Help with Bible translations please

BassicNate

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I have always had either King James, or NIV versions, but I want to get a new bible - preferably one with study aids - and am a little overwhelmed with the different translations available. I use the Bible app on phone (not nearly as much as I should), but it’s not the same to me as holding the Word in my hands. My desire is literal translations while still maintaining readability. What are your recommendations for a study bible and translation? Any preferred places to purchase online or brick & mortar? I love supporting small local businesses whenever I can.
 
I think it is interesting to use the App and flip between versions on the same passage to see what most original form was in KJV to NIV to the NESV. I bought the Charles Stanley Life Principals Study NESV and enjoy it


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I still have the first study bible I bought as an adult thirty some odd years ago and can’t seem to part with the tattered old thing with all my highlights and notes from back when so much of it was all “new” to me. It’s NIV and I am told that there are now “better” translations.

That said, I do like looking up particular passages from time to time at Bible Gateway or other similar sites where I can see that passage in any number of different translations.
 
I have and love the Scofield study Bible KJV.

From my understanding and what I've been taught...KJV is the most accurate version as they went back to original texts for translation.

NKJV just takes the "thees" and "Thou's" out and replaces it with The and more common language.

I hope you find what you are looking for.

DS
 
There’s a reason that seminary students study old languages. The original scripts were written in those tongues which can at times present challenges to 100% translate to our English. That’s the biggest difference between translations/versions of the Bible. It’s usually not the story/content (or at least, shouldn’t be—if it is, then you’re not reading the Bible; you’re reading a man’s story). Any good translation will have a preface of how it came to be; who was on the committee to translate it, how did they work through the difficult words/meanings, and what notable differences are there from other popular versions. Maybe even why the translation/version was made.

If you want a thoroughly vetted version, the PCA’s official book is the ESV. Removes most of the old English style, but stays arguably close to the original meanings.

Arguably the easiest to read version is the NLT. It was made to speak to a modern audience and not lose people with odd words or other distractions. If you’re trying to share the gospel with someone, the last thing you want is them focusing on some weird word while you’re trying to talk to them. Notable changes in the NLT that get close to the line of going too far are the replacement of all singular gender references (such as “brothers”) with dual genders (brothers and sisters). In all cases where the text was presented differently, they put a footnote with the original text. This is important so you can not forget the original meaning/intent of the word while also reading through it easier.

Chuck Swindoll has put together an NLT study Bible that’s pretty good.
Tyndale NLT The Swindoll Study Bible (Hardcover) – New Living Translation Study Bible by Charles Swindoll, Includes Study Notes, Book Introductions, Application Articles, Holy Land Tour and More! https://www.amazon.com/dp/1414387253/
 
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The problem is, there are no "original" texts. So any bible translation involves not only the interpreter's notions of the original and target languages (and dialects within that language) and their own theological presuppositions, but their choice of a given set of manuscript sources.

A valuable tool is the Greek New Testament by United Bible Societies: I don't know if it is still in print, but it provides their sense of the 'normative' - by which one means, I suppose, the choice with the greatest weight of usage and/or provenance - Greek text of the New Testament, but also provides extensive documentation of alternative phrasings in the manuscript record. A classic example of which is the Greek variations that lead to either: "peace, good will towards men," vs. "peace to men of good will."

From a protestant or main-line "biblical scholar" perspective, the Oxford Annotated (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_Annotated_Bible) was considered to be a textually faithful translation into "standard" (not colloquial) English of its day (Lord only knows what passes for English nowadays).

For Catholics, the Douay-Rheims was the KJV equivalent (or, maybe competitor), but the Knox translation is an interesting and readable mid-20th century translation see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knox_Bible and this is in print: https://www.baroniuspress.com/book.php?wid=56&bid=60#tab=tab-1


PS Late Add: To be fair to the Oxford Annotated, it might be better described as one of those scholarly 'ecumenical' works that were something in vogue in the late 70's - 80's and beyond. I suppose how one views that is, itself, a matter of translation. :)
 
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My desire is literal translations while still maintaining readability
I highly recommend the New American Standard Bible. Recommended as most faithful to literal translation of original texts using current language.
 
I highly recommend this bible for men. I keep it in my desk at work take it out very often, not enough, and read about everything. You having a problem with lust it will give you passages to read and help with context. When I'm at church I use a NKJ to be able to follow along easier. They now offer this Bible in lots of different translations and I my just buy one for church.
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My preferred is The Complete Jewish Bible followed closely by the ESV.

Honestly you need to look at many versions to really get an idea of what the writer is saying.
 
NIV Young Discoverer's Bible Hardcover – Large Print, September 1, 1985
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good for the young, and the large print makes it good for the old too!
I'm kidding. but i do have one of these in a box somewhere...
 
"What are your recommendations for a study bible and translation?"

currently, this is my reference book:
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the last chapter has a Whole Lot of translations listed.
as long as it is in English, i am trying to read several.
my favorite (so far): Tyndale, but it is incomplete.
 
I highly recommend the New American Standard Bible. Recommended as most faithful to literal translation of original texts using current language.

NASB for me, too. I grew up using the KJV, then went to NLV in early adulthood. Was introduced to the NASB in my 30s and have used it as my primary Bible since then.

I also use the Blue Letter Bible app/site often. I will compare translations on some verses and regularly use its interlinear Bible to study some of the Hebrew and Greek words in verses. The nuances in the original languages that aren’t captured in translation to English can be very helpful.
 
I still have the first study bible I bought as an adult thirty some odd years ago and can’t seem to part with the tattered old thing with all my highlights and notes from back when so much of it was all “new” to me. It’s NIV and I am told that there are now “better” translations.

That said, I do like looking up particular passages from time to time at Bible Gateway or other similar sites where I can see that passage in any number of different translations.
I highly recommend everyone downloading the E-sword Bible program online. Found here

Its free. You'll have to pay for the copyrighted versions to add into it, but there are probably 30 English translations that are free. Also you can download invaluable commentaries, maps, lexicon, and books. All free of charge.
You can get it on your pc, apple, and android devices.
 
I have always had either King James, or NIV versions, but I want to get a new bible - preferably one with study aids - and am a little overwhelmed with the different translations available. I use the Bible app on phone (not nearly as much as I should), but it’s not the same to me as holding the Word in my hands. My desire is literal translations while still maintaining readability. What are your recommendations for a study bible and translation? Any preferred places to purchase online or brick & mortar? I love supporting small local businesses whenever I can.
I recommend to all my Bible study and Sunday school students to find a quality Bible, devoid of all "study" materials and opinions of others. Then find several commentaries, separate from the Bible, and use them as a resource to study.
In dealing with people through the years in church, they often times equate the study notes as authoritative, when placed in the Bible. I find that to be harmful to some people.
I recommend Matthew Henry, Albert Barnes, and Adam Clarke's commentaries to be an excellent free source, and recommend starting with them as a great reference point.
 
I was raised to be Catholic. The Douay-Rheims Version of the Holy Bible, translated between the years 1582 and 1610 and revised by Bishop Richard Challoner from 1749-1752, is one of the most accurate English translation of the Bible available today. It was the only Catholic translation of Scripture commonly in use for over 200 years.
These bibles tend to also have pages for family history to be written so you can pass down the Bible to your kin. This one has seen a few generations.

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Just understand the difference between a "translation" and a "version" when you read them.
 
Just understand the difference between a "translation" and a "version" when you read them.
A translation has versions. For instance, the King James Bible is a translation done in 1611. The English language changed a bit in the following 100 years, and the King James Bible had a couple versions that reflected those changes (mostly punctuation, spelling, and the creation of the letter "U").
Now, however, the word "version" is haphazardly thrown around.
That was done so by publishing houses. Of all modern popular Bibles, the King James Bible is the only one not copyrighted.
Publishers make more money off the "versions " they produce.
 
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Honestly, Bible translations and versions is what theo-nerds go to war over.
I have over 30k pages of research in my library on this one subject.
But if you want to start a fight.in church...this is the issue to do it with.

I don't want to do this here. I teach a lengthy course on the History of the Bible, and have been doing that since 2007. I'll keep it short and sweet.
Old testament is Hebrew, and a tiny bit of Aramaic. New Testament was written entirely in Koine Greek. The fight amongst theo-nerds is with the New Testament Greek.
There were 2 Greek manuscript streams, 1 from Alexandria Egypt, and 1 from Antioch. The fight is with these streams.
Catholic Bibles , like Jerome's Latin vulgar and the Dhouy-Rheims) come from the Alexandria stream. All Bibles translated after 1900 also come from the Alexandria stream. Reformation Bibles, and the King James come from the Antioch stream.

I only trust Bibles translated from the Textus Recepeptus (Greek manuscript stream from Alexandria.). I own or have access to every modern Bible translation.

My recommendation is to buy a King James/Amplified parallel Bible for study.
 
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For further discussion, I state outright that I consider all Bibles translated from Alexandria streams to be substandard. I don't want to offend anybody with that statement, certainly my Catholic friends. That's my opinion.
Of the substandard translations, the NIV is one of the worse.
The NASB and ESV are among the best of the substandard translations.

By "substandard" I don't mean to imply that those translations don't have the necessary words of God that inform the reader of the basic Gospel message. They do.
They just have a lot of missing scripture than the Textus Recepeptus Bibles.
 
And if it has to be a study Bible, this is the one I recommend

Amazon probably has it as well.
 
don't want to do this here. I teach a lengthy course on the History of the Bible, and have been doing that since 2007. I'll keep it short and sweet.
Old testament is Hebrew, and a tiny bit of Arabic. New Testament was written entirely in Koine Greek. The fight amongst theo-nerds is with the New Testament Greek.
There were 2 Greek manuscript streams, 1 from Alexandria Egypt, and 1 from Antioch. The fight is with these streams.
Catholic Bibles , like Jerome's Latin vulgar and the Dhouy-Rheims) come from the Alexandria stream. All Bibles translated after 1900 also come from the Alexandria stream. Reformation Bibles, and the King James come from the Antioch stream.

Maybe you meant Hebrew and Aramaic, rather than "Hebrew, and a tiny bit of Arabic"?
 
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This was helpful for me when looking at translations. I typically use ESV and use the readers version when I just want to read vs study (it has removed all of the verse numbers and headings which I really like)

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Our church was NASB for many years. Sometime in the last five or so we switched to the ESV. I’m liking it...
 
For those looking for a bricks and mortar book store, the Christian bookstores around my area have closed, but Barnes and Noble is still open the last I checked.

I am guessing that all the campus bookstores they run are keeping that ship afloat.
 
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And if it has to be a study Bible, this is the one I recommend

Amazon probably has it as well.
So...this begs the question, and don’t take this as contrarian (although I know that's a moniker you embrace :p )

(...and this is why I still have a 1987 edition of a least favored translation that I can’t seem to readily replace)

Why would a top recommendation for a translation be written in a language style of English we haven’t used in hundreds of years? (i.e KJV, with its thees, thous, thines, thy....). It just seems like so much extra baggage.
 
So...this begs the question, and don’t take this as contrarian (although I know that's a moniker you embrace :p )

(...and this is why I still have a 1987 edition of a least favored translation that I can’t seem to readily replace)

Why would a top recommendation for a translation be written in a language style of English we haven’t used in hundreds of years? (i.e KJV, with its thees, thous, thines, thy....). It just seems like so much extra baggage.
As I'm reading this, I am at work. Typing a proper reply on a phone is not possible now. I will post a couple documentaries that I recommend. When I get a chance, I will reply properly.
These are in YouTube, but also available on Amazon Prime

A lamp in the dark


Tares amongst the wheat


A bridge to Babylon


The first video is mainly a Christian history film. The 2nd and 3rd are the same, but they get into the weeds of why the Bible version issue is an issue. If you don't have a really good grasp of history from 99AD thru 1800 AD, the 3rd film will be tough to digest.
By the way, those 3 films are close to 9hrs together. Those 9 hours are what I consider to be a rudimentary beginning to be able to have a coherent understanding of the issue. After viewing that, then you have enough understanding to be able to ask an informed question.
 
Why would a top recommendation for a translation be written in a language style of English we haven’t used in hundreds of years? (i.e KJV, with its thees, thous, thines, thy....). It just seems like so much extra baggage.
If the "thee" and "thou" are an issue, I recommend the King James Easy Read Edition, which is the King James Bible with those words changed to modern language.

Also, there is a movement among Evangelical Christians referred to as "KJV only". I am not one of those. I am also against the converse group of people (I would call them KJV never) who ruthlessly mocks the KJV only people.
 
Honestly, Bible translations and versions is what theo-nerds go to war over.
I have over 30k pages of research in my library on this one subject.
But if you want to start a fight.in church...this is the issue to do it with.

I don't want to do this here. I teach a lengthy course on the History of the Bible, and have been doing that since 2007. I'll keep it short and sweet.
Old testament is Hebrew, and a tiny bit of Aramaic. New Testament was written entirely in Koine Greek. The fight amongst theo-nerds is with the New Testament Greek.
There were 2 Greek manuscript streams, 1 from Alexandria Egypt, and 1 from Antioch. The fight is with these streams.
Catholic Bibles , like Jerome's Latin vulgar and the Dhouy-Rheims) come from the Alexandria stream. All Bibles translated after 1900 also come from the Alexandria stream. Reformation Bibles, and the King James come from the Antioch stream.

I only trust Bibles translated from the Textus Recepeptus (Greek manuscript stream from Alexandria.). I own or have access to every modern Bible translation.

My recommendation is to buy a King James/Amplified parallel Bible for study.
This—> “only trust Bibles translated from the Textus Recepeptus”. I’d add worship music debates are a great way stir the tension.
Beware of study bibles, they come with opinions. I’ve a NIV study bible that states non-biblical “facts”, like ‘obviously rainbows were around before the flood subsided, since one was there, God decided to use it.’. I like to call the NIV the “Nearly Inspired Version” because my wife reacts 😂

One of my favorite reference tools is Jay P Green’s out of print NT interlinear. I’d love to have the hardback version of the whole bible, they’re now too expensive for me. It has the Greek words with the English words and Strong’s reference #. Add to that a column on the side where he has an almost word for word translation. When I read something that makes me scratch me head, I’ll go here first, then to Strong’s to find where else in the Bible the exact word is used. This way the Bible is used to define itself. I read NKJ, use KJ as a study tool. One cool thing KJ does is it gives us the Greek form of a verb we don’t have in English, I don’t remember the name, I suck at grammar. Essentially (if I recall correctly) the words ending in “eth” mean it happened in the past, now in the present, and eternally into the future.

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This—> “only trust Bibles translated from the Textus Recepeptus”
Beware of study bibles, they come with opinions. I’ve a NIV study bible that states non-biblical “facts”, like ‘obviously rainbows were around before the flood subsided, since one was there, God decided to use it.’. I like to call the NIV the “Nearly Inspired Version” because my wife reacts 😂

One of my favorite reference tools is Jay P Green’s out of print NY interlinear. I’d love to have the hardback version of the whole bible, way too steep for me. It has the Greek words with the English words and Strong’s #. Add to that a column on the side where he has an almost word for word translation. When I read something that makes me scratch me head, I’ll go here first, then to Strong’s to to find where the exact word is used. This way the Bible is used to define itself. I read NKJ, use KJ as a study tool. One cool thing KJ does is it gives us the Greek form of a verb we don’t have in English, I don’t remember the name, I suck at grammar. Essentially (if I recall correctly) the words ending in “eth” mean it happened in the past, now in the present, and into the future.

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Great post. Rock on.

Also...the KIng James Bible is written in meter, so its easier to memorize.
 
Wow, what a thread! I'm so happy and encouraged to see such interest and passion regarding God's word, especially from men. And theo-nerds, never heard that term. But it's a good one, and I know more than a few.

To answer the original question, get a good, reliable and readable translation that you will use and enjoy. I'm a NIV guy, thats what I grew up on, I've read other translations, but thats what i go back to. My wife uses a couple of others. NKJV. KJV, NIV, ESV,I'm not sure what else. (She likes to buy new stuff, I'm happy with what works.)

When I'm studying and preparing a sermon or lesson I compare several translations. And I know just enough Greek to be dangerous.

Yes, some are better than others. As was mentioned, there are no autographs, copies of the books written by the author himself. But there are many thousands of texts and manuscripts of the biblical text. And more are being found. What those show is the consistency of what God revealed to man.

Our internet has been out for a week, so I'm thumbing this on my phone. My bottom line, the very best translation in the world is useless if you leave it on a shelf. Find a good translation, read it, and live it.
 
This has been an interesting read and conversation. My birthday is coming up so I’ve asked for this one Link
 
Great post. Rock on.

Also...the KIng James Bible is written in meter, so its easier to memorize.
Thanks!
The Textus Recepeptus means received text, the other most common source I'm aware of is the Critical Text. My understanding is there are more old copies of the CT because of two things. 1) An Egyptian chief scribe that didn't believe in the diety of Christ had many scribes under him copying his approved text. 2) Those copies were written on papyrus paper that has held up over time, so there are many more copies around. A majority of the TR are on animal hides, or something else that have degraded over time.
From what I've seen, the common translations (ie. NIV, KJ, NKJ, ESV, etc) are principally VERY similar.
Y'all feel free to correct me if I missed something. It's been decades since I studied this topic.
 
This has been an interesting read and conversation. My birthday is coming up so I’ve asked for this one Link
Good for you!
Amazon has JP Green's interline available https://www.amazon.com/Pocket-Interlinear-New-Testament/dp/0801038251

And here https://www.amazon.com/Interlinear-Greek-English-New-Testament-Green/dp/0801021383

The hardback full Bible version is also available for less than $250 now https://www.amazon.com/Interlinear-...2938f&pd_rd_wg=MRBWu&pd_rd_i=1565639774&psc=1

If you wish to dig further, we also have used Zohiates Word Study Dictionary. You'll need the Strong's reference # for a word to be able to look it up.
 
Thanks!
The Textus Recepeptus means received text, the other most common source I'm aware of is the Critical Text. My understanding is there are more old copies of the CT because of two things. 1) An Egyptian chief scribe that didn't believe in the diety of Christ had many scribes under him copying his approved text. 2) Those copies were written on papyrus paper that has held up over time, so there are many more copies around. A majority of the TR are on animal hides, or something else that have degraded over time.
From what I've seen, the common translations (ie. NIV, KJ, NKJ, ESV, etc) are principally VERY similar.
Y'all feel free to correct me if I missed something. It's been decades since I studied this topic.
I may have more to add later but for now the reason why there are so few copies of the Textus Recepeptus, and I am talking about early copies, is because of Roman emperor Diocletian. Diocletian specifically ordered that when christians were arrested that their scriptures would also be burned. He believed that their scripture kept them together, and if he got rid of them, he could eliminate the Christians .
When Constantine ended the persecution of christians a few years later, church leaders began to furiously make copies of existing scriptures. Therefore, the existing copies were quickly worn out.
We have early copies of the critical text, because scribes and churches didn't use them; they were garbage. In fact one of the Critical text copies (the Siniaticus) was found in a garbage bin in a monastery where monks were using it to light fires.
Fyi, the Critical Text is the text stream that originated in Alexandria Egypt.
The pollution of that stream comes from early church "father" Origen. When Constantine claimed conversion to Christianity he had Church historian Eusebius procure 50 copies of scriptures. Eusebius's copies are from the original pen of Origen.
This opens up the whole Arian heresy issue and brings in a lot of other points to ponder.
In short, the Critical text, originating from Alexandria Egypt, has many passages from the original text of the Bible missing. Erasmus examined the most important manuscript of the critical text (the Vaticaus) while he was in Rome, and noted that in several areas he could see where someone scratched out some versus here and there.
The critical text is incomplete. Early copies are preserved because scribes knew they were bad and didn't wear them out copying them.
 
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