is more literal than many of the more modern translations. Today in modern Bible translation work there is a tendency toward readability and accessibility to the modern reader.  I definitely agree that this is a big need, and I commend the newer versions for their work in this area.  It's important that Christians read the Bible often, casually, quickly.  We should fill our days with the reading of the Bible.  But we should also have some serious study of the Bible, even word by word and verse by verse study.  It's this kind of serious study that we're directing our work to.</div> <bR> <div> Our particular emphasis in doing this work was accuracy.  We're more interested in bringing the original meanings of the Greek and Hebrew languages into the English language in a very accurate and literal way.  To do this type of work, we realize that sometimes readability would have to be sacrificed. I can tell you that in many places the Recovery Version is not as readable and is more awkward than the more modern versions.  But in those places, I think you will find that the reading is awkward because the original Greek or Hebrew is actually expressed in that way.  We preserve that sort of expression not simply to be accurate, but because we believe it has meaning as far as the divine revelation is concerned.  We try to preserve meaning because we believe there is important meaning in the original expression of the Bible.  Because our work is so accurate, many times we rely on the footnotes, outlines, and supplementary material in the Recovery Version to help our reader understand exactly what is happening in the original text.  That being the case, the Recovery Version actually succeeds as a literal and accurate translation because it is completely aided by footnotes that explain difficult passages.</div> <bR> <div> The Recovery Version is for people who want to study the Bible.  It's for people who want to understand in a fine way what the Bible is all about.  This vision governed our work entirely.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Speaking of accuracy in your translation, what Greek text did you use for the New Testament Recovery Version?</B></div> <bR> <div> When we say we try to translate accurately from the original text, what we're referring to is a translation from the current scholarly edition of the Greek text.  There are a number of Greek</div> <div> New Testament manuscripts, and there is some variation among the manuscripts, although it's minimal.  Throughout the last hundred years or so there has been a fairly extensive scholarly effort to compare the manuscripts and to try to ascertain what the original text looked like.  The Nestle-Aland (26th edition) Greek text called the Novum Testamentum Greece is the current result of that research and is a collection of scholarly decisions regarding the manuscripts of the Greek New Testament.  This is what we used as our base for translating the Recovery Version of the New Testament.  However in doing our work, although we were very close in almost every way to this scholarly consensus, there are some places where through our own study we felt that the original text might have looked a little bit differently based on other manuscripts that are noted in this work.  So there are places in our translation where we followed other manuscripts, and in these places we indicate in our footnotes that we followed those other manuscripts.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Many people appreciate reading the New Testament Recovery Version and would like to see an entire Bible with footnotes, outlines, and other supplementary material.  Will you be publishing an Old Testament translation?</B></div> <bR> <div> Our work on the Recovery Version continues.  We are actively working on producing the Old Testament Recovery Version.  Thus far, we have completed the translation of the text.  So we now have in print the Holy Bible, Old Testament and New Testament with text only, meaning only the verses.  We're very pleased with this Bible.  It has the Old Testament text translated from the original Hebrew and Aramaic languages and the New Testament text that you find in the New Testament Recovery Version.  It also includes an outline for every book.  However, we didn't put all the explanatory footnotes in this text-only edition.  We really encourage all our readers to read the Bible often, to read it daily, so we're happy to have the text available as the complete Bible.  As we speak, we're working on the footnotes and cross references of the Old Testament.  We intend to publish that work in the middle or end of the year 2002.  It will be like the New Testament with full outlines at the beginning of each book and embedded throughout the text.  There will be extensive footnotes drawn from the life-study messages of Witness Lee and cross references in the side margins.  We'll also include various historical charts and geographical maps at the back.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Is the Recovery Version available in other languages?</B></div> <bR> <div> Living Stream Ministry has already published the New Testament Recovery Version in Chinese,</div> <div> Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Tagalog, a Philippine language, and Cebuano, another Philippine language.  We're now actively translating the Bible into another four or five languages, including Malaysian, Korean, and Portuguese.  We are working with teams throughout the earth to produce this translation according to this view with these riches.  We hope all our readers will enjoy our work, and we hope that the Lord will continue to bless us and our readers as we enjoy the Bible together.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><B>Bibles for America is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the complimentary distribution of the New Testament Recovery Version.  Financial offerings for the support of our work are appreciated and are used solely for the further spread of the Bibles and related literature.</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>You can order your free copy of the Recovery Version New Testament by contacting us at:</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B>Bibles For America</B></div> <div> <B>P.O. Box 17537</B></div> <div> <B>Irvine, California 92623</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Toll free:  (888) 551-0102</B></div> <div> <B>Fax:  (949) 727-0009</B></div> <div> <B>e-mail:  </B><A HREF="mailto:info@biblesforamerica.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:info@biblesforamerica.org"><U><B>info@biblesfor</B></U></A><A HREF="mailto:info@biblesforamerica.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:info@biblesforamerica.org"><U><B> america.org</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>Web:  </B><A HREF="http://www.biblesforamerica.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblesforamerica.org"><U><B>www.biblesforamerica.org</B></U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>