English Bibles Classifed

I have attempted to classify the Bibles in my Logos Library into 5 Categories

1. Word for Word

2. Dynamic Equivalence

3. Paraphrase

4. Historical

5. Individual Translation

Here is the Word Doc of what I have classified so far. If there are other Bibles in Logos that I have missed please let me know and I will update the Word Doc.

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Milford Charles Murray

I have attempted to classify the Bibles in my Logos Library into 5 Categories

1. Word for Word

2. Dynamic Equivalence

3. Paraphrase

4. Historical

5. Individual Translation

Here is the Word Doc of what I have classified so far. If there are other Bibles in Logos that I have missed please let me know and I will update the Word Doc.

Peace, John! *smile*

A worthy project, indeed! It's going to need a lot of "tidying up," though!

For example:

GOD’S WORD Translation. Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 1995.

Definitely, not a paraphrase ... I know it and love it! It's has received very high accolades for its penetrating scholarship. *smile*

GOD’S WORD Translation

by God's Word to the Nations Bible Society

Baker 1995

Overview

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW) communicates the saving, life-changing Good News about Jesus in clear, natural English. Translated directly from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek by a committee of scholars, GOD’S WORD is an exceptional Bible that consciously combines scholarly fidelity with natural English.

By implementing the translation principles of Closest Natural Equivalence, the translation committee seeks to translate the best available texts into English with the closest possible accuracy. This commitment to accurately translating the Bible includes expressing the meaning naturally and in a style that preserves the characteristics of the source text.

The combination of accuracy and readability makes GOD’S WORD ideally suited for the following:

Devotional reading and in-depth studyPreaching, teaching, and worshipMemorizationDiscipleship

Praise for the Print Edition

GOD'S WORD is an easy-to-understand Bible. . . . It is a wonderful version.

—Billy Graham

GOD'S WORD is a remarkably fresh, accurate, and readable translation that communicates well the original text for modern readers. Based on a sound linguistic approach, this new translation is an outstanding achievement.

—Dr. David Dockery

Even if the rather prolific output of modern translations, paraphrases, and versions of Scripture should increase, this particular linguistic achievement, GOD'S WORD, will rank among the top contenders with the Bible-reading public.

—Dr. D. James Kennedy

The Bible is the means God has chosen to reach out in human language, reveal the essence of his relational heart, and relate the Good News of his redemptive plan. GOD'S WORD Translation presents that message in a way that makes sense to readers of all ages. It is an accurate translation using modern English language and phraseology which makes it easier to understand.

—Josh McDowell

Also, I didn't see the ISV in your document!

God's richest blessings, John! Thank you for sharing!

John Brumett

Here is what you can do to make this useful:

1. Tag your Bibles in your Library with these 5 catagories.

2. Create 5 collection with the Titles

English Bibles: Dynamic Equivalence

English Bibles:Paraphrase

English Bibles:Historical

English Bibles:Word for Word

English Bibles:Individual Translations

In your collections use this rule: mytag:Paraphrase and mytag:Historical; ect.

Check the Box show in Parallel Resources.

Put your favorite Bible in all 5 collections. I put the NKJV in all 5 of my collections.

You parallel resources should look like this:

John Brumett

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/487628#Comment_487628

You right it looks like it might fit more under dynamic equivalence. I ran a passage analysis on the book of Ephesians and this is what it looks like.

John Brumett

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/487630#Comment_487630

You can see it is very close to the NCV which is a dynamic equivalence translation.

John Brumett

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/487633#Comment_487633

He is the picture that I tried to post.

John Brumett

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/487635#Comment_487635

As you can see from the prior picture you can put bible harmonies and bible apparatus in a collect to show in parallel resources just remember to add your favorite English Bible to each collection and check the box "show in Parallel Resources". I find this easier to access when I am in a Bible Passage.

Milford Charles Murray

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/487638#Comment_487638

Once again, John, I thank you for your very hard work -- a labour of love, I'm sure -- and bless you for your very original and creative thinking.

There are a number of ways this will be useful to me! *smile* Psalm 29:11

Calvin Habig

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/487641#Comment_487641

I am a bit hesitant to put this up because people seem to create more heat than light when it comes to classifying Bible translations but I found the idea of Collections of Bibles helpful. I wasn't quite comfortable with the lists & categories, however.

I checked How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth and found the following categorization:

Formal (Literal) Equivalence (according to the text,the farther down on the lists the version is, the less it holds to that category).
KJV
NKJV
NASB
NASU (NASV-1995 update)
RSV
NRSV
ESV

Functional (Dynamic) Equivalence
NIV
TNIV
NAB
NJB
GNB
REB
JB
NLT

Free
NEB
LB
The Message

This seemed to me to be too broad a categorization so I checked further. I came up with a compilation list from the following sources:
1. Thomas, Robert L., Bible Translations: The Link Between Exegesis and Expository Preaching, pages 63ff;
2. Clontz, T.E. and Clontz, J., The Comprehensive New Testament, page iii.

A predominant use of formal equivalence
    King James Version (1611)
    Young's Literal Translation (1862)
    Lexham English Bible (2011, 2012)
    *Revised Version (1885)
    American Standard Version (1901)
    Revised Standard Version (1952)
    New American Standard Bible (1995)
    New King James Version (1982)
    English Standard Version (2001)
    New Revised Standard Version (1989)
    Douay-Rheims (1610)
    Green's Literal Translation (1985)

Moderate use of dynamic equivalence
    New International Version
    Today's New International Version
    Holman Christian Standard Bible
    New American Bible
    New English Translation
    Modern Language Bible

Extensive use of dynamic equivalence or paraphrase or both
    New Jerusalem Bible
    New English Bible
    Revised English Bible
    Good News Bible (formerly "Today's English Version")
    Complete Jewish Bible
    New Living Translation
    God's Word Translation
    Contemporary English Version

Extensive use of paraphrase
    The Message (2002)
    The Living Bible (1971)

That last list is the one that I made my collections from. HOWEVER, (I hope I am not showing my igorance here, but I did not know how to classify some other Bibles in my Logos collection:
Darby
ISV
Is the NET Bible the same as the New English Traslation?
New Century Version
NIrV

Without polemics, 1. Thoughts on these categorizations. 2. Answers on my versions that I don't know how to classify?

Thanks.

(I know that this wouldn't normally go in the Files thread, but I am just playing off of the thread that was already here).

Calvin Habig

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/496696#Comment_496696

OK, I'll add more.

Logos Produced Resources:

Amplified-paraphrase?

Ones I have in Personal Book format:
Bible in Basic English
Living Oracles (Alexander Campbell-this is in process)-I would guess Formal Equivalence, but does anybody how knows this work know for sure?
New World Translation (Jehovah Witness-cult Bible, but is it a paraphrase?)
Phillips Translation-I think a paraphrase, but not sure
World English Bible

Bruce Dunning

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/496697#Comment_496697

There are some excellent suggestions in this thread. Something to consider.

Ken McGuire

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/496697#Comment_496697

Logos Produced Resources:

Amplified-paraphrase?

Normally a paraphrase is created to try to reproduce the idea of the text into something sounding more natural in another language. The Amplified bible does not sound like normal English. Yeah - it rejects a one for one verbal equivalence to try to give all the senses of "key" greek words. But its goal is to be a "literal" translation.

Admittedly I am not much of a fan of it...

Calvin Habig

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/496771#Comment_496771

Thanks.

abondservant

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/487627#Comment_487627

Praise for the Print Edition

GOD'S WORD is an easy-to-understand Bible. . . . It is a wonderful version.

—Billy Graham

GOD'S WORD is a remarkably fresh, accurate, and readable translation that communicates well the original text for modern readers. Based on a sound linguistic approach, this new translation is an outstanding achievement.

—Dr. David Dockery

Even if the rather prolific output of modern translations, paraphrases, and versions of Scripture should increase, this particular linguistic achievement, GOD'S WORD, will rank among the top contenders with the Bible-reading public.

—Dr. D. James Kennedy

The Bible is the means God has chosen to reach out in human language, reveal the essence of his relational heart, and relate the Good News of his redemptive plan. GOD'S WORD Translation presents that message in a way that makes sense to readers of all ages. It is an accurate translation using modern English language and phraseology which makes it easier to understand.

—Josh McDowell

Also, I didn't see the ISV in your document!

God's richest blessings, John! Thank you for sharing!

I graduated from one of the same schools as Billy Graham. He's great. Scholar he is not. I don't mean that as a slight in any way, I have a lot of respect for him, for his submission to the Lord, and the ways God has used him to advance the Kingdom. I'll probably try to take a group to his rally this fall/winter.

Great idea though, I have a hard time remembering how to classify a few of the translations in my library. This is a great start!