Green's Literal Translation

From Textus Receptus

Green's Literal Translation (Literal Translation of the Holy Bible - LITV), is a translation of the Bible by Jay P. Green, Sr., first published in 1985.^[1] The LITV takes a literal, formal equivalence approach to translation. The Masoretic Text is used as the Hebrew basis for the Old Testament, and the Textus Receptus is used as the Greek basis for the New Testament.^[2] This translation is available in book form, and is freely available online for use with the e-Sword software program. Some also refer to it as the "KJ3" or "KJV3" (KJ = King James).^[3]

The translation was integrated into the 1986 edition of Green's Hebrew-English-Greek The Interlinear Bible.

Comparisons

Examples comparing the LITV to the King James Version:

Verse	Literal Translation of the Holy Bible	King James Version
Ezra 9:3	And when I heard this thing, I tore my garments and my robe, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down stunned.	And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.
Isaiah 11:8	And the infant shall play on the hole of the asp; yea, the weaned child shall put his hand on the viper's den.	And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.
Luke 11:8	I say to you, Even if rising up he will not give to him because he is a friend, yet because of his shameless insisting, rising up he will give him as many as he needs.	I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
Romans 10:3	For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God.	For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
2 Thessalonians 2:8	And then "the Lawless One" will be revealed, "whom" "the Lord" "will consume" "by the spirit of His mouth," and will bring to nought by the brightness of His presence.	And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
Hebrews 13:5	Set your way of life without money-loving, being satisfied with present things; for He has said, "Not at all will I leave you, not at all will I forsake you," never!	Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
1 John 5:7	For there are three bearing witness in Heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.	For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

Translation philosophy

Explaining his translation philosophy for the LITV, the author stated regarding the Old Testament:

The Hebrews were basically a pastoral people. Their language originally was pictorial, and as such it was descriptive by nature. For example, their place names were descriptive: 'The Graves of Lust; The Valley of the Giants,' etc. In this volume these true meanings are revealed, not mere transliteration of the Hebrew letters being made to suffice. The personification of everything (there were no neuters to the Hebrews, nor any merely secular objects), gleams through a literal translation -- for all things and all men were perceived in relation to God Almighty. This literal translation tends to bring the reader into the frame of mind that existed in the times the Biblical words were written. That then promotes a full understanding.

Green's translation renders the Tetragrammaton as "Jehovah" in 6,866 places throughout the Old Testament. With respect to the transliteration of the Tetragrammaton, Green opined that the worst approach was to transliterate the name as Lord, writing that "Every nation had their lords, but only Israel had Jehovah as their God. All other countries were the nations."

Regarding his translation philosophy and the New Testament, the author stated:

As for the Greek, it is noted as a language that has a word for every occasion. This vivid variety of expression is evident in the Holy Scriptures. Yet the Greek commonly in use, rather than the classical Greek, was written by Peter the unlearned fisherman, Luke the learned Physician, and by Paul the trained theologian. In conveying to the Bible student the commands and principles of God, it is important that the translator also convey in literal, simple English what God has written for His people. A translation of the Bible is no place to show off the vocabulary and erudition of the translator. In addition, every precaution was taken to preserve the particulars of the text; each verb is carefully scrutinized to maintain its tense, number, voice and mood; the case of each noun examined to retain its proper function in sentence; each participle carefully translated to preserve its aspect. Sense words (words added by the translator to make a sentence more intelligible) are kept to an absolute minimum without sacrificing readability, and when used are always bracketed so that you know which words are God's and which are the translator's. You won't find a more literal rendition of the very words of God in any other version (not even in the NASB)! There are mysterious things, things hard to understand (2 Peter 3:15,16) in the Scriptures, but it is not the literal meanings of the Hebrew or Greek words that cause this to be so. The "different gospel" preached by those "troubling you and desiring to pervert the gospel of Christ," cannot be justly derived from the literal words written by the Divine penmen, for these holy men were "borne along by the Holy Spirit," (1 Peter 1:21). This plan of this volume is not to lead (or mislead) the reader, but to bring him or her face to face with God by simply giving the literal meanings of the words which He had written for our spiritual direction. In doing this we adhere to His maxim, "Let God be true, and every man a liar" (Romans 3:4).^[4]

References

1. Bond, Josh. "Bible Support".
2. Books, SGP. "Sovereign Grace".
3. "Sovereign Grace Publishers LITV Bible". thewordnotes.com.
4. The purpose and plan of the Literal Translation of the Bible

External links

The King James Version 2023 Edition New Testament is now complete and in print format here.

Internal Links

Old Testament - New Testament KJV 1900

New Testament KJV 2016

Scrivener's 1894 Textus Receptus

2016 Urdu New Testament (TR Based)

Russian Synodal Version (TR Based)

Reina Valera Gómez Spanish (TR Based)

Marginal Notes in the 1611 Authorized Version

Ephesians 3:9

Why We Should Not Passover Easter 1, 2, & 3

Will Kinney

List of TR/KJV based foreign bibles

List of New Testament minuscules

List of New Testament lectionaries

List of New Testament Papyri

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