Love Letters: How Many Ways

Love Letters: How Many Ways

#3 in the Series:  Daddy, It's Me--Conversations of an Ordinary Person with an Extraordinary Heavenly Father 

In our electronic society, is it now easier than ever to have access to many translations of God’s love letter to us.  Comparing these translations can give us new insights and depths of meaning that we might otherwise miss.  In my own exploration in the the original languages it seems that one translator chooses one shade of meaning, while another has a different preference.  By comparing the translations it gives you nuances in meaning that you might otherwise be unaware of.  (No, I am not a Hebrew or Greek scholar, I use Strong’s Concordance, but that is a subject for another time.)

Here is a list of some of my favorite translation and versions of God's love letter:

KJV—I grew up with the King James Version and much of the scripture that I have committed to memory is in that version. When I’m looking for a particular scripture  I often have to use the King James to find it because of the specific words I’m looking for.

NASB—While I was in college the New American Standard Bible became popular and that was the one that I became familiar with.  This was the version which I read completely through, year after year for five years or more. This was the version that gave me the overall picture of the Bible.

NIV—When the New International Version came out, I really loved its clarity and more understandable language and it was touted as more accurate than the American Standard. I used it for many, many years and still often default to it. 

TLB—The Living Bible is a paraphrase that was especially helpful when I was raising my two boys.  It used contemporary language and even American metaphors to convey the ideas.  It was not an actual translation.

NLT—The New Living Translation has a lot of the advantages of the Living Bible’s contemporary language while still being a translation.

TPT—My new favorite contemporary language translation is The Passion Translation. It really does reveal the passionate feeling that is present throughout much of scripture which is missing in many of the other English translations.  At this time it is only available for the New Testament and Psalms and Proverbs.

ESV—Most recently I have learned of the English Standard Version. It is supposed to be one of the most accurate translations of the original languages.  It is often very similar to the New International Version.

AMP—I frequently enjoy the Amplified Version because it presents a translation and then some embellishments or multiple shades of meaning, all in one place.

It used to be that one would have to either have multiple Bibles open or purchase a Parallel Bible to be able to compare translations.  Now with the many apps available it is a simple matter of pushing a button to select which translations you want to compare.  My favorite apps for this purpose are YouVersion and The Blue Letter Bible.  Both have apps available for Apple and Android.

Take for example 1 Corinthians 3:4

NIV:  “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”

AMP:  “Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant.”

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TPT:  “Love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else. Love does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance.”

ESV:  “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant”

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‭‭JUB (Jubilee Bible):  “Charity suffers long and is benign; charity envies not; charity does nothing without due reason, is not puffed up,”

EASY (Easy English Bible 2018). “If I love, I will be patient. I will be kind. I will not want to be like other people so much that I get angry with them. I will not tell people how good I am. I will not think that I am better than other people.”

There are many, many others. According to the internet there are 450 English translations and over 2000 translations around the world.  

Enjoy comparing your favorites to get a deeper meaning of God’s love letter to you.

Then let me know what you found out!

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