I figure that just about everyone says the other guy's translation is wrong. So, if thousands and thousands of true expert translators got it wrong... according to SOMEONE, what chance to we truly believe there is that our meager studies of a particular word or phrase will unearth the truth all others have missed all down through history?
Willie, the issue is not about right and wrong.
No language translates fully on a word-for-word basis into another.
Every Bible translation has to try and find a sweet spot between two opposing goals.
The first is how literal the translation is.
The second is trying to communicate meaning.
Lets give a simple example.
(I know something of this because of the missions background that I have.)
The phrase "pure as driven snow" is something any native English speaker understands.
However in some cultures that I have worked in their are several problems trying to communicate the sense of what that phrase actually means or even trying to translate it literally.
In many African languages that I know there is no word for snow.
They may also not even know that snow is white.
To complicate matters further in some of those cultures the colour white is not synonymous with purity or cleanliness either.
In this instance trying to translate that phrase literally into these languages is impossible because the vocabulary of that language does not have the appropriate words, and even if it did, then the meaning of that phrase would be well and truly lost on that audience.
Overall the various translations have done an excellent job.
Where there variations in translation all that tells me is that there are interesting depths to be plumbed.
In other words a single sentence or phrase in English just does not convey the rich fullness of what the original language is communicating.
I read a couple of your other posts as well.
I agree that studying whole sections (even whole books) at a time is the best by far.
The more Scripture is chopped up into smaller and smaller parts the greater the likelihood of misinterpretation.
However, if you have the time and energy it is well worth becoming familiar with the original languages.
The point is not so much whether others have discovered what you might find or not, but, rather what you find and discover and how that enriches your walk with God.