What versions/translations of the Old Testament, New Testament, and Koran are best?

Jewish Paladin JPA & Libertarian
#1. January 10th, 2010, at 7:00 PM.

If you want to learn about Judaism, then buying the Old Testament won’t help. That book is a mistranslated and the church version of the Torah.

I don’t know which English version of the Torah is the best, but I have heard things about the JPS version.
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Bob
#2. January 10th, 2010, at 7:30 PM.

I never cared before… and then Jewel came to me one night, naked… really naked… and said " just look at me…..
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Haunter of the Dark
#3. January 10th, 2010, at 8:07 PM.

I use the New Jerusalme version of the Bible for most of my translation stuff. But here is an english site that deals with a somewhat direct translation of the OT from Hebrew:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Bible/jpstoc.html
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#4. January 10th, 2010, at 8:33 PM.

For Quran there isnt any ‘versions’ but the best Quran to get is from the Fadh Complex(from Saudi, all checked by Alims aka Islamic Scholars)

If you want… i can send you one by post im a generous person i wont charge you…

Edit:its both english and arabic, and also contains explanations of the verses…some verses you go wtf lol
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muslim

ady
#5. January 10th, 2010, at 9:09 PM.

There is only 1 version of quran, and any translations will do, (by muslim of course), Shakir, yusuf ali or Marmaduke pitchall
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orsbe
#6. January 10th, 2010, at 9:23 PM.

In my opinion ,the Good News Bible. However ,just be aware that it uses a method called "dynamic equivalence" ,that is not a literal way of translating the Bible . Some parts ,in my opinion are not accurately translated and don’t give the real ,right meaning ,It is sometimes what the translator thinks is the right word to translate .

Some people say the English translation itself is inspired by the Holy Spirit/God. This is partially true and partially false in my opinion-a half -truth .This goes for the Good News too but I like this translation because it’s so easy to understand and uses poetical ,appealing language .It was the first Bible that I discovered God in.
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Yusofa’s 3 Tribes & 2 Clans
#7. January 10th, 2010, at 9:51 PM.

The original Hebrew Bible was closed with the Great Assembly and the Prophet Ezra around 325 ce. The Dead Sea Hebrew Bible (350 bce) discovered by Muslims and id’d by RC Church, is the same Hebrew Bible used around the world today by Jews. There is no choice. If want a good English, try just the 2 vol. book on Bereishit by ArtScroll Publishers. On line, check the Hebrew on the Torah with Rashi commentary to explain the English. For NT look up the oldest edition, Codex Sinaiticus with the Codex Tchacos which are now available.

Review the God-Fearers, obligations, which are found in the NT (Book of Acts) and throughout the Koran. See 1stCovenant.org for other message taught before the Pauline Doctrine was adopted at the First Church Council at Nicaea in 325 ce.

Harder to get a hold of the earliest Koran. With much infighting among who was the real heir… and delays in getting the words on paper, many have been destroyed depending on the sect that had an edition. You would do better to research early Islam and seek the rare-book department at a large university. My father, a biblical scholar and a Deist, had a very old edition in French and Arabic and varied considerably from the one that is circulated today. So I think you really would have to do a lot of checking. Example: the Koran has Haman, from the story of Esther, meeting Pharaoh (from book of Exodus), at the Tower of Babel (Genesis). They also define God of Israel not as Allah (so research Allah).

Both Christianity and Islam are founded on a body going to a heavenly reward or permanent hell, which doesn’t exist in Judaism. So you have to look the background of Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jinns, worship of angels, look up transubstantiation, ghee, Persian paganism and the mythologies and customs from Egypt: virgin Isis had a son-god named in Persia as Isa, which later became Jesus in Arabic and found its way to Islam which differs with the NT story, Don’t leave out Rev. Sun Moon on Christianity, and Mormon religion. Review the miracle & titles of Krishna and Buddha that are in the NT and how Alexander the Great brought them to Greece and ended up in Egypt before the common era. They were a draw for Romans and influenced the customs and religions for all time.
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DRDAVE
#8. January 10th, 2010, at 10:04 PM.

First the Bible,

Don’t let the word "version" fool you. Back when the King James translation was done, the English word "version" meant a translation. We have lots of old manuscripts in the original languages of the Bible, so anybody can study the languages and do their own.

You should be aware that the Bible was copied by hand for centuries so you will find some variations in the ancient texts. None of the variations have been hidden and none affect important teachings, but each translation will indicate which scholarly text is being used, and some will footnote the differences for you.

King James, New King James, American Standard, and New American Standard are more literal than others. But sometimes literal doesn’t adequately describe what message is really being conveyed, or becomes difficult to read. For example a literal English translation of a Spanish speaker’s discussion of the weather, might say, "it is making hot today" or "it is making rain today".

On the other end of the scale, you have a paraphrase which is an attempt to interpret for you. The Living Bible is an example of a paraphrase. Dynamic equivalence is a middle ground approach.

As for the Koran (or Quran depending on how you should transliterate from the Arabic alphabet to the English alphabet), numerous variations were destroyed by scholars under the authority of one of the Caliphs so they are not available for study today.

I have been told by Muslims that the only acceptable Koran (or Quran) is in Arabic. That is because translation is difficult and any translation could possibly have errors in it.

Some Arabic language scholars have translated the Koran into English over the years, and I understand the Saudis have produced one fairly recently to try to appeal to English speaking non-Muslims.

I have one called "The Koran with commentary" based on an 1861 translation by J. M Rodwell and a 20th century commentary by Moody Adams to help Christian readers compare it to the Bible.
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S P C
#9. January 10th, 2010, at 10:10 PM.

I have the Spirit filled Life Bible. Don’t know about the muslims more than those I interact with. aiyhwh
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