p. 78 | The New Translation

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 22, 1867

The New Translation.

A correspondent writes: “Will you please answer the following questions through Review, and oblige me and some others: Do you consider the new translation of the Bible by the Bible Union an improvement over the common translation? In it you will find Rev. xx, 4, translated as follows: ‘And I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them, and the souls of those beheaded on account of the testimony of Jesus, and on account of the word of God; and whoever did not worship the beast neither his image, and did not receive the mark upon the forehead or upon their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.’”

ANSWER: In some instances, confined chiefly to the use of different words, we think the common translation might be improved. But what we regard as the great fault of all the translations we have seen, is an attempt to vary from the common translation wherever possible; for by so doing translators have more than counterbalanced their improvements, by the numerous instances in which they have failed to come up to the excellence which the common translation possesses. As a whole, for strength and smoothness of language, sublimity of conception, and general fidelity to the original, we do not consider that the common version has ever been equaled; nor do we believe it ever will be.