I thought I’d take a few minutes to talk about different Bible translations.  There are quite a few different versions out there.  You may use a certain translation because your parents did or you prefer the one that your church uses.  Maybe you researched a little and found the one that best meets your needs.

Some people will say that one translation is more accurate or better than another.  I think that what’s important is that you use the one that is best for you in your particular situation.  While not all Bibles are necessarily equal, to a certain extent, I believe that what is important here is that you are reading a Bible.  We can get stuck in arguments about which Bible is better, but it seems to me that there are much more important issues out there.

Different translations can serve different purposes and have different reading levels.  Some versions are an attempt to translate the text word-for-word from the original language.  (Though sometimes it is a translation from a translation of the original language.)  There are others that focus on translating the message thought-for-thought.  Some try to find a balance between the two, trying to be accurate, but also more easily understood.  The third kind is a paraphrase.  You may want to be careful when using paraphrases to make sure that the original text isn’t lost or added to.

If you’ve ever studied a foreign language, you may recall that most languages have different sentence structure than English.  When you translate you usually have to rearrange the words to make the text flow in English.  This is certainly true when translating from Greek.  This in itself can cause differences in the translations.  Frequently, a Greek or Hebrew word can have more than one English translation.  In these cases the translators have to use the context of the sentence or sentences to best decide the appropriate word.  Then there is the fact that not all English versions are translated from the same Greek version.

Anyway, my main point is that there are different translations that serve different purposes.  If you aren’t already locked into one, find the one that works for you.  You may find one that works for you today, but feel led later on to switch to a different one.

If you’re looking for one that follows along with the Greek, you should not choose the New Living Translation.  In trying to make it more readable(?), sometimes words change, sometimes sentences change.

If you want to compare the versions more, I found a couple of websites that seem useful.

http://www.mardel.com/bibleTranslationGuide

http://www.notjustanotherbook.com/biblecomparison.htm

You can also refer to a Parallel Bible, which compares the text of one translation to another translation, side by side and verse by verse.