# Non-English Translations and Versions



## ChristopherPaul (Feb 15, 2006)

Do non-English translations of Holy Scripture have just as many versions as the English Bible does?

Are there literal, thought-for-thought, and paraphrased versions of Bibles in other languages or is it just English?


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## WrittenFromUtopia (Feb 15, 2006)

Well, apparently there's several different Greek and Hebrew versions!


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## SolaScriptura (Feb 15, 2006)

Well... if Bibleworks is any indicator, it would seem that most languages have one or two translations.


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## Mike (Feb 15, 2006)

The shear number of English translations is prettymuch unmatched, but I know that there are multiple translations in Spanish, German, and Portuguese (and I'm sure many other languages) all with different bents, different faithfulness to the text, different historical signifigance, etc.


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## Pilgrim (Feb 15, 2006)

I think there is a Spanish NIV that is probably translated using the same principles as the English NIV. Lockman has some Spanish translations that I think are probably more literal, in the vein of the NASB. Then there's the Reina Valera, which I think is more or less the Spanish equivalent of the KJV in antiquity and prestige, etc.


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## py3ak (Feb 15, 2006)

There are several revisions of the Reina-Valera (first published 1569, revised 1602, 1862, 1909, 1960, 1977, 1995). As far as I know no one uses anything older than 1909 (some circles rather similar to KJV only use this --it has some nice archaisms, like "empero"). I just recently got one and have not looked at it much. The 1960 is the most widely used one (to the best of my knowledge). It was also updated in 1977 and 1995. The 1960 is still using the TR, so I would assume that that was part of what was updated in 77 and 95 --they are not that easy to find, actually. There is a Nueva VersiÃ³n Internacional, and La Biblia de Las AmÃ©ricas (corresponding, I believe, to the NIV and the NASB). There is also a Biblia en Lenguaje Sencillo, which does not strike me as being so heinous as the CEV or something along those lines. There are many times where the Spanish strikes me as being a better translation than any English version I have accessible. Perhaps in its genius Spanish is just closer to Greek than English. You can see this page for some examples of some really old versions:
http://www.iglesiareformada.com/Biblioteca.html
The Matthew and Mark from 1543 seem closer to Portuguese than modern Spanish is. So does the 1260 Luke.

[Edited on 2-16-2006 by py3ak]


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## Pilgrim (Feb 16, 2006)

Similarly the KJV was revised about 4 times after 1611. I think the one in common use today dates from about 1769.


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## ChristopherPaul (Feb 17, 2006)

Very helpful stuff, thank you!


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