Translating Truth

I wondered for a long time why there are many translations of the Bible, and some seem so different to others. My assumption was that they were all good, and you could read whichever you wanted to, but I was still confused as to why they weren't all the same, since there was only one original version of each book of the Bible. This book was a massive help in showing why people translate the Bible in different ways from its original language. \\r\\n\\r\\nThe book distinguishes Bible translations based on how literal they are, ranging from those that translate word for word from the original language, to those that attempt to translate the author's meaning, rather than the words they actually wrote. After presenting the differences, the authors present the case for essentially literal translations over the dynamic translations, putting forth a comprehensive arguement as to why we should translate exactly the words the authors wrote, rather than what meaining we think the authors were trying to say. \\r\\n\\r\\nOverall an excellent overview of Biblical translations, making the correct arguement that we should present God's Word as close as we can to what he actually says, rather than our best interpretation of what he is saying. There may be cases where dynamic translations are preferable, such as when helping new Christians understand difficult verses, but besides these possible exceptions, we should translate God's Word as he has actually written it .