Good question. Translation is a difficult task and takes time, talent and aptitude. The Church and other religious establishments have been working on their translations for centuries.

To a certain degree, one goes on authority, unless one can read the languages in question and cross-reference the works in question. However, given how widely the Bible is understood, and how little the various translations differ, I would suggest that they are authoritative - of course, there are always questions to ask ...

Great question. Translation is a difficult task and takes time, talent and aptitude. The Church and other religious establishments have been working on their translations for centuries. the King James translation for example had a team of six panels of translators, consisting of forty-seven clergy in all. The translation was commissioned after problems were discovered by the Puritans in earlier translations.

To a certain degree, one goes on authority, unless one can read the languages in question and cross-reference the works in question. But then again, when we go to a doctor, don't we trust that the medical establishment has qualified to practise medicine without us directly questioning their competence. Although, we may have disagreements. But medicine is just as difficult as translation, but differently.

However, given how widely the Bible is understood, and how little the various translations differ, I would suggest that they are now, enter ally authoritative - of course, there are always questions to ask ... for example, the recent rediscovery of texts once thought to be heretical and being understood as showing how the canon was devised through time.