Morris Proctor
Logos Bible Software makes it easy to read and compare different Bibles with the Text Comparison tool. With this versatile study tool, you can display multiple Bible translations in parallel columns for any passage of Scripture.
To see Text Comparison in action, let’s examine a simple phrase from James 1:19, a verse which very literally states, “Understand beloved brothers of me.”
It helps to know where Bible translations fall on the formal-to-functional spectrum.
For this exercise we’ll use the Lexham English Bible at the (more) formal end, the New International Version in the (somewhat more) functional slot, and The Message as our paraphrase.
Rather than opening each of these Bibles individually, Text Comparison places them side by side for instant analysis. Try this in the Logos Bible Software desktop app:
- Open Text Comparison from the Tools menu.
- Select your desired Bibles from the drop-down list.
- Click the “Show differences” and “Show base text” icons on the toolbar.
This is what the Text Comparison tool will show you:
Keep these things in mind as you read the biblical text:
- The Bible in the first column is the base text against which the other Bibles are compared.
- In a compared Bible column, black text indicates agreement between the base and compared Bibles.
- Gray text (with strikethrough) and blue text indicate differences—gray text comes from the base text and blue from the compared text.
By selecting at least one translation from each major “type,” you can quickly read a literal rendering of the original text (formal), a somewhat more interpretive rendering (functional), and an “expanded application” (paraphrase).
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This article was originally published in the March/April 2021 issue of Bible Study Magazine. Slight adjustments, such as title and subheadings, may be the addition of an editor.
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