iterations of the bible hi i m not a religious guy so dont take this as some kinda flame thanx in advance i want to know why there are so many different versions of the bible there is this version of the bible i have read about and on the front page it says contains inaccurate data and inconsistencies thanx in advance shaz i m not sure quite what you mean by many different versions the primary distinction in versions you see today is in the style of the translation it s pretty unusual to see significant differences in meaning there are a few differences in the underlying text that s because before printing manuscripts were copied by hand slight differences resulted there are enough manuscripts around that scholars can do a pretty good job of recreating the original but there are some uncertainties fortunately they are generally at the level of minor differences in wording there are something like or places where whole sentences are involved but with recent discoveries of older manuscripts i don t think there s much uncertainly about those cases as far as i know no christians believe that the process of copying manuscripts or the process of translating is free of error but i also don t think there s enough uncertainty in establishing the text or translating it that it has much practical effect whether the bible contains inaccurate data and inconsistences is a hot topic of debate here many christians deny it some accept it though most would say that the inaccuracies involved are on details that don t affect the faith but this has nothing to do with there being multiple versions the supposed inconsistences can be found in all the versions i m surprised to find a reference to this on the title page though what version are you talking about i ve been referring to major scholarly translations these are what get referenced in postings here and elsewhere there have certainly been editions that are to be kind less widely accepted this includes everything from reconstructions that combine parallel accounts into single narrations to editions that omit material that the editor objects to for some reason or the other the copyright on the bible has long since expired so there nothing to stop people from making editions that do whatever wierd thing they want however the editions that are widely used are carefully prepared by groups of scholars from a variety of backgrounds with lots of crosschecks i could imagine one of the lesser known editions claiming to have fixed up all inaccurate data and inconsistencies but if so it s not any edition that s widely used the widely used ones leave the text as is weeeeelllllll almost as is it s been alleged that a few translations have fudged a word or two here and there to minimize inconsistencies because translation is not an exact science there are always going to be differences in opinion over which word is best i m afraid clh
