If I had to pick one, would you agree that a concept for concept translation would be better than a word for word translation, or are the concepts themselves more prone to adjustment by the translator's ethnocentrism?
Heh. That's tricky! To rely on one, you do indeed need to get familiar with the individuals doing the translating. Personally I find some benefit to that being modern, because they will use language more familiar to me BUT, this is after decades of reading very standard and accepted versions, and much study.
CF has some amazing people on it including researchers, and the versions called "Beck" and "God's Word" pass
their tests in this area. I still say don't pick one, but pick one from each category. Read one from whichever you prefer, and when something is puzzling refer to one from the other category.
I usually use biblegateway, finding blueletterbible more difficult to navigate from book to book. Plus, biblegateway's layout makes it easier on the eyes.
What draws you to blueletterbible?
Biblegateway
is a very good site. It has The Message which blueletter does not, and IIRC some others too. (NLT and it might even have "God's Word?" GW)
I have never been able to memorize Scripture, but the Holy Ghost does "bring to my remembrance" not only concepts but verbatim passages, in the KJV I have read the most. Blueletter's search function is more user friendly for me, because it recognizes these phrases even with no unusual key words, and gives me a short list to find it from.
If your main purpose is simply to read, I totally understand your preference for Biblegateway! And I encourage you to read a version that relates to you well, just text, no study aides or commentaries. Leave all that til after you've become familiar with the text itself, at least all 66 books. (If you choose to avoid apocrypha, which I also think is a good idea at first)
I think there's something to be said for the fact that the two halves of our brain work differently; the left hemisphere is more cold and calculating, while the right hemisphere is more intuitive and creative. Word for word versions (ESV and NASB) will penetrate that left side better, while concept for concept (GW, Beck, NLT, MSG) will enter the left more readily.
In any version, we want to "soak in His Presence" like it was a bath!
"For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition [between us]; (Ephesians 2:15) Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, [even] the law of commandments [contained] in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain
one new man, [so] making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:"
Any way you go about it, understanding something this grand takes effort on our part!
