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Saturday, April 02, 2005

NCV (New Century Version)

about the NCV:
The Easiest to Understand Translation™

God intended for everyone to be able to understand his Word. So just as Jesus, the Master Teacher, taught spiritual principles by comparing them to such familiar terms as pearls, seeds, rocks, trees and sheep, the New Century Version translates the Scriptures in the familiar, everyday words of our times.

A Trustworthy Translation
The first concern during the NCV translation process was that the translation be faithful to the manuscripts in the original languages. A team composed of the World Bible Translation Center and fifty additional, highly qualified and experienced Bible scholars and translators was assembled. The team included people with translation experience on such accepted versions as the New International Version, the New American Standard Bible, and the New King James Version. The most recent scholarship and the best available Hebrew and Greek texts were used, principally the third edition of the United Bible Societies’ Greek text and the latest edition of the Biblia Hebraica, along with the Septuagint.

A Clear Translation
The second concern was to make the language clear enough for anyone to read the Bible and understand it for himself. In maintaining clear language, several guidelines were followed ...

6 Comments:

At Wed Apr 13, 03:23:00 PM, Blogger Wayne Leman said...

Luke 4:22 "the words of grace"

The many other English versions which I studied all translated the original Greek here as an attributive genitive, with most using the wording "the gracious words." The NCV leaves an ambiguity here which likely is not an ambiguity in the Greek, namely, whether these are words characterized by grace (that is, gracious) or words about grace.

 
At Sun Apr 24, 06:49:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Genesis 1:1
"In the beginning God created the sky and the earth."

NCV made a lie with this verse; this bible flunked as the Bible. Too sad.

It is not the sky and the earth God created here.

If any translator does not know difference between heaven and sky, he should be disqualified as a translator, unless it is meant for a children's [story] bible.

They have defaced the most awesome and majectic verse in the whole Bible.

Is it the way they found to make the Bible easier to read? Hogwash!

 
At Fri Jun 24, 08:42:00 AM, Blogger Trevor Jenkins said...

Some more literal translations render Phil 4:13 something like "I can do all things through him who strengths me". The NCV renders it as "I can do all things through Christ, because he gives me strength". This makes explicit the referent of the "him" used by other translations. Perhaps a little too explicit because the closest referent is "the Lord" mentioned in v10.

This unfortunate explication down values the verse, IMHO, because it only mentions one member of the Trinity rather than all three as might be implied from the Lord in v10 or continued in v19 as "my God" and "Christ Jesus".

This comment also applies to the NLT, GW, and CEV possibly others.

 
At Mon Aug 22, 11:18:00 AM, Blogger John said...

kwonbooks,

Actually the word translated as "heaven" in English is plural in both Greek and Hebrew. So the original meant "the heavens" which in ancient times refered to the immediatlu percived sky, the "firmament" above the sky and what ever else might be up there.

It most certainly did not mean "heaven" as in an ethereal wonderland in some other mode of existence. The term "the heavens" marks something which we can observe with our eyes but which also goes further beyond into the unknown.

So technically, to translate that term as "sky" rather than "heaven" is preferable since the term "heaven" congers up images which have more to do with medieval writers like Dante and the stuff of cream cheese comercials than they do God's Holy Word. (Sorry to break it to you- but do some grammar work and you'll see what I mean.)

At the same time, I do agree that while using the word "sky" gets us into the right frame of imagery, it falls woefully short of describing the wonders which God has made. So I wish it were translated absolutely literally as "the heavens" so that people could right have both sun and clouds in mind and all that we might see through the eye of the Hubble telescope and still yet dream of all which God has made and which we have still not yet gazed upon. Such would be a fitting and reverent approach indeed.

 
At Mon Apr 16, 10:39:00 PM, Blogger Stephen J. Hardy said...

I understand the points related to grammar issues; however, this version is excellent for Deaf people. Its clear and easy to understand. Heavens are not easily understood because to the Deaf it is a house where God resides. If used sky and this makes it easier for them to comprehend.

I prefer ESV myself and with the interlinear on the side to help me to see the word in Greek as to check for lingustic rules.

Most Deaf people's first language is American Sign Language and English is the most difficult language to master as it is designed for speaking.

I am only expressing an opinion based on experience as a culturally and lingustically Deaf person.

God Bless!

DeafGeek

Note: Capital D for Deaf denotes that a Deaf person is a member of the Deaf community and uses American Sign Language as their primary language for communication also expression of thoughts and ideas.

 
At Wed Apr 18, 10:48:00 AM, Blogger Trevor Jenkins said...

I agree with pretty much all of what Stephen Hardy says about Deaf. Except in one large regard. ASL is only the language of a minority of Deaf people. For example, here in Britain we use British Sign Language. It is different from ASL, which is the language of American Deaf, including and immediately noticable in the fingerspelling alphabets --- ASL is one-handed, BSL is two.

There are also regional variations in BSL's fingerspelling system. Welsh has several signle characters written down as repeated letters (LL and DD) that are rendering in the Welsh variant of BSL as single characters.

Each country has its own indigenous sign language which like BSL look nothing like ASL --- except where there has been missionary intrusion.

I should pint out to new readers that I am in training to be a BSL/English interpreter. I should also point out that a one- or two-handed fingerspelling system doesn't alter my being dyslexic.

 

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