Question first appeared on April
30, 2000
I
cannot comprehend the Bible so I read a Teen Study Bible. I don't know if it is
the true Word of God. Some things in it seem odd but I could be wrong. How can I
be sure if it is the Word of God?
The official Scriptures of the Orthodox
Church are those rendered in the Greek language: the Septuagint version of the
Old Testament, a translation from the original Hebrew into Greek in the 3"
century B.C., and the original Greek texts of the New Testament. Any English
translation that is true to these original texts would be considered
satisfactory.
I would recommend two translations that
are in modern English that should be understandable to you. One is the Revised
Standard Version. I used this translation in seminary as printed by Oxford
University Press in their "Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha."
This Bible includes all of the books contained in the Orthodox Canon of
Scriptures along with study notes and articles.
The second translation is the New King
James Version. This translation is used in the Orthodox Study Bible which is
available in the New Testament and Psalms. We have this in paperback in our
bookstore. The Old Testament and the Apocrypha books are currently in process
for this study Bible, but will not be ready until sometime in the future.
One final note. Be wary of the
difference between a "translation" and a "paraphrase." A
translation tries to render the exact meaning of the original text. A paraphrase
takes liberties in expanding the original text beyond the literal translation
from one language to another. Examples of paraphrases today are "Good News
for Modem Man" and "The Living Bible."
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