Which Bible is the Right Bible?
The correct answer is, the one that you will read.
Personally, I never got into the King James Version. There is nothing wrong with the KJV, but I couldn’t concentrate long enough to complete anything useful. At the other extreme, I love to read the Passage for leisure, and sometimes I’ll grab a couple verses when the writing seems to fit the mood of my message. I don’t use the Passage for study because I want to try and get the reading as close to the original writing as possible.
So what do we look for in a Bible?
1) Readability. As I noted, the KJV is accurate, but difficult to read. The New International Version (NIV), English Standard version (ESV) and American Stand Version (ASV), New Living Translation (NLT) are all easy to read.
2) Accuracy. This is tougher. There are three groups of Bible; Word-for-word, thought for thought, and paraphrase. The Message is a paraphrase Bible. Interlinear is as word-for-word as you can get, and equally difficult to read. Good word-for-word bibles are the NASB, ESV, KJV. Good thought-for-thought bibles are the NAB and NIV. If you’re going to read through the bible I’d lean towards NIV. If you’re going to study, I’d lean towards the ESV.
3) Studying. I’d look for a good study Bible. A study Bible includes footnotes, commentaries, maps, and the context of the writing. I use both an ESV and an NIV study Bible.
4) To add to the confusion. There are plenty of other specialty Bibles out there. New Jerome is geared for the Catholic crowd, the Life Recovery Bible includes devotionals for persons dealing with additions, Maxwell’s leadership Bible includes devotionals for people in leadership position, the Couples Devotional Bible is for, well, couples. All written with good intentions, but they are geared for a purpose secondary to studying the Bible. I will hand out a specialty Bible to someone that hasn’t spent time in the Bible and is a member of one of the sub-groups. But I will check in with them to see if they’re reading, and ready to move to a study Bible.
Experiment. Use different versions and settle into the copy you are most comfortable with. I always have two or more versions open. I’m not looking for trouble but sometimes a different version from my norm helps to understand what God’s message to me really is. You will note differences when you do this but don’t look at this as a contradiction, look at it as an opportunity to study further. Maybe even look at a transliteration coly to see what the Greek or Hebrew was originally. Can’t afford multiple copies of the Bible? A) go to an on-line source like biblegateway.com. They have over 50 bibles on tap, including Spanish translations. Want to look at the Greek/Hebrew translations? Go to something like blueletterbible.org->study->interlinear.
So what’s the bottom line? Consider what version of the Bible your pastor preaches from. At McKendree, we normally read from the NIV. Consider which version holds your interest in both the old and new testaments. But regardless of your choice, read, then read, and then read again. Our Bible is a living Bible and will reveal to you what you need to hear, when you need to hear it.
