What About Free Translations?

Translators who produce what are frequently referred to as paraphrase Bibles, or free translations, take liberties with the text as presented in the original languages. How so? They either insert their opinion of what the original text could mean or omit some of the information contained in the original text. Paraphrase translations may be appealing because they are easy to read. However, their very freeness at times obscures or changes the meaning of the original text.

Consider the way that one paraphrase Bible translates Jesus’ famous model prayer: “Our Father in heaven, reveal who you are.” (Matthew 6:9, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language) A more accurate translation of Jesus’ words renders this passage: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified.” Note, too, the way that John 17:26 is rendered in some Bibles. According to one free translation, on the night of his arrest, Jesus said to his Father in prayer: “I made you known to them.” (Today’s English Version) However, a more faithful rendering of Jesus’ prayer reads: “I have made your name known to them.” Can you see how some translators actually hide the fact that God has a name that should be used and honored?

Why the Need for Caution?

Some free translations obscure the moral standards conveyed in the original text. For example, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language says at 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10: “Don’t you realize that this is not the way to live? Unjust people who don’t care about God will not be joining in his kingdom. Those who use and abuse each other, use and abuse sex, use and abuse the earth and everything in it, don’t qualify as citizens in God’s kingdom.”

Compare that version with the more accurate rendering found in the New World Translation: “What! Do you not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men, nor thieves, nor greedy persons, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit God’s kingdom.” Notice that the details outlined by the apostle Paul on exactly what kind of conduct we should avoid are not even mentioned in the free translation.

Doctrinal bias can also color a translator’s work. For example, Today’s English Version, commonly called the Good News Bible, has Jesus saying to his followers: “Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate to hell is wide and the road that leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it.” (Matthew 7:13) The translators inserted the term “hell” even though Matthew’s account clearly says “destruction.” Why did they do so? Likely, it is because they want to promote the idea that the wicked will be eternally tormented, not destroyed.c

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AN ANCIENT PARAPHRASE

Paraphrases, or free translations, of the Bible are not new. In ancient times, the Jewish people compiled what are now called the Aramaic Targums, or loose paraphrases of the Scriptures. Though they are not accurate translations, they reveal how the Jewish people understood some texts and help translators to determine the meaning of some difficult passages. For example, at Job 38:7, “sons of God” is explained to mean “bands of the angels.” At Genesis 10:9, the Targums indicate that the Hebrew preposition used in describing Nimrod carries the hostile meaning “against” or “in opposition to” rather than simply meaning “before” in a neutral sense. These paraphrases accompanied the Bible text but were never intended as a substitute for the Bible itself.

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A SECTION OF WALTON’S “BIBLIA POLYGLOTTA,” COMPLETED 1657 JOB 38:1-15

Hebrew Bible text (with Latin Interlinear Translation)

Corresponding text of Aramaic Targum