THE ENGLISH HOLY BIBLE: LANGUAGE AND MULTIPLICITY

Abstract

The English Bible has been known to have different versions, but before the first version waspublished, it existed in other languages. . It is not an overstatement that there is no other textthat has enjoyed the number of translations as the Bible. These translations originate as a resultof the fact that the translators had various perspectives to translations. There are, however,various processes it had passed through in order to be translated into English and otherlanguages.In other words, it is these various forms of translations that culminated into what isnow referred to as the versions of the English Bible. These versions are broadly classifiedaccording to the approaches of the translations- formal correspondence, functional evidenceand paraphrase. Each of the approaches has specific characteristics that distinguish it from theother. Basically, the translations have led to the use of different words for the same message orcontent. This is plausible since some versions translate word-for-word, others translatemeaning-for-meaning while some others paraphrase the whole text.Therefore, as a result of theexisting varieties of the English language, approaches to translation and the intent of thetranslators, there has been a multiplicity of the different versions of the English Bible.Surprisingly also, the versions that share the same approach to translations still have variousforms of discrepancies in both syntax and meanings. In other words, no two versions are exactlythe same, the approach to the translation notwithstanding.