ABOUT THE PASSION TRANSLATION
The message of God’s story is timeless; the Word of God doesn’t change. But the methods by which that story is communicated should be timely; the vessels that steward God’s Word can and should change.
One of those timely methods and vessels is Bible translations. Bible translations are both a gift and a problem. They give us the words God spoke through his servants, but words can be very poor containers for revelation because they leak! The meanings of words change from one generation to the next. Meaning is influenced by culture, background, and many other details. You can imagine how differently the Hebrew authors of the Old Testament saw the world three thousand years ago from the way we see it today!
There is no such thing as a truly literal translation of the Bible, for there is not an equivalent language that perfectly conveys the meaning of the biblical text except as it is understood in its original cultural and linguistic setting. This problem is best addressed when we seek to transfer meaning, not merely words, from the original text to the receptor language.
The purpose of The Passion Translation is to reintroduce the passion and fire of the Bible to the English reader. It doesn’t merely convey the original, literal meaning of words. It expresses God’s passion for people and his world by translating the original, life-changing message of God’s Word for modern readers.
You will notice at times we’ve italicized certain words or phrases. These highlighted portions are not in the original Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic manuscripts but are implied from the context. We’ve made these implications explicit for the sake of narrative clarity and to better convey the meaning of God’s Word. This is a common practice by mainstream translations, including the New American Standard Bible and the King James Version.
We’ve also chosen to translate certain names in their original Hebrew or Greek form to better convey their cultural meaning and significance. For instance, translations of the Bible have substituted Jacob with James. Both Greek and Aramaic leave this Hebrew name in its original form. Therefore, this translation uses the correct cultural name.
God longs to have his Word expressed in every language in a way that would unlock the passion of his heart. Our goal is to trigger inside every English– speaking reader an overwhelming response to the truth of the Bible. This is a heart-level translation, from the passion of God’s heart to the passion of your heart.
We pray this version of God’s Word will kindle in you a burning desire for him and his heart, while impacting the church for years to come.