If we are serious about knowing more fully God’s Word, we can compare translations. We can still have our favorite, but it does pay to check out what other translations might say. Depending on the actual original Hebrew or Greek, it might be a straight forward, one to one, word translation. Other times it can be “spaghetti” or a “salad bowl”!

Take, for example, Psalm 147:11. See below for six different translations of this one verse! [BSB – Berean Standard Bible, CSB – Christian Standard Bible, ERV – Holy Bible: Easy-to-Read Version, NCV – New Century Version, NIV – New International Version, NKJV – New King James Version]

BSB: “The Lord is pleased with those who fear Him, who hope in His loving devotion.”

CSB: “The Lord values those who fear him, those who put their hope in his faithful love.”

ERV: “The Lord enjoys people who worship him and trust in his faithful love.”

NCV: “The Lord is pleased with those who respect him, with those who trust his love.”

NIV: “the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.”

NKJV: “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy.”

I emphasized key words in each translation so we can make comparisons. For the first key word we have: pleased, values, enjoys, delights, and takes pleasure. For the second key word we have: fear, worship, and respect. For the third key word we have hope, and trust.  And for the fourth key word we have loving devotion, faithful love, love, unfailing love and mercy.

Do you see the variations? I think of them as being synonyms, or words with similar meanings that translators get from the original ancient language.

You might find a translation that leans towards choices you prefer. None are wrong, but none may be exactly right either. I could go through my list and pick my favorite renderings and come up with:

“The Lord is pleased with those who fear Him, in those who put their hope in his unfailing love.”

On the other hand, to get a fuller understanding of the original Hebrew, you can include all such synonyms. For a “wordy” translation I can come up with:

“The Lord takes pleasure, indeed He delights and enjoys those who fear, worship and respect Him, in those who hope and trust in His mercy and unfailing love.”

Did God say all this in the original Hebrew? I don’t know, but it may be closer to Biblical truth. At the very least, we now have a fuller, more complete understanding. Try it, you might find it useful.