Best Bible Translation and Why?

tampasteve

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KJV. Everything else is from the Devil.

J/K, although you will get that as a serious answer from some....

in all seriousness, the "best" is the one that you read. If you have a connection to the way one reads, that is better for you. Overall all of them get the basics of salvation right, and all of our nitpicking on translations sometimes looses this point. There are reasons to go with different translations based on study style desired, or which manuscripts you want to see more from. I would personally stay away form the novel "translations" like The Message or the "Living Bible", but even those really are not terrible if they work for you.

Solid English Translations (not in any particular order and probably missing some):
KJV
NKJV
NIV
CSB/HCSB
ESV
RSV
NRSV

Stay away:
NWT (New World Translation) - the Jehovah's Witness translation
 
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miamited

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Hi thomas,

I believe that the best bible translation is the one that opens ones heart and ears to the truth of God and brings them to the point of accepting what God has to offer. I believe the reason that such a copy of the Scriptures would be the best is because it would be fulfilling the purpose for which God gave us His testimony.

That being said, I'm not quite sure that one could be rated as 'best'. There are a lot of 'good' bible translations. The original NIV, RSV, NKJV. There are a couple that I think are not so good, and that would be the NWT, Good News and Message. There are at least 95 English translations of the complete Scriptures according to wiki.

Personally, I'm not much impressed with any of the 'thought for thought' translations, as they leave a bit too much room for one to accept someone else's wrong thought about a piece of Scripture. The Message is one of these. It is literally a work where one reads a sentence, and then says to themselves, "What is that saying to me?", and then writes down their own thoughts as to what that piece of Scripture is saying in their words and not what God's word actually says, thereby allowing the Holy Spirit to do his job.

God bless,
In Christ, ted
 
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Aussie Pete

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What is the best Bible translation and why?
Whatever one you have with you when you need to read it. I like the Amplified and the New American Standard. I also use Bible Hub a lot. You get most versions (not Amplified for some reason). Sometimes one version just nails it while another leaves you wondering what it means. If I was only able to have one version, it would be the Amplified. It is accurate and gives a good sense of what the verse means, not just what it says. That is quite as feat. I used to use the NIV but it's like a blunt knife a lot of the time. It's too much interpretation and not enough translation, if you get what I mean.
 
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danbuter

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All of the major translations are good. If you aren't great at English, try the New Living Translation. It's a good read, and is pretty accurate.

The only thing I don't like about most modern translations is that they leave out a bunch of verses that were part of traditional worship for over a thousand years, because of some manuscripts found in Egypt (located far away from the center of actual worship, and I suspect are tainted).
 
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Original Happy Camper

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You decide

Welcome to the Amazing Westcott and Hort Magic Marker Binge!

The chart below illustrates what was done when the text used by Christianity for 1800 years was replaced with a text assembled by Brook Foss Westcott and Fenton John Anthony Hort in the nineteenth century and used as the basis for the English Revised Version, which nearly all modern translations closely follow.

Westcott and Hort's Magic Marker Binge (1/2)
 
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Dave-W

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New American Standard
Tree of Life


Both of those are excellent word for word translations and score at the top of the list as to accuracy with the Nestle Aland Greek NT.

New King James

Also an excellent word for word; but based on the Textus Receptus instead of N/A.
 
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Ricky M

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While I look to the KJV as a baseline, I don't lean on one particular version. I will read and compare from several different translations to get a better overall picture of what's being said. A good parallel Bible will help with this.
 
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coffee4u

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I believe its best to have a few translations to hand and also as needed to check both the Hebrew and the Greek.
There can often be shades of meaning that we can miss when only reading English.
One well-known example is the word 'love'. In English, we only have that one word, but in the Greek, there are 3, each with a slightly different and deeper meaning.
I like the:
(KJV) King James Version because this is the oldest.
The (NKJ) New King James because sometimes the old speech can either be difficult or has changed meaning.
(NIV) New International Version because I think it is easier to understand and many people have this version to hand -at least over here. People are familiar with it. I don't know that it is the most accurate so I would not use it alone. But if you are reading aloud to a group like Sunday school children, or a very light, what I call 'fluffy' Bible study as the ladies bible studies here tend to be, this is my go-to since this is what most bring.
(ESV) English Standard Version. Which I feel is more accurate than the NIV.
 
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Original Happy Camper

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What is the best Bible translation and why?

Westcott and Hort's Greek New Testament is the "source text" for many of today's modern Bible translations. These men were hereticks. [The personal letters of Hort and Westcott sound like the letters of men of the Jesuit order........

Again, Westcott and Hort's Greek New Testament is the "source text" for today's modern Bible versions. Let us examine what Westcott and Hort actually believed.

FROM THEIR
OWN MOUTHS



A selection of
statements revealing the
attitudes of these two
most noted textual critics.


Westcott and Hort

Heresies and blasphemies of Wescott & Hort

 
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tampasteve

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Are any of these complete without the books protestants deemed deuterocanonical?
Most translations come in both versions. For example, the RSV comes in RSV and RSV-CE. The truth is that Bibles are also a business, and Catholics are a big part of that, so publishers don't want to miss out. Also, there is much that is profitable in the books, even if Protestants don't consider them Canon. Most NIV, RSV, NKJV, KJV, ESV, etc. won't have them, or if they are more comprehensive, they might have them in a separate "Apocrypha" section, or they will have the "CE" in the name or say "Catholic Edition" on them.
 
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Andrewn

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What is the best Bible translation and why?
You already received good advice. I'm not going to add any more recommendations but only an observation.

Bibles can be classified into: mostly literal, mostly idiomatic, and paraphrase. I agree that paraphrases like The Message and The Living Bible are not suitable for study.

After decades of comparing Bibles, I've come to the conclusion that it's best to use at least 2 translations: an idiomatic translation for the OT and a literal translation for the NT & Psalms.

As noted above, it's a great idea to check both the Hebrew and the Greek as needed. This is easy to do online. It's also easy to compare translations online.
 
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Andrewn

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Can any translation be considered complete without the books protestants deemed deuterocanonical?
1) Protestants do not deem any books deuterocanonical.

2) Catholics add 7 books in the OT and consider them deuterocanonical.

3) Protestants consider those 7 books apocryphal.

4) A translation can certainly be considered complete without the 7 books.

5) The 7 books are good reading but one shouldn't base any theological doctrines on them.
 
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hedrick

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The best translation depends upon several things:
* Do you accept current textual scholarship, i.e. the way scholars assess the many manuscripts we have to get the most likely text?
* Do you want the OT translated as the authors would have intended, or with a builtin Christian interpretation?
* What theological approach do you want?
* How literal do you want it to be?
* What is your reading level?

Translations these days (except those that intend to preserve the KJV) are generally very similar in meaning, though not in style or wording. However some theological differences do show. E.g. there's a word that can be translated propitiation or expiation. Translations I use have expiation, because the Greek is ambiguous, and that covers the likely range of meanings. Protestant translations aimed at conservatives use propitiation, because that supports the traditional doctrine of the atonement.

But these are very rare. The main systemic problem I'm aware of is Paul's letters in the NIV. The well-known scholar N T Wright has said that you'll never understand Paul if you read him in the NIV.

My personal recommendation for a fairly literal study bible is NRSV or ESV, depending upon whether you're conservative or mainline. (ESV translates the OT from a Christian viewpoint; NRSV in the original context. ESV tends to follow conservative theology where there's a difference; NRSV does not.)

For a freer translation there are kind of two levels. One is a bit freer than ESV but still is formal equivalent. The other is thought for thought.

For the first, still formal equivalent perhaps HCSB on the conservative side. NIV would be the better-known version, but I have concerns about accuracy. The mainline version would be Common English Bible, but I have concerns about its accuracy as well.

For the thought for thought the traditional conservative translation is Living Bible. I think there are concerns about its accuracy. On the mainline side I really like the Good News Bible. They recently made a few changes to make it more palatable for conservatives. I'm not sure how it's currently regarded on the conservative side.
 
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prodromos

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What is the best Bible translation and why?
The best Bible translation is the one you are most comfortable reading. If you regularly read the Gospels and try to live your life as best you can according to what Jesus has said then you are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven.
 
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