Customer Reviews

Literal Translation of the Bible (The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, Vol. 4)

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Human understanding of Christian truth rests on the Bible. Unfortunately, the last century has seen a flood of translations by those who believe they have the gift of being better able to express what God intended than God.

This has proven to be the mechanism by which groups of humans insert their interpretations of what they think the Bible should say. Thus thousands of words are added, dropped, changed, or deliberately mistranslated, causing problems and confusion not present in the original language.

The corruption of Bible versions such as the NIV, NASB, RS, NKJV, etc., is analyzed in detail in the book "Unholy Hands on the Bible".

The Literal Version translation's reason for existence is to NOT add or subtract meaning from the original language texts. Of course, Hebrew, a somewhat pictoral language, and Greek, are not 1:1 compatible with modern English; punctation, capitalization, and paragraphing not present in the original are all interpretive.

Thus scholars often say that a literal translation would not make sense. While the Literal Version's exceptionally careful rendering into English sometimes results in awkward or grammatically fractured results, you will find the opposite is true; meaning often is more clear in the literal rendering than in the garbled, interpretative paraphrasings negotiated by self-selected committees of people more inspired by modern humanism or doctrinal agenda than anything else.

Chances are, you will end up preferring the Literal Version above all other translations. At least you should!

Note that the Literal Version DOES NOT include the original Hebrew and Greek. The same publisher has a separate Interlinear Bible which DOES contain the original Hebrew and Greek, a word-for-word translation underneath, Strong's numbers above (so you can look up the word in a concordance or lexicon and follow the translator's decsiions) with the Literal Translation on the side. The Interlinear is a big book, so the Literal Version by itself may be more appropriate for day-to-day usage.

What a blessing to have Jay P. Green's Literal Translation of the Bible (LIT). Mr. Green has dedicated his life to translating the Scriptures accurately. This latest edition is a refinement of the LIT that began as a side column of his excellant Hebrew/Greek Interlinear. As my studies grow deeper, I want to know what GOD says, not what man interprets Him saying, as dynamic equivalent versions do. Also importantly, Mr. Green uses the Received Text of the New Testament. When less informed, I thought the NASB was the last Bible I would need, until I learned of the incomplete Critical Texts. How disappointed I was finding out that other "literal translations" used corrupt NT texts and were not as literal as the Literal Translation Bible. To the best of my knowledge, the only Bibles translated from the Received Texts besides the KJV are Young's, NKJV, Jay Green's Modern KJV (an excellant KJ update) and the LIT, which is the most accurate and readable of these translations.

So, I thank the LORD for blessing us with His servant, Jay P. Green. I truly think this will be the last English translation of the Scriptures I will need.

This may very well be one of the most accurate translations available in the English language. However, it is based on the Textus Receptus, as are the King James, New King James, Modern King James, King James 2000, and King James 21.Most scholars of today do not feel that these texts are the most ancient or the most accurate. This is also the effort of one man, and not a committee, so his theological leanings appear somewhat in the text. The print is large, and dark. The drawback is that the Bible is extremely thick and unwieldy, and not easy to handle, and is of considerable weight. Unfortunately, it has no concordance, centre-column references, or any other helps. If it did, the Bible would be larger than it already is. I would suggest to the translator that he make a more portable edition available, and perhaps add one of the aforementioned features, which would complement the Bible no little way. All in all, it is highly recommended, and used with great diligence. One will know the Word of God in readable English!

I am very happy to approve the Literal Translation of the Bible by Jay Green. Green does a great job of putting together a simple and easy to read literal translation.

The book comes with three columns: one is Green's literal translation, the second is the Greek text with English subtitles and Strong's numbering, and the third text is the King James Version. Green uses the Textus Recepticus (TR) as his Greek text and thus he uses the King James Version as his side text. While I would prefer the New King James Version, I enjoy Green's Literal Translation just as much as I do the NKJV.

For Bible teachers and students this edition is well worth the money. You will not be dissatisfied. The hardcover edition is great and easy to handle. This is a perfect Bible not only for deep study of the Word of God but for devotional reading as well. A great buy!

After reading most of the modern English translations and several more classical versions, I have settled on this one for my choice for finding the nearest English equivalent to the original text. Because the author sacrifices standard English grammar to more nearly approximate that of the original languages, it's not as readable as say the New International Version or the New American Standard, but in many instances truer to the original sense and intent of the authors than either of these do in their respective aims of sense and meaning.

It's easily the best translation I've seen done by a single author (with help from numerous unnamed editors). The latest edition corrects many typographic errors extant in previous versions.

The two parallel columns of prose English frame a single column of interlinear Hebrew (etc.) or Greek for quick cocurrent reference. Font size in this book is quite tiny, about a point smaller than your typical residental phone listings! The majority text notes and Jesus's references to the Old Testament in the back are also helpful to the serious student.

Team this up with Dr. Green's "The Classic Bible Dictionary" and "A Concise Lexicon to The Biblical Languages" and you'll have a formidable tool set for Biblical studies!

The publisher/translator of this version thinks he has a better solution to Mt 16:19 namely:

And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall occur, having been bound in Heaven. And whatever you may loose on the earth shall be, having been loosed in Heaven.

The explanation they gave:

For centuries this verse has been misunderstood as giving power to the clergy over the laity with eternal consequences. The misunderstanding is fostered by the disregard for translating the exact tense of the verbs dedemenon and lelumenon. These are perfect passive participles and should be translated "having been bound" and "having been loosed", respectively. Both the NIV and the KJV translate these words as if they were in the future tense. The consequences of this common mistranslation have been disastrous throughout Church history.

However this is a misunderstanding of the Greek perfect passive meaning the same as the english perfect passive expression -- it doesn't!!! [note: following references can be found at www.textkit.com] The Gree perfect means an action finished in the present time, or expressing a present meaning [for a past action] [Goodwin,1900]; or an action completed in the past the results of which still remain or a present existing state [Nunn 1913]; denotes a completed action the effects of which still continue in the present or marks an enduring result often translated by the present [Smyth, 1920], or a past action of which the consequences remain [Green, 1911]. Thus the correct translations, respectively, for the verbs dedemenon and lelumenon, are "remain bound" (or "still be bound" or "(still) have been bound") and "remain loosened" (or "(still) be loosened" or "still have been loosened.") Thus the correct translation is :

doso soi tas kleidas tes basileias ton ouranon,

I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens,

kai ho ean deses epi tes ges estai dedemenon en tois ouranois,

and whom if thou shouldst bind on the earth will remain bound in the heavens

kai ho ean luses epi tes ges estai lelumenon en tois ouranois.

and whom if thou shouldst loose on the earth will remain loosened in the heavens

I will give to thee, the Heavenly Kingdom's keys. And whom if thou shouldst bind on Earth, will remain bound in Heaven. And whom if thou shouldst loosen on Earth, will remain loosened in Heaven.

Compare:

Douay Rheims (Catholic):

And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

Even the Lithuanian with its more than sufficient participles gives just about the same translation:

Lithuanian (Protestant):

Tau duosiu dangaus karalystės raktus;

to thee I will give heaven's kingdom's keys;

ką tu surisi zemėje, bus surista ir danguje,

whom thou wilt bind on earth, will be bound also in heaven,

ir ką tu atrisi zemėje, bus atrista ir danguje".

And whom thou wilt untie on earth, will be untied also in heaven

I will give to thee heaven's kingdom's keys; who thou wilt bind on earth, will be bound also in heaven, And who thou wilt untie on earth, will be untied also in heaven.

The translator needs to go to school on his Greek. The emphasis in the Greek perfect isn't on what happened in the past, it is on the current result.

This review refers to the LITV 4th Edition of 2001. It is available in hardback or leather, I have both. Some of the other reviews seem to be referring to the Interliner Bible which contains the Literal Version as a side column of the interlinear. Jay Green's Interlinear Bible is also very helpful as it shows the literal English meaning of each Greek or Hebrew word, along with the side column English (LITV and sometimes KJV/AV depending on edition).

This is the version that I use as a companion in my daily reading of the Authorized Version (see my review of the Cambridge Presentation Edition of the Authorized Version). It is also my normal choice for reference when reading books on Biblical and Theological topics. I also have a copy on my Pocket PC available from OliveTree for free. I have both LITV and AV/KJV on my Pocket PC along with a helpful BibleReader program (free). I believe this also exist in Palm format for free.

The print size is excellent for reading and is pleasing to the eye. All words added for understanding are italicized as in the AV/KJV. The aids are: helpful beginning of chapter outlines, top of page description of notable page content, along with New Testament cross references to quotes from the Old Testament.

I have not found true the "wooden" arguments of the detractors of a literal or word for word translation. Though at times the readings may not be "normal" English, it seems however that understanding is enhanced.

The following is an addition or correction to my earlier review of September 2002:
I wrote this initial review some time ago, however, I have found that it is becoming increasingly rare that I consult the LITV. The AV/KJV and earlier versions with the use of original language helps have been sufficient in my daily reading of both the Bible and other books. In addition, the harsh language contained in the introductory pages have made it difficult for me to give this version or recommend this version to others; even if the actual translation is often helpful to understanding.