Where would you start?

[Gail]

If you were going to write your paraphrase of the Bible, what version would you work with?

Have you ever tried this exercise?

[debbym]

I think whenever i read the bible i do a mental paraphrase, which is my understanding of what i heard.  Whenever we communicate we are interpreting or understanding what others are saying to us in our own terms.  When we have no reference for we simply supply our own conmtext to do our best to understand.

And i think we all do the same thing with the Scriptures.  And if we have access to more knowledge and education we have better references for understanding the Bible.

I Like the New International Version and the New Living Translation.  I  think i would use either of them.

[Wingnut]

If you were going to write your paraphrase of the Bible, what version would you work with?

Have you ever tried this exercise?

I did try this once.  The way it worked was as follows...

Every verse in the Bible can be boiled down to a series of Strongs Hebrew and Greek numbers.

So I copied all these numbers into a file.  Then I did a search and replace of each Strong's number with the first and most common way this number is translated.  Obviously I was not going to manually do this so I wrote a Ruby program to translate the 6000 Hebrew and 6000 Greek words from their original Strongs number, getting it to automatically choose the first and most common translation of that Strongs number.

The final translation read pretty clearly and often yeilded surprising results.  Unfortunately I cannot give you a sample because it is on some backup disk somewhere.

Have you ever been tempted yourself?  Would you do a translation like the KJV or a transliteration like The Message Bible?  I sometimes love The Message as it is so powerfully written, but at the same time I don't trust it.

 

[Gail]

I have not sat down and done this, although in memorizing 1 Cor 13 I couldn't find a translation that suited me all the way through the chapter so I took the idea from each sentence that wasn't clear and memorized the principle.

When one is doing a paraphrase one's personal history can be thought into play that makes the principle real life to that person. Also, the Holy Spirit's help would clarify and unify when many Strong word meanings make for difficulty.

But in order for a person to write down a passage in his own words, he would have to consider it more deeply than a quick reading would allow.

[Gail]

And when thinking which version to consider paraphrasing, I don't know what I would do. Young's is so literal that a lot of times it doesn't make sense, although I like it when I would like clarification on a particular word. The King James is a cultural world away from us, and then again so would be the original Greek and Hebrew. I would likely want to use a range of resources, and that would make for a heavy work.

So, I really don't have an answer for that.

[Gregory Matthews]

I find what Wingnut did with Strongs is very interesting.  However, that is an improper use of Strongs, even if many people do use it in that way.  A better way would be to use a lexicon and then consider the context in deciding upon which English word to use.

On what may be considered a minor point:  The Message Bible is a paraphrase.  but, it is not a transliteration.  If it were a transliteration,  it could not be read in the English language.  I will illustrate.  The following is a transliteration of the first words of John 3:16:

Outpss gar  egapesan o Theos ton kosmon, oste toin mion

With the exception of the word Theos in the above, it is not readable in English.  You can guess that "kosmon" means cosmos or world and you would be  correct. 

A transliteration is nothing more than a direct substitution of a letter in one language with a letter in another language.     IOW, in the English speaking world, we use the Roman alphabet.  So, to transliterate from Greek to English, we simply take a Greek letter and substitute it with a letter from the Roman alphabet.

 

NOTE: The classical Roman alphabet contained 23 letters.  In modern English we have added three additional letters which were not present in the Roman alphabet.  This further complicates, along with other issues the transliteration of any language into English.

 

 

Edited October 4, 2015 by Gregory Matthews

[Aliensanctuary]

I have looked at the Reader's Digest Condensed Bible, but even it is too long for the casual reader, I feel.

I actually started out on a version I was calling The Fast Reader's Bible that would have condensed the scriptures into a few hundred pages by eliminating repetitions and details and emphasizing the main narrative. This would result in a small, readable book with larger print that would get the message of the Kingdom across to those who tend to be not inclined to pick up thick books to read. I lost the files on an old computer and have not pursued the matter any further, but thanks for refreshing the idea for me. Maybe I'll give it another try and publish it on Kindle or CreateSpace.

I think that there is a need for a short, easy-to-read adaptation of the scriptures that covers the basics of the Kingdom of YHVH.

[pnattmbtc]

If you were going to write your paraphrase of the Bible, what version would you work with?

Have you ever tried this exercise?

I think I'd work with all of them, or, as many as I could.  Maybe just 2 Greek manuscripts (Textus Receptus and something else), and then as many others as I could from as many languages as I know.  I'd be looking for ideas more than anything else, and the Greek would just be a sanity check.

I'm saying this because you said a paraphrase, in which case I'd be most interested in trying to convey my understanding of the text more than anything else.

[JoeMo]

I would never attempt this task as an individual.  It would be impossible for me to do an accurate translation or paraphrase because I would (consciously or subconciously) inject my own private interpreation into the document, as so many others have done.  Even translations done by theological committees (like the KJV or the NIV) contain some of the committee's subtle private interpretations; even if only through the placement of commas and periods.  Plus, I don't know Greek or Hebrew well enough to "translate".

[joeb]

I'm in the same boat as JoeMo. 

1. I don't feel qualified to do so.

2.  I'm afraid, just like JoeMo, that my personal biases might get in the way of truths that I do not fully understand, and thus cause harm to the cause of God.

Maybe if God came to me and told me He wanted me to do this and that HE would make sure the outcome would be what HE needed and desired then I would.  Outside of that, I think this would be an exercise in self-importance, and any exercise in self-importance is bound to work to the devil's advantage, not God's.