Bibles

Lexham English Bible [LEB]

Posted on by David Cox

The Lexham English Bible (LEB) New Testament

Summary

The Lexham English Bible (LEB) New Testament was published and released by Logos Bible Software in October 2010. It lists as General Editor W. Hall Harris, III. The Old Testament translation was completed in 2011.




According to its foreword, the translator’s intent was to achieve:

“unparalleled…transparency with the original language text…. It was produced with the specific purpose of being used alongside the original language text of the Bible. Existing translations, however excellent they may be in terms of English style and idiom, are frequently so far removed from the original language texts of scripture that straightforward comparison is difficult for the average user…. The ability to make such comparisons easily in software formats…makes the need for an English translation specifically designed for such comparison even more acute.”

The LEB is relatively literal and was derived from an interlinear translation of the Greek NT. An unusual feature of the LEB is the use of corner brackets to mark idioms in the English translation. Italics are used to indicate words supplied by the translator with no direct equivalent in the underlying Greek.
At its release, it only included the New Testament and was simultaneously offered for free use for Logos users as well as other popular software suites, including freeware such as e-Sword and The SWORD Project. These have since been updated to include the Old Testament. It can also be accessed in its entirety on websites listed below. The LEB is available under a very permissive license which allows royalty-free commercial and non-commercial use.

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Download: Lexham English Bible [LEB]

Lighthouse Bible [LHB]

Posted on by David Cox

Lighthouse Bible [LHB]




Summary

The Lighthouse Bible preserves the meaning, style, and words of the King James Version as far as possible while modernizing the language. Occasionally old words like “ye” and “thou” are left in. Verses that are in the KJV but left out in many modern versions have been included. This translation was done using the e-Sword software as well as online dictionaries of the English language. Factors taken into account in the translation process were the definitions of words in the KJV as found in old dictionaries, the way in which words and expressions are used elsewhere in the KJV, the underlying Hebrew and Greek and their English translations, and the context of the passage. Also, five Bible commentaries, those of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Barnes, Wesley, Clarke, and Matthew Henry, as well as the 1599 Geneva Bible Translation Notes, were frequently consulted for insight into the meaning of the passage.
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Smith’s Literal Translation [SLT]

Posted on by David Cox

Smith’s Literal Translation [SLT]

Summary

The Julia Evelina Smith Parker Translation is considered the first complete translation of the Bible into English by a woman. The Bible was titled The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments; Translated Literally from the Original Tongues.

(This Bible version is not by the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith)

Julia Smith, of Glastonbury, Connecticut had a working knowledge of Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Her father had been a Congregationalist minister before he became a lawyer. Having read the Bible in its original languages, she set about creating her own translation, which she completed in 1855, after a number of drafts. The work is a strictly literal rendering, always translating a Greek or Hebrew word with the same word wherever possible. Smith accomplished this work on her own in the span of eight years (1847 to 1855). She had sought out no help in the venture, even writing, “I do not see that anybody can know more about it than I do.” Smith’s insistence on complete literalness, plus an effort to translate each original word with the same English word, combined with an odd notion of Hebrew tenses (often translating the Hebrew imperfect tense with the English future) results in a translation that is mechanical and often nonsensical.

In 1876, at 84 years of age some 21 years after completing her work, she finally sought publication. The publication costs ($4,000) were personally funded by Julia and her sister Abby Smith. The 1,000 copies printed were offered for $2.50 each, but her household auction in 1884 sold about 50 remaining copies.

The translation fell into obscurity as it was for the most part too literal and lacked any flow. Jer. 22:23 was given as follows: “Thou dwelling in Lebanon, building as nest in the cedars, how being compassionated in pangs coming to thee the pain as in her bringing forth.” Continue reading →

New Heart English Bible [NHEB]

Posted on by David Cox

New Heart English Bible [NHEB]

Summary

The goal of this work is to provide a modern and accurate English translation Bible based on the latest standard texts for the public domain.

The main text chosen for the Old Testament is Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. A modern public domain Old Testament was used and minor improvements were made. The main text chosen for the New Testament is the United Bible Societies Greek New Testament, Fourth Edition (UBS4). A public domain modern English New Testament version which used the Byzantine Majority Greek text was used as a base text and was conformed to the United Bible Societies Greek text, except where noted

The New Testament footnotes contain many comparisons of the United Bible Societies Greek text with the Majority and TR Greek, Latin Vulgate and Aramaic Peshitta.

It is hoped that this work will reach many, and the Good News of Jesus Christ will expand even further the kingdom of God. Continue reading →