God, thank you for the hundreds
of Bible translations that are available to me,
and for their forerunners throughout history,
who have made
your precious Word
understandable and accessible, often at great personal cost.
Thank you for the 72 Jewish elders recruited by Ptolemy II
who translated the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek.
Thank you for William Tyndale,
who gave his life to “write down the revelation and make it plain” (Habakkuk 2:2).
Thank you for the 47 scholars who transformed the Textus Receptus
into the beauty and majesty of the King James Version.
Thank you for Moffatt and Phillips,
for Ken Taylor and Eugene Peterson,
for the 32 scholars who gave us the NASB,
and the more than 100 scholars who produced the NIV.
Thank you for the efforts of more than 90 scholars
that went into the New Living Translation,
and that of the scores of scholars and advisors
who produced the English Standard Version.
May my appreciation and obedience to your Word
honor their efforts,
and yours in inspiring them.
May my life translate Scripture
into a language those around me can read,
in Jesus’ name, amen.
Gratitude for Christians on Social Media
Thank You, Lord, for the internet links making multiple versions of the Bible available to me with a simple click. An thank You for Bob’s reminder that these versions didn’t come easily. Inscribe Your Word on my heart and, as Bob prayed, let others read Your Word through my actions.
Amen. I am so thankful I live at a time when I can have a printed Bible. I’m not an audiobook person so I wouldn’t have done well in the days when your only option was to go to synagogue to hear the scripture read.
Love it! Thank you for sharing.
Be grateful you can have a Bible,
for we live in a shaky time
when freedom has gone unreliable,
and some would make of Scripture crime
because it worries the elites
who’d govern what we should believe,
who would make our faith to cease
so we might better receive
their wisdom born of Hollywood,
pronouncements from ivory tower,
for to them the only good
is an overarching power,
and to achieve this have the plan
to exile our God if they can.
What a needed reminder! Thank you!
Amen on all, particularly your conclusion.
Amen!
Thank you for that special prayer. With all our technology we forget the hard work translators did. We are truly privileged beyond words to have available Scriptures!
Amen!!
Beautiful. Thank you for sharing. I haven’t been on this email list for very long, but Bob, I am just absolutely loving your writing.
And thank you for the gift of literacy, the gift that makes the Word come alive.
Bob, you very pleasantly surprised me with this post. I studied lots of Greek and Hebrew in preparation for ministry. The history of those manuscripts and their value in various versions was mind blowing. One of my translator heroes was John Wycliffe, who even invented words that became standard in English vocabulary (!). He wasn’t martyred, but his remains were dug up and burned years later.
Thanks. Keeping this as a good resource.
I have about 8 different Bible translations in our library and, of course, access to more on my Logos Bible app. Four are study Bibles. I love having the other translations available and within arm’s reach when I’m writing for devotionals or Bible studies.
What humility and awareness are shown here. Thank you. Time for some grateful reflection.