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What’s the Best Bible Translation?

I’ll be upfront with you. I’m not actually going to tell you what Bible translation I think is the best. I won’t even tell you which one I prefer. It may or may not have colorful illustrations that make Jesus look like a California surfer. Kidding.

I tend to agree with Pastor Rick Warren when he said:

The best Bible translation is one that is translated into your life.”

But to help you make the choice, you should know what makes each translation different. That will help you decide what to use for study, what you recommend to new believers, and even what you read to your kids.

DECIDING ON THE BEST BIBLE TRANSLATION FOR YOU

Centuries of scholarship have gone into the English translations we have today.

There are two methods translators use when putting together English Bibles.

  1. Produce a translation to prioritize the original, literal word (word for word).
  2. Produce a translations to prioritize the original idea being communicated (thought for thought).

The more technical terms are usually put into three categories:

Formal Equivalent

These translations attempt to reproduce the Greek and Hebrew as exactly as possible into the English language. Words, figures of speech, and sentence structure of the original languages are reproduced in a much more literal way in this type of Bible. These produce a word-for-word translation. Sometimes, this can result in awkward, less-familiar language.

Dynamic Equivalent

These Bibles land between a formal equivalent translation and a paraphrase. They are thought-for-thought, but only to an extent. Greek and Hebrew figures of speech are replaced with modern rough equivalents. They are typically easier to read.

Paraphrase

These versions are not usually considered translations. Instead, they are seen as rewordings of Scripture. So they have the freedom to use very familiar, modern language.

Paraphrase-advocates note that the New Testament was written in the common language of the people—not by scholars or philosophers. The results can be the clearest expression of Scripture on par with the original. However, theological lenses can more easily influence the interpretation. Some paraphrases are based on the original Hebrew/Greek and some are based on more formal equivalent English translations.

The centuries old challenge for scholars is accurately translating the original manuscripts in a way that also makes them understandable.

For example, imagine you’re speaking to an audience in China through a translator. You say, “Hong Kong is the coolest city I’ve ever been to”. Then the translator literally interprets your statement. She turns to the audience and says, “Hong Kong is the coldest city I’d ever been to“. Your audience probably thinks you grew up in the middle of the Gobi desert (Hong Kong never really gets cold). We want our translators to understand our culture and slang enough to translate my thought, as opposed to my literal words.

And so, for centuries the challenge has been to translate an accurate, understandable Scripture into thousands of languages worldwide. So, unless you can read the Hebrew and Greek yourself, every translation you’ve read went through this process.

Where does your favorite translation rank in terms of being word-for-word and thought-for-thought? Check out the graphic* below.

You’ll notice this chart doesn’t say one translation is better than another. However, it can help you understand how the different translations interpret the original manuscripts. If you want to dig deeper, most Bibles have an introduction that explains their translation philosophy. You can also check out the links below for more in-depth thoughts on the differences between translations.

Helpful Resources:


* Please note that there are no specific differences (other than their place on the continuum) between the orange and green Bibles listed in the graphic

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17 Comments

  1. Danny

    “The best Bible translation is one that is translated into your life.”

    Amen to that! I have been criticized by other people online whenever I say that my preferred translations are the NIV and the TNIV. They say it’s too inaccurate, it’s a paraphrase, and even that it is a Satanic translation. Then they’d quote from their favorite Christian authority like Wayne Grudem, Kent Hovind, or even NT Wright.

    But I believe that the proof is in the pudding. I came to God through Christ by reading and studying my New Student Bible NIV back in 1996. I had read other translations before, both more literal (NKJV) and more loose (TEV). But it was the NIV and the gentle commentary notes that convicted my heart and convinced my head about the truth of the Gospel and the need to accept Christ as my Lord and Savior.

    Now that I’ve grown into my Christian life, I have learned more about theology. I have a deeper understanding about the core doctrines of our faith, the distinctives of my particular denomination, and of other non-essential doctrines that other Christians hold. And I’ve read dozens of Bible translations, and I am even beginning to study greek to get closer to the original text. But after all that, I am still a big fan of the NIV, and I appreciate the fact that our local church uses it as a pew Bible and for preaching.

    Sorry for rambling, but what I am trying to say is that choose a Bible that works for you. If your command of English is low, there is no shame in using an easier translation like the NIrV or the CEV. If it leads you to Christ, then those translations are the best for you. In the end, we should read the Bible and let God’s Words nourish our lives.

    • Stanley Mliwa

      Nuno, may the God Almighty bless you abundantly for sharing these links. Satan is fighting God Almighty by trying his best to Not destroy( that he is not capable of) but corrupting it. He has done it through the false religions and is doing it within the cycle of Christianity.
      Let us all be aware of his tricks.

  3. Brian C. Stanford

    I’ve often found that when really digging in to scripture, looking at it in several versions is very helpful. If there are distinct differences between versions, then using a resource like the NET’s translation notes or a Strong’s dictionary can help shed some light as well. The most important thing to me is remembering that while His Word is perfect, we humans are not, so any single translation taken on its own is bound to have some problems.

  4. Kevin

    I do not understand why some bibles are listed above the line in the graph in a different colour to those below the line.

    • Andrew F.

      Kevin,
      There is no difference between those above or below. The only thing that is important is where they are on the continuum.

    • Paul Byrd

      The translations on the top of the line are translated directly from the original manuscripts whereas the ones below are revisions of an established translation. Not sure why the Interlinear is on the bottom, though.

  5. Anthony

    Thank you for a very well written article. I especially appreciate the English-to-Chinese translation example, and the graph showing where the different Bible translations fit in the word-for-word and thought-for-thought methods. Through Olive Tree, I have been able to download at least 15 different translations over the years and I’ve always wondered what method was used for each one. While most of them are on this graph, there are six of them that aren’t mentioned – Darby’s, Webster’s, Tyndale, World English (WEB), Wycliffe, and YLT. Where would those fall on the graph?

    • Wesley

      Offf the top of my head, Tyndale (I love his translation!) would be near KJV, and Young’s literal would be between an interlinear and NAS. I am not certain about the others.

  6. Jim

    During college I led group Bible studies for students through Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF). We used an approach we called “manuscript study” where we printed out the text and then used colored pencils, annotation, etc. to observe the text in a “Hermeneutics” type fashion, highlighting comparisons, means-to-an-end, repetition, etc. I started using NASB due to its literal translation and wanting to let scripture speak for itself, but I used my Bible software to compare as I prepared, usually using KJV and NIV as my primary comparisons. (Note that one thing you didn’t call out as a difference in translations is that the source documents considered for different translations is quite different, a sometimes knock against KJV/NKJV translations or for them depending on your philosophical tendencies).

    What I found over time is that I had to switch to NIV in the long run to have effective communication in the group. The stilted phrases and sometimes difficult literal wording continually caused problems in the discussions and in the ability of some to actually engage in what the passage was saying. Participation went up tremendously when NIV was used and comprehension seemed much higher.

    I still use NASB/ESV and many other translations comparatively when studying in a rigorous way, but the practical ability to apply scripture in a group of young believers was greatly enhanced with NIV. Thus I’m not a pure stickler on using NASB or the more “pure” translations all the time.

    I do find “The Message” pretty hard to accept, it seems to go too far for me when NIV is very readable. Studying Hermeneutics (for personal reasons, not degree) with Howard Hendricks at Dallas Theological Seminary, I used NASB and NIV both and found the comparisons very helpful at spotting/observing things during exercises like “describe 25 observations about Acts 1:8” followed the next week by “Now observe 25 more”.

    The result is I start with NIV, and study referencing others and am very happy with that methodology since they are all available to me electronically. Be aware there are camps that get very animated about the source documents used in the translations – I find those arguments are typically overblown, but there are well-meaning and dearly beloved people in various camps who have considered it more than me. I recommend any Bible that is a bit more than “thought for thought” myself, I learned a lot by observing the original “words” in some cultural context that is often missing in paraphrase approaches, but am open to the idea that some of the paraphrases may have a place on occasion.

    Anyone remember “Good News for Modern Man” with the little stick figure illustrations? 🙂

  7. Rose Richardson

    I would really love a similar graph for the available Spanish translations. My preferred English translations are NASB, NKJV, and NIV. I began with NIV as a teen, and now prefer NASB and NKJV, however, I always read all three for the best picture when I want to better understand a particular passage. English is where my best comprehension lies, but Spanish is my native language, and the language of my silent prayers… I would really love to know which Spanish translation fits best to the word for word side of the scale. Thank you. PS, been using Olive Tree since it was only for Palm OS. Love Olive Tree. Great job in growing well with all the platforms and OSs available today.

  8. Stasia Urrutia

    Simply a smiling visitant here to share the love (:, btw outstanding pattern.

  9. Rex

    I took your advice and obtained a NIV Bible and found that a lot of verses I memorized as a youth in Sunday school were missing!
    I thought I got a badly misprinted copy so I bought a NASB Bible instead and found the same verses missing including all of John 7:53-8:11 —The Woman Caught in Adultery account.
    All the missing verses were the words of Christ such as Matt. 18:11, Mark 11:26 etc.
    I have not been in church in decades and wanted a new Bible to replace my 40 year old version.

    • Paul Byrd

      It’s kind of strange that the Bible you bought didn’t have those verses in it at all. Most modern version have it, but with brackets around those verses.
      The verses you listed are “contested” verses, meaning they only appear in later texts and do not appear in any of the earliest manuscripts discovered.

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