Two months ago I began researching the possible options for replacing the popular, and now out of print, NIV 1984. The HCSB is one English translation that is beginning to gain some traction around Sydney. Here’s an endorsement video:
I’ve been reading and enjoying the HSCB during that time. I had a go at preaching from it at Soulies Undeground last month. I stumbled a number of times when reading because of my familiarity with the NIV 1984!
Have you read much of the HCSB? What do you think?
Has anyone started using it within a youth ministry? How did it go?
EDIT: titled changed. no longer a bank.
I’ve been thinking as well; the hcsb is getting popular. Piper, Driscoll and a bunch of (american) are fans of the ESV. I’m personally leaning away from the NIV…My thoughts are that Holman I slightly more readable than ESV, so maybe a good one for personl devotion (if you want to avoid uncertainty/confusion in some cases where ESV wording could be hard to exegete without more in depth study). For preaching/ teaching, though, where the exegesis is done by those who have the time and training to go in depth and nut it out, I would personally favor something that is heralded by some of the big names/scholars as the closest to original text.
But for youth, I think Holman is probably a good option.
have you had much of a read of the 2011 niv?
Sort of; it’s reasonably similar, but I’m a little concerned about some changes. I bought an NIV 11 when they came out, and the amount of gender neutrality is reasonably high. If the original text says “brothers”, I’d be more comfortable with a translation that doesn’t add “and sisters” (because if I know that’s what it means, I can read it like that, but the bible doesn’t ACTUALLY SAY “and sisters”). I didn’t notice that much different other than that.
Loving the HCSB for personal devotions, preached a few times from it and had those times where I’ve said the NIV 84 instead out of habit.
If our church hadn’t got a recent batch of new NIV84 bibles last year I would be recommending the Holman, readable and I think just as true to the text for meaning.
Con loves it. Nuf said
Con loves it. Nuf said
haha – he’s pretty convincing in his sales pitch… although none of us are equipped enough to keep up with him!
—-
have you had much of a read of the niv 2011?
I’ll admit it, I’m a fan of the HCSB. What I’m not a fan of are the translation wars.
First it was ‘The message’, then it was the TNIV, then it was the amplified, then it was the ESV, then it was the NIV2011 and now it’s the HCSB. I’ve seen people go through every one of these bibles in the last 5 years and plugging how good they are.
We all can’t stand the ‘KJV only’ people, but I also see the exact same thing happening in the reformed evangelical crowd with their translations. Every one has the ‘best translation’, that is ‘easy to read’, yet all happen to be incredibly ‘accurate in translating the original Greek and Hebrew’.
Yes, the HCSB is a good translation. But so is ESV. And so is the NIV. The NASB is great. And Moffat’s is good for things, and so are many other translations.
The second we get too attached to a translation, we become like ‘children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine’, and when we make video’s like the one above we come very close to submitting ourselves ‘to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”’. No, there’s nothing wrong with the above video, though I do recoil from the quotes like ‘I have a hard time closing it’ and the emotional background music.
I’m not saying anything about the HCSB. I love it. I am saying we have too many frivolous ‘translation battles’. I’ve done too many Bible studies where people start comparing translations and explaining why theirs is better, rather then explaining what it’s actually saying.
I humbly suggest that translations help you understand the word, but as Christians we are at great peril of letting them become our fashion – and when that happens, we are just the same as the world.
I also gently suggest that making blog posts asking people whether they’ve ‘made the switch’ (like it’s a service provider) is perhaps not the wisest thing. People need to be encouraged to get a bible, stick with it, read it, and study it – not to have what I call ‘translation ADD’ (jumping from translation to translation).
i personally haven’t seen the fights you’re talking about.
People need to be encouraged to get a bible, stick with it, read it, and study it – not to have what I call ‘translation ADD’ (jumping from translation to translation).
i’ve personally found great value in using multiple translations.
it’s amazing that we have so many translations in english!!!
thanks be to God.
I totally agree with you mate, multiple translations are gold, it’s how I do all my studying.
It is definitely amazing that we have so many translations available in English – which is exactly why I don’t think we should limit ourselves to one as the best, whatever the current trend is.
I’m saying these things mainly because I’ve spoken to a number of people recently who are ‘making the switch’ to HCSB, and seem to be under the impression that they are going to receive divine revelation from it which is not available from other translations (no they don’t say it like that, but it’s the general gist). I’m sorry, but there’s just no way that some sections of Leviticus, Exodus and other books are going to be infinitely enthralling. I’ve spoken to many people before and after their new translation. They think the new translation will fire up their Bible reading life. But it doesn’t, because they find that you still need to have discipline and your head when you read the Bible.
That’s really my only point. Yes, the HCSB is awesome, and I love it – but in a fashion driven society we need to encourage people to have discipline in reading their bible before we delve into translation.
I work at a Christian bookshop, and I can tell you very easily the amount of people coming in to buy the HCSB, just as last year they all came in to buy the ESV (yes, it’s the same people).
I simply get saddened by video’s like the one above that take worthwhile information, and turn it into an emotional advertising campaign. The result is that people go with the hype, put their faith in the hype – and it all dies with the hype.
I have seen people get distracted by comparison of translations; I personally tend to have the “ADD”, and love checking the different translations. I think having so many good translations means that those of us who have not yet had the chance to study the original text, but who are eggheads who wish we could, can see more ways of reading the original (in the different specifics of translation). In “weighing prophecy”, I think jumping between translations can be great. For personal reading, I think people should pick one, and stick with it (in the interest of remembering it etc. With the discontinuation of NIV1984 and me needing a new bible (looks like I’ve lost my NIV,and my others are all youth study bibles etc), that’s the point I’m at; Holman, ESV, NIV, whatever. But it’s gonna be a long term commitment!
This video has convinced me to add it to my list of used translations.
it looks like the promo worked for them! haha
hey you got your blog post up quickly!
What can I say, it was a good promo!
I used it for my own reading for about 8 months.
In terms of the language style and words used, I liked it. It was refreshing. If I was to nitpick, at times it felt too american.
What I didn’t like was the layout. I find footnotes and those big bullet points distracting – I’d rather have a translation that has barely any footnotes!
I picked up a 2011 NIV on the cheap, and I’m enjoying reading it now. Translation ADD person here. I like ‘and sisters’, and usually add it in myself when I’m reading aloud from the 84NIV.
Something I’ve really liked about the 2011 NIV, reading Ezekiel, in 7:17, God says something like ‘and every leg will be wet with urine’. The ‘closer to the original language’ versions were all fairly polite, and just said things like ‘every leg will turn to water’. Go the NIV!
matty j – have you used it in youth ministry yet?
I totally get the saying “sisters”, but I also think that, even if we read it in, the actual text doesn’t say that. It’s that type of change that makes me a little less keen for the 11 NIV. It’s still a great translation, and the one I use most, as it’s the one that I have that is most convenient size etc, but I would prefer they were a little more hard line on those sorts of things.
I am a Youth Pastor and use the ESV (and I am not from a reformed church!). None of the kids complain about not understanding and a few have specifically told me that they like it. However I am not pushing a particular translation on them. They bring a variety of translations to youth service.
I started using the ESV in 2002 and have grown to like it more and more. They revised the text in 2007 and it was for the better. They also revised the text in 2011 but I don’t have one of the 2011 editions yet to comment on. I grew up using the KJV so the ESV was an easy switch for me: it is based on a better Greek text and retains the cadence and some of the traditional vocabulary of King Jimmy.
I think just about any of the modern translations are fine, although I don’t care for the NLT and avoid the Message like the plague (any bible that does what the Message does to John 1:1-2 shouldn’t even be called a bible). Ok maybe that last was a little extreme but you get my drift, lol.
Good luck in your search.
hey thanks for stopping by jeff.
appreciate your input.
are you ministering in a fairly well educated area? if so – they might have an impact? maybe.
at the moment we’re sticking with niv84… but we’re on trajectory of new niv.
i use esv the most for personal study.
i’ve been enjoying the holman too… particularly on OT.