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Jacob Riley
Markita Proctor
English 101 Dual Credit
May/11/2015
The Different Words for Different Reasons
The bible, throughout history, has gone through many different translations. All of these
translations may show the same meaning and the same message, but history shows that even if
each translation has the same biblical meaning. Language, in and of itself, has come a long way
ever since scriptures like the Dead Sea Scrolls were written. Due to people throughout history
understanding and reading literature in different ways the bible was translated in order to
understand it despite language diversity, keep Christianity from fading away into history, and to
unify the people of the world under one religion. The bible was translated due to many people
reading in different ways and languages than others. To truly understand the bibles teachings,
people first had to be able to read it in a way that they are used to reading.
One of the reasons the bible was translated was due to the fact that everyone wanted to
understand what the bible was saying. The evolution of language caused the bible to be
translated a lot of times because not everyone spoke the same language. John Lienhard, who is .
. . Professor Emeritus of . . . History at the University of Houston (Dr. John H. Lienhard),
wrote an article going over how Martin Luther was among the first to translate the bible for the
sake of making it easier to read. It is said in his article No. 935 A Wittenberg Bible that people
originally translated the bible down to the last word from the original Greek texts. The article
also says that once Martin Luther translated the bible into German in 1534, scholars and

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translators started to see the flaws in translating the bible word for word. They saw flaws because
some of the statements that were from the direct translation since they could not be put into
German words (Lienhard). Had Luther not translated the bible, no one would be able to read it
and understand what it was trying to teach. The idea of translating the bible to get people
understand it carried on throughout history and opened up a doorway for people to make their
own translations and translate it in a way that they best understand it. Due to the fact that many
translations were needed in order to cover a wide range of different ways people read and
understood literature, many translations of the bible came into existence. It is due to all of these
translations that it can even be said that the bible was translated to keep Christianity an alive
concept throughout history.
The bible had to keep being translated, otherwise the religion would end up being
forgotten in history. If the bible was kept in only Greek and Hebrew, it would not have been able
to carry on its message throughout time. Language would have evolved, but the bible would have
been forgotten. The scriptures needed to be translated so that future generations could understand
the bibles meaning in their own words and to carry on its message. Because the bible was
translated so much, it was able to be read by a larger audience around the world. By being able to
be read by a larger audience, the bibles message spread to a larger amount of people. If it had
not been translated, Christianity would have started in the small settlement of Jerusalem out in
the middle east, and it would have died there due to the scriptures not being able to be read by
anyone accept for the few people who understood the bible as it was originally written. In order
to keep it from dying, the bible had to be translated as language evolved and changed so that
potential and future audiences could understand it. As well as spreading and keeping the religion
alive, translating the bible was one key factor to unifying and spreading Christianity.

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People could argue the idea that the reason the bible is translated as much as it is to
separate Christians into things like denominations, but it actually was translated to unify people
under Christianity. Others can say that the different translations actually separate Christians due
to the fact that different translations make it to where people dont understand and teach the
scriptures in the same ways as each other. It can be shown that all people do not read The Bible
in the same way. Bob Smietana, who according to Religion News Service is . . .president of
the Religions Newswriters Association (Bob Smietana, Author at Religion News Service),
even shows statistics in the article Majority of Americans Still Prefer King James that say a lot
of Americans prefer the King James Version of The Bible over other versions (Bob Smietana).
Smietana is correct in saying that only a majority and not all Americans prefer the King James
Version, but no matter how different the words seem in translation, the meaning of them is still
the same. Even if all people dont read the bible in the same way, it was translated in order to
bring the world under Christian concepts, not separate the world into sub categories of Christian
concepts. Therefore, The Bible was translated to unify people as opposed to separate them.
However, this is one of the many reasons it was translated.
The bible nowadays can be quoted in many different translations. The primary causes the
bible has so many translations is due to the central idea that people read it and interpret it in
different ways. It was also translated in order to spread the idea of Christianity to as many places
in the world as possible. Finally, it was translated in order to unify the people of the world under
the core Christian idea of how the universe came to be and what lies beyond it. While there are
multiple ways to read and teach the bible, its ideas still remain the same no matter how a person
says them. It can even be argued that the bible will continue to be translated. After all, language
could easily evolve beyond any of the languages the world has now. If it keeps being translated,

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Christianity will still carry on through the future, and the bible will still be a major tool used to
unify the world under one idea of religion.

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Works Cited
"Bob Smietana, Author at Religion News Service." Religion News Service. Web. 12 May 2015.
"John H. Lienhard." John H. Lienhard. Web. 12 May 2015.
Lienhard, John. "No. 935: A Wittenberg Bible." No. 935: A Wittenberg Bible. Web. 12 May
2015.
Smietana, Bob. "Majority of Americans Still Prefer King James." Facts Trends. 17 Mar. 2014.
Web. 12 May 2015.