Jerome, the Bible translator who is considered by the Roman Catholic Church as the patron saint of translators, is the second most voluminous writer (after Augustine of Hippo) in ancient Latin Christianity.  A day of recognition of the value of translators has been established to fall on his Catholic Saints Day, September 30.  The emphasis of this celebration is on global unity through language translation.

It occurs to me that Christians might observe this day by giving thanks for the many translations of Scripture currently available to us. Although each literal translation has at its core the same meaning, people respond to words differently, based upon their varying intellectual abilities and linguistic backgrounds.  Even people who share the same native tongue understand words differently.

A single individual may need to read more than one translation in order to receive the fullness of the meaning of a particular passage. For this reason, many Christians possess and use a variety of translations of the Bible.

My own favorite of the moment is the Contemporary English Version (CEV), although my memory verses come from the King James Version (KJV).

We read in 2 Timothy 3:16 (CEV):

Everything in the Scriptures is God’s Word. All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live.

What a blessing to have these texts available to us in a multitude of forms.

Happy International Translation Day to us all!