Which Bible Version Should I Use?
Finding an accurate translation
Been shopping for a Bible lately? Been a bit overwhelmed?
Type “bible” into the Amazon search bar and you’ll get 70,000 hits. That, of course, includes titles such as The Backyard Chicken Keeper’s Bible and The Motorcycle Suspension Bible, but if you narrow your search to “Christian Bible” you’ll still end up with quite a few.
There are men’s Bibles, women’s Bibles, kids’ Bibles, teens’ Bibles, journaling Bibles, Bibles with copious notes from your favorite Bible teacher, and on, and on, and on.
But let’s talk translations
If you go to BibleGateway.com, type in a New Testament reference, and choose the “in all English translations” option, it will give you, last time I checked, sixty-three.
So if you’re searching for a new Bible, how do you choose? What is the best Bible translation out there?
Maybe we should begin with this question:
Why are there so many?
What we English speakers call the Old Testament was recorded in Hebrew and Aramaic, but then was translated into Greek, then Latin, then English.