I will mention that words in Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew do not always correspond exactly with words in English. In these cases, a “word for word translation” is a limited help. The English word may carry across part of the meaning of the Greek/Aramaic/Hebrew word, but it also may leave some meaning out, and it may include some meaning that was not part of the Greek/Aramaic/Hebrew word.The lady who loaned me the book said it was a word for word translation, not a translation of phrases or sentence structures. I guess that is why the words in the sentences are backwards and forwards with no correct grammatical structure.
Also, the “word for word translation” that you describe does nothing to help an English reader understand the meanings of Greek/Aramaic/Hebrew sentence structures.
This link will give you the Greek word rendered “temptation.” It also gives you a lexicon entry for the word (from Thayer’s Lexicon, which is old, but still useful). More importantly, it gives you many or all of the verses in the New Testament where that same word is used. The website only has this feature for the Greek text behind the KJV – which is not a perfect text, I’m afraid. But this still gives an easy start to exploring ways that a word can be used.People have said that the original word was "trial" and the KJV translated it to "temptation" but the same people say that God does not tempt us. Based on other scripture, they say that only satan does that. So, for a long time I have wanted to see the original translation of the Greek word "trial" or "temptation" for myself.
There are additional ways to explore this issue, but this is an easy start.
There are thousands of different Greek manuscripts for the New Testament, and they do not all agree with each other. The KJV was translated from a Greek text that took into account only a handful of these manuscripts. This text is part of a textual tradition known as the “Received Text.”What may the most surprising to find (at least for me!) is that the following portion of scripture is missing from NKJV. "...For Yours is the kingdom and the power and glory forever. Amen." I am surprised to see that THAT quote is not found in any word-order within TKITGS. What if the close of The Lord's Prayer is not found in the orginal documents?! Is it? I just looked up the verse in my NKJV and the notation in the margin says the quote above was not in the NU. I looked in the NKJV Forward and see that the NU-Text is discussed regarding variations between the Alexandrian or Egyptian type. (This is getting more complicated.) I tried following Paidon in the spring of 2009 on another thread where this was discussed and found myself struggling to keep up with such scholars. (I believe Paidon worked as a university professor for years.) I need a simple explanation to start with. Maybe I could understand a 10th grade level, or maybe even a "NU-Text Documents 101" class level. Got simple discussion? RE: compare and contrast Alexandrian or Egyptian type?
Today, there are two main approaches to deciding how the Greek text of the New Testament should read. One prefers to follow the lead of the majority of manuscripts when there is a disagreement between them. This approach tends to favor readings that are found in later manuscripts, because we have many more of those manuscripts than we have of early manuscripts. The result is called the "Majority Text," and it is similar (but not identical) to the Received Text.
The other approach is to examine different readings between manuscripts, and weigh their reliability case-by-case, based on a number of factors. The result is called a "critical text," and often this sort of text will favor readings that are found in earlier manuscripts, even when they are in the minority. When the NKJV refers to “NU-text,” it is referring to a critical text.
As for the Alexandrian/Egyptian bit – scholars have grouped Greek manuscripts for the New Testament into different “families,” based on similarities to each other. One of these families is the Alexandrian text-type (some might also refer to it as Egyptian). This family of manuscripts is very influential in many critical texts. Another major family is the Byzantine family. That family of manuscripts is very influential in the Majority Text.
I have a Greek New Testament, so there’s no problem on that front.I wish I could insert Greek characters in this post because I would like to show you the difference between "God" and "god" in Greek. Thanks for explaining the difference. Of course, this information can shed light on whether the Word, in the beginning, was or was not "God." (as opposed to "god" or worse yet, "a god.")
I have recently encountered an impressive argument for “a god” - but I need to study it more.
In any event, we should be cautious about being prejudiced toward how to understand a verse. Whether we think Jesus is “God,” “god,” “a god,” or none of the above, we should try to understand the verse on its own terms.
One I am familiar with is Jay P. Green’s The Interlinear Bible. I don’t care for it, though, because it primarily uses the Received Text for the New Testament.What is the name of a non-Watchtower book in which the translators attempt a literal word for word translation?