Choosing a Bible translation

If you are choosing a Bible, the number of English translations can feel bewildering, and you may worry about picking the wrong one. You can set that worry down. Any careful translation can bring you to the Scriptures and to the God who speaks through them. The best advice is to own one careful translation and one readable one, and to compare them when a passage matters to you.

Why are there so many Bible translations?

The Bible was written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, so every English Bible is a translation, and every translator has to make choices. Translators work from the best manuscripts available, and discoveries such as the Dead Sea Scrolls have improved scholars’ knowledge of the original texts. English keeps changing as well, so translations need revising from time to time.

The difficulty of translation is as old as the Bible itself. The grandson of Jesus ben Sira, who translated his grandfather’s book from Hebrew into Greek, apologized to his readers in his preface:

For what was originally expressed in Hebrew does not have exactly the same effect when translated into another language.

Sirach, Prologue, NRSVUE

Every faithful translator since has labored as he did, out of love for readers they would never meet.

What is the difference between word-for-word and thought-for-thought translations?

Translations fall along a spectrum. Formal, or word-for-word, translations try to keep the wording and structure of the original. The NRSVUE, the English Standard Version (ESV), and the King James Version (KJV) lean this way, and they serve careful study well, though their sentences can feel stiff.

Functional, or thought-for-thought, translations try to carry the meaning into natural modern English. The New Living Translation (NLT) and the Common English Bible (CEB) lean this way. They are easier to read, though their translators make more interpretive decisions for you. The New International Version (NIV) stands between the two kinds.

Small choices can carry real meaning. In 2 Timothy 3:16, the NRSVUE says Scripture is “inspired by God,” while the NIV and the World English Bible say it is “God-breathed,” a more literal rendering of the Greek word theopneustos. Both renderings confess that God’s own breath moves through these human words.

Do Bible translations disagree on important verses?

Sometimes they do, and the differences show why it helps to compare.

In Isaiah 7:14, the Hebrew word almah means a young woman of marriageable age. The NRSVUE translates: “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel.” The KJV reads “a virgin,” and the ESV, the NIV, and the World English Bible read “the virgin” (Isaiah 7:14), matching the Greek Septuagint and the quotation of this verse in Matthew 1:23. Both choices have long histories, and a good study Bible will explain them.

In Romans 16:7, Paul greets “Andronicus and Junia,” a woman, and the NRSVUE says “they are prominent among the apostles.” The KJV reads “who are of note among the apostles,” and the World English Bible reads “who are notable among the apostles” (Romans 16:7). The ESV reads “They are well known to the apostles,” which suggests that Junia was not an apostle herself. For how this verse bears on women’s ministry, see Can women be pastors?

What are the most common Bible translations?

Here are the translations you are most likely to meet, with what each is good for.

• New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE, 2021). A revision of the NRSV (1989), produced through a review overseen by the Society of Biblical Literature and published by the National Council of Churches. The NRSV’s translation committee included Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish scholars. The NRSVUE is accurate, widely used in mainline churches and in university teaching, and available with the Apocrypha. Mainline Christian quotes it for key passages.
• King James Version (KJV, 1611). The classic English Bible, whose rhythms shaped the English language and centuries of English-speaking worship. Its English is four centuries old, and its translators did not have the oldest manuscripts known today.
• English Standard Version (ESV, 2001). A formal translation revised from the Revised Standard Version, popular among evangelical and Reformed churches.
• New International Version (NIV, 1978; revised 2011). A widely read evangelical translation that balances accuracy and readability.
• New Living Translation (NLT, 1996). A clear, readable translation that grew out of a project to revise The Living Bible paraphrase.
• Common English Bible (CEB, 2011). A readable modern translation that is easy on new readers and works well in study groups.
• New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE, 2011). A careful translation by Catholic scholars that includes the deuterocanonical books. See Why do Catholic Bibles have more books?
• Orthodox Study Bible (OSB, 2008). An Eastern Orthodox study Bible whose Old Testament is translated from the Greek Septuagint, the version the Orthodox churches read, with the New King James Version for the New Testament. Its notes draw on the Church Fathers.
• World English Bible (WEB). A modern-English update of the American Standard Version (1901), placed in the public domain so that anyone may copy and quote it freely, and available with the Apocrypha. Mainline Christian quotes the World English Bible Updated for most other passages, and translates a verse directly from the Hebrew or Greek where that is more accurate.

Which translation should a beginner use?

If you are new to the Bible, start with a readable translation such as the CEB or NLT, or with the NRSVUE if you are comfortable with fuller sentences. A good study Bible will help you even more than the choice of translation. A study Bible, such as The New Oxford Annotated Bible, has introductions to each book and notes at the bottom of the page that explain history, words, and hard passages.

Choose an edition that includes the Apocrypha if you want to read the books that the Orthodox and other ancient churches include in the Old Testament, some of which Anglican and Lutheran churches also read in worship. Then begin with one of the Gospels, and read slowly. When a verse stays with you, stop and pray with it. See Where should I start reading the Bible?

Does the translation change whether the Bible is the Word of God?

The church has always read Scripture in translation, from the Greek Septuagint used by the first Christians to the Latin Vulgate and the English Bibles of the Reformation. The Second Letter to Timothy says, “Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching” (2 Timothy 3:16), and the New Testament writers quoted the Old Testament from the Greek translation more often than from the Hebrew. God still speaks through a faithful translation. For more, see Is the Bible true, and is it the Word of God? and Who wrote the Bible?

Whichever Bible you bring home, you can open it with the psalmist’s prayer for light:

Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of your law.

Psalm 119:18