The Nkjv Greek-english Interlinear New Testament

Rating:
Summary: Good interlinear if you like the Byzantine text
Review: "A translation can only be as good as the greek text it's translating from"

Hodges/Farstad is a good translation from a not-so-good greek text.

I prefer the UBS4/NA-27 text, but if you like the Byzantine text, this will be a good interlinear for you.

If your unfamiliar with text types, the KJV/NKJV uses a text type that has much more manuscript attestation. (hence Majority text) However, more mss does not mean that this text type is closer to the words of the original mss. (which after all is the goal, right?) The text of Nestle-Aland and UBS uses older and more acurate manuscripts for their greek text. (i.e. p46,p66,p75,Aleph,B among other ancient witnesses.

Most all versions in the 20th century (both Catholic and Protestant) are based on the UBS/NA text (aka Critical Text) ---
[i.e. NAB,NRSV,NIV,NASB,RSV, and a ton of others]

While the NKJV still holds to the inferior Byzantine text that the KJV used. The Bodmer and Beatty Papyri (3rd cent) along with Aleph and B (4th cent), must be regarded as much weightier witnesses than the Byzantine mss. (despite their sheer volume, the vast majority are miniscules from the 10th-15th century, characterized by conflations and smoothed out readings)

I thought that was important to know before deciding to buy an interlinear based on the Byzantine text.

So I would recommend a UBS/NA based interlinear text, such as Comfort's or McReynold's.

Eric

Rating:
Summary: Good reference material, typical Nelson poor quality
Review: "A translation can only be as good as the greek text it's translating from"

Hodges/Farstad is a good translation from a not-so-good greek text.

I prefer the UBS4/NA-27 text, but if you like the Byzantine text, this will be a good interlinear for you.

If your unfamiliar with text types, the KJV/NKJV uses a text type that has much more manuscript attestation. (hence Majority text) However, more mss does not mean that this text type is closer to the words of the original mss. (which after all is the goal, right?) The text of Nestle-Aland and UBS uses older and more acurate manuscripts for their greek text. (i.e. p46,p66,p75,Aleph,B among other ancient witnesses.

Most all versions in the 20th century (both Catholic and Protestant) are based on the UBS/NA text (aka Critical Text) ---
[i.e. NAB,NRSV,NIV,NASB,RSV, and a ton of others]

While the NKJV still holds to the inferior Byzantine text that the KJV used. The Bodmer and Beatty Papyri (3rd cent) along with Aleph and B (4th cent), must be regarded as much weightier witnesses than the Byzantine mss. (despite their sheer volume, the vast majority are miniscules from the 10th-15th century, characterized by conflations and smoothed out readings)

I thought that was important to know before deciding to buy an interlinear based on the Byzantine text.

So I would recommend a UBS/NA based interlinear text, such as Comfort's or McReynold's.

Eric

Rating:
Summary: Thanks! An interlinear using authoritative original NT text.
Review: A well done interlinear. This interlinear is based on the New Testament Greek text which has a long, continuous, widely-accepted lineage. The Byzantine/Majority textform is the version of the New Testament accepted and widely used in parishes as authoritative since the New Testament was standardized many, many centuries ago. The Nestle-Aland/UBS textform is a contrived text with no historical church usage. With so many modern Bible versions based on the NA/UBS text, it is wonderful to see the New Testament used by the church Fathers in a well done interlinear English translation.

Rating:
Summary: Good reference material, typical Nelson poor quality
Review: For those of us using the NKJV, this is very helpful to have. The quality of the information presented is excellent but I have to say the binding and paper quality are horrible. Nelson should be ashamed of themselves. The binding is of the same poor quality as their concordance. It feels like it's going to fall apart with any serious use. The paper looks to be recycled. It's a shame that Nelson doesn't have the integrity to produce reference materials that reflect the subject they are working with.

Rating:
Summary: A blessing
Review: I myself have not taken any Koine Greek studies but I do plan to in the future. This is a great aid for beginners and advanced users alike. This book utilizes the Greek Majority Text. This set of text claims the most Greek manuscripts than any other text. The textus receptus, the Greek text of the King James Version, is included in this set of manuscripts. This translation of the New Testement, a nterlinear one, puts a literal translation of EACH Greek word right under the word. This way you can get a completely pure and unbias translation of the Greek. You can get down to the original meaning of the text, without having to deal with idioms and pharaphrasing which take away from the purpose of the text. If you get a little stuck with abnormal phrasing (which is common with interlinear translations because of the difference between Koine Greek and modern English) then there probably will be an idiomatic translation of that phrase just under the interlinear text. Last but not least, in the left margin, next to the corresponding text, is the New King James Version translation of the text. You can compare this understandable literal translation with the purely literal translation of the interlinear translation side-by-side. I would recommend this product with an Greek-English Interlinear using the Critical Text as opposed to the Majority Text or the Textus Receptus. This way you can compare the Majority Text, which has the most acient manuscript backing, with the most widely accepted (including language scholars) Greek set of manuscripts today (the Critical Text) The translation most likely to be coupled with the Critical Text is the New Revised Standard Version. I would also recommened getting a beginner's guide to New Testement Greek so that you can read the Greek text for yourself. Both of the products I just mentioned are readily availible by different authors here at Amazon.com My final regards to this product is that it has been a blessing to my Biblical studies :-)

Rating:
Summary: simply excellent
Review: If you want access to a full-featured New Testament, givng you the opportunity to view the Greek text in interlinear format, with translator's notes for the three main Greek sources, plus word studies on slected Greek words, all combined with the New King James Version, this is your book. Very reasonably priced for a hardcover. The New King James version is a slightly updated version of the origianl King James version, easier to read and understand but still in keeping with the version of the Bible amny of us were raised on. All-in-all, an instructive and enjoyable book for bible study.

Rating:
Summary: Does a Lot of Work for You
Review: This book is very nice, having the Greek majority text on the page, with corresponding English translations of every Greek word underneath, and the New King James version is in the margins for comparison. There are also textual notes at the bottoms of the margins as well as notes about how other Greek texts are different in some verses. I give the book 5 stars as a product.

Now let me tell you not to use interlinears. It completely defeats the purpose of working with the Greek text. Hodges and Farstad have made a number of judgment calls in their ultra-literal translation, so you are really just buying their opinions. You might as well just have a translation that you trust in front of you. Interlinears fake you into thinking you are working with the Greek text when you are actually just working with the observations of those who made the interlinear. Do yourself a favor and learn Greek.

Rating:
Summary: A few extras that make it more useful than most
Review: When it comes to interlinear Bibles there is generally not a lot of difference between them. However, this one has one particular feature that sets it apart from other ones I have examined. Even with each word translated beneath the Greek word the Greek sentence structure can still make it difficult to correctly translate a sentence. To help with this problem when words need to be reordered so they conform to English rules then the text includes a number by each of the words so you can easily put them in the appropriate sequence. This is a very helpful feature.

In addition to the interlinear translation on the right side of each page is the New King James Version translation for the passages on that page. This makes it easy to go from the Greek to the translation of each word and then to the final translated text.

At the back of the book is a section titled Word Studies, but it is more like a basic dictionary than a true word study. Each entry has the Greek word, transliteration, definition, and a single reference in the New Testament.

While the Word Studies section may be of minimal value the rest of the text is excellently done with idioms also combined and translated. With the sequencing of the words and translation of idioms in addition to the expected word for word translation "The NKJV Greek-English Interlinear New Testament" is a highly recommended purchase for anyone looking for an Interlinear Bible.