Reviews of Bible Translations
Please keep in mind that some of these
reviews are off the cuff remarks, and the reader may not understand all
of them, and that they were created at the request of readers. All of
these versions are sensitive to Torah observance, though not all do a
good job of defending it.
0. The first thing anyone needs to know is that they should get a
literal version like the NASB or ESV. All other translations should be
supplemental to correct the problems of those two versions. Second
there is no substitute for the faithful reading LARGE amounts of the
Torah and Prophets and the Apostolic Writings to find out what Yahweh
is like, paying attention to the context, and asking in Prayer for
answers concerning any problems or misunderstandings. Readers should
feel free to question any wording in any translation that does not make
logical sense to them in accord with the overall context of the
Scripture. You will do well with this advice if you are trustingly
faithful in Messiah Yeshua, who is the Almighty Son, the Elohim who
became man, that he died for your sins and rose again on the third day.
Above all, from a position of being in Messiah, you must pray
concerning translations. There is no substitute to the Ruakh guiding
you in this matter. Anyone who does not get their answers and
discernment from the Spirit will fail. It is by following my own
advice that I have been able to produce the GNM.
0.0 Also keep in mind that we are dealing with a situation of 19
centuries of corruption and drift away from an understanding of the
original text. It will take years for these problems to be fully
corrected and probably a restoration of the kingdom to Yisrael first.
1. One New Man Bible (Review based on promotional page): PDF.
2. ONMB Review #2: PDF.
3. ONMB Review #3: PDF.
Summary ONM: The author appears to be a sincere
believer in Messiah. He observes Sabbath and no doubt has fixed a lot
of problems in a practical way, though not in an accurate way, which
makes apologetical use of his translation difficult. His translation
suffers from the tradition of avoiding the name YHWH, and the usual
mistranslations of "faith" and "believe." His theory of Hebrew tense is
outside the norm. He ignores the jussive. And he adds a lot of words
with no good purpose. Since I do not have a copy of this translation, I
cannot comment on anything but what was shared on the website. The
author's chronology of Saul's reign is broken.
4. TLB (Tree of Life Bible). HTML.
Summary: read the review.
5. ISR Scriptures. This translation suffers from 1. the use of
the word "belief" in the Apostolic Writings instead of "faithfulness"
or "faith.", and 2. false etymological theories concerning the word God.
4. CJB. Stern's translation is a paraphrase, yet Stern does a better
job with "faithfulness" and "trusting faithfulness" then other versions
(excepting GNM).
5. AENT. The author denies that the soul (person) of Messiah is Yahweh
in the appendix. Except for names, this version is little better than
other translations of the Aramaic Peshitta, and all of them ignore the
true Hebraic character of the Aramaic. I will do a fuller review
later. For now it is sufficent to say if I started with he Aramaic and
not the Greek, I could legitimately produce a translation looking very
much like the GNM.