Bible Translations

I started studying the Bible about 25 years ago, as a college student at a Christian university. Up till that point, my only regular exposure to the Bible was at church. I would listen every Sunday, with partial interest, to a few readings and the subsequent sermon interpretations. During my college years, we were required to read through and study the entire King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. I studied and memorized all sorts of chronological facts, names, and history, but did not develop any sort of appreciation for this book for years to come. In my late twenties, I bought myself a New Living Translation (NLT) Bible. Things started getting interesting. Then, a few years later, a friend bought me a Message (MSG) Translation. This version opened up the Bible to me in a whole new way. The plain and simple language of this paraphrased version allowed a deeper and more meaningful understanding of scripture. These days, I use an online concordance to study verses from many different translations side by side. The NLT and MSG are still my favorites.

A few years ago, I ran across the Hawaiian Pidgin translation of the Bible. Native Hawaiians commonly use a pidgin form of English in their regular conversations. It is a dialect that is influenced by the various ethnic groups that immigrated to Hawaii over the centuries—Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, etc. This past week, since I was visiting Hawaii, I decided to read from the Hawaiian Pidgin Translation for a change. Here is an excerpt from Ephesians 6.

“Fo stand strong, everytime, pray an stay tight wit Godʼs Spirit. Pray bout everyting, an aks God fo help you. Make shua you guys watch out, an hang in dea an pray fo all da peopo dat stay spesho fo God. Try pray fo me too, so wen I tell da Good Kine Stuff From God, I tell um da right way an I no scared.” (Ephesians 6:18-19 HWP) http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ephesians%206&version=HWP

Now, I’m sure some of you are uncomfortable with this version of the Bible. The first time I read it, it made me laugh! Yet, on subsequent readings, it granted me insights into things I hadn’t thought of before. The word ‘Gospel’ is translated to “Good Kine Stuff from God”. This sounds much less intimidating and formal—makes it sound like anybody, including me, could share the gospel. So, I too ask for prayer—that wen I tell da Good Kine Stuff From God, I tell um da right way an I no scared.