A note on Bible translations

Before we get started, please read my previous article, here; Jesus's humanity, check out my latest on Locals, here; Why the Iran strikes needed to happen, and, hey, remember, I wrote a book, you can find out more about that, here; Elisabeth and the other man (paperback), Elisabeth and the other man (ebook)

As someone who fancies myself a wannabe polyglot, I think there are many people who don't understand how difficult it can be to translate The Bible.
Let's take a non-biblical language like French (As I am semi-competent in French).
In French, “je suis” can mean both “I am” and “I follow”.
Obviously, you'll usually know what something means based on context.
So, I'm going to do one better. I'm going to translate an entire book of the Bible from French into English.
Don't get carried away, it's going to be a short book (3 Jean).
“Among the elders, to my dear Gaius, whom I love in all truth. Dear friend, I hope that all goes well for you, that will be in good health, also, physically, as well as you are spiritually.
Some brothers have come and have told me that you are faithful to the truth, and how you live according to the truth.
I was very happy.
Nothing can make me more happy that I've heard that my children are living according to truth.
Dear friend, you have shown your faithfulness in all that you have done, for brothers, even strangers. They have testified of your love before our church. Help them, I ask of you, to follow their journey, in a manner dignified by God.
Effectively, they have themselves taken this route in the service of Christ without accepting anything from pagans.
We, therefore must remember of such men, that collaborate with with us, the diffusion of truth. I have written a short letter to your church: But Diotrophus, who likes to direct everything, takes nothing I have said into account,
It is why, when I come, I will denounce the evil that he has done.
He, who has intention to declare malice and lies about our subject.
But, this is not all: he refuses to received the visiting brothers and those who want to receive them, he prevents them, threatening to chase them out of the church.
Dear friend, do not imitate those who are evil, but those who are good.
Those who practice good belong to God: Those who do evil do not know God.
All good said from Demetrius, is true, whose confidence is in your favor.
We render also, testimony, and you know that this testimony is true.
I still have many things to say to you, but I would rather not take to writing with quill and ink.
I hope to see you soon, and we can speak in person.
That the peace of Christ be with you.
Your friends, address them with salutations.
Greet our friends, each on in particular”.

Now, you'll note, that I am not saying there aren't legitimate criticisms of Bible translations.  There are, but, what I'm saying, is that it's not always easy to translate from one language to another.  Sometimes you drop words that should be there, sometime you add words that, even in your native language, would be redundant.

The broader point, I'm trying to make, is this.  

It's not as easy as you think. 

Even with English being heavily influenced by French and closely related Norman, there are still a lot of differences.  English, at its root, is a west Germanic language.  

That translation doesn't sound the prettiest, but, it's as literal as I could make it, based on a not so literal translation.  

Some idioms don't translate well, either.  Like, for instance, sometimes, the Bible actually uses the word "bowels" in Hebrew, but, we translate it to "heart, in English, meeh. 

And, I can feel it in my bowels that some of the people who want better translations are sincere, BUT, this doesn't mean their criticisms are always warranted.  

*All translations are my own, but, they were translated from La Bible en français courant avec notes avec les deutérocanoniques

Special thanks to Nicki, my college French professor, and God bless her!