The best thing a student can do is to learn the biblical languages. In fact, they can be misleading to someone who does not understand the grammar of the original languages. Beyond this, they are not really much help. It shows why translations cannot usually reproduce the word order of the original-it will not make sense in English.Īn interlinear can be useful to find which particular Greek or Hebrew word that is used for the English translation. While there are places in Scripture where the word order is similar to English, this verse is more the rule than the exception.

Second, it is not possible to keep the same word order in English as in the original. In addition, some words do not translate by themselves. Certain Greek words need a number of different English words to convey their meaning. First, it is not possible to translate Greek words with only one English word. This example makes a couple of things obvious. Of moreover Jesus Christ the birth in this manner was after having been engaged the mother of him Mary to Joseph before to come together they she was found with a stomach having from spirit holy For example, in an interlinear of Matthew 1:18, the English words under the Greek words would look something like this: It is a tool that helps identify Greek and Hebrew words with their English translation. We must appreciate the fact that an interlinear Bible is different from a translation.Īn interlinear Bible is not a translation. The idea of corresponding English word, or words, which matches with the original text of Scripture, is not found in translations, but rather in interlinear Bibles. Yet this is not the way translation works. To be a faithful translation of the original text, each Hebrew and Greek word should have a corresponding English word. If the Greek text contains eight words, then only eight English words are necessary to translate it.

If the verse in Hebrew contains ten words, then ten English words should be used to translate the verse. Many people think that a faithful translation of the Bible means a word-for-word translation.

Greek interlinear bible study