...except after "C"

I have struggled in consideration of writing this post, because I am by no means an authority on this subject. Then I thought to myself, "Self... since when have you been an authority on anything you've blogged about?" I had a conversation just last week that shed some interesting light on that whole line of thinking. But that's for another post. This one is about Bibles, versions, translations, styles and etc.

First of all, let me just tell you that there are really only 2 versions of the Bible. There is one that is true, and then there is one that is not. The true version would be the one that was authored by God, penned by the writers through the inspiration of His Spirit, and divinely preserved through the ages as a reliable and accurate record of His Revelation to us. However, we need to rightly recognize that most of what we rely on for personal study and edification is a translation of this true version of Scripture.

I would characterize the various translations available in modern English into three broad categories along a scale ranging from the most literal word-for-word equivalence to an intermediate blend of meaning-for-meaning equivalence, to the most subjective thought-for-thought equivalence. For the purposes of this particular evaluation, I have eliminated "translations" that have been undertaken by one individual and really fall more into the category of a paraphrase or even a commentary (e.g. Kenneth Taylor's "The Living Bible" or Eugene Peterson's "The Message"). Within each category, I present these in the order in which they were first published.

Word-for-Word Translations:

1971. New American Standard Bible (The Lockman Foundation) -

This is a highly respected and highly accurate revision of the 1901 ASV into modern language. It follows the original text extremely closely, sometimes
rendering difficult and awkward passages to read and comprehend.

1982. New King James Version (Nelson Bibles) -

This is a highly regarded translation which retains the beauty and familiarity of 17th century sentence structure but updates the meaning with more
accurate and reliable modern texts in a contemporary, readable language.

2001. English Standard Version (Crossway Bibles) -

This is a brand new and extremely accurate revision of the 1952 RSV into modern language. It rivals the NASB for its literal rendering of the original
words while achieving greater ease in readability than the NKJV.

Meaning-for-Meaning Translations:

1978. New International Version (Zondervan) -

This highly accurate and smooth reading translation surpassed the beloved
King James Version in popularity (in terms of US sales) in the 1980s. It
was worked on by a large international team of evangelical scholars.

1990. New Revised Standard Version (World Bibles) -

This translation is widely accepted among mainline and interconfessional
affiliations and uses contemporary language and generic reference to
humans. It is a less literal revision of the 1952 RSV.

2004. Holman Christian Standard Bible (Holman Bible Publishers) -

This undertaking by the Southern Baptist Convention strikes a balance between word-for-word and thought-for-thought philosophy. It translates from the most
recent and reliable ancient manuscripts into a reader-friendly style.

Thought-for-Thought Translations:

1976. Good News Bible (American Bible Society) -

This simple translation uses a limited vocabulary without a lot of jargon and can be appreciated by a variety of traditions and cultures.

1988. New Century Version (Nelson Bibles) -

This translation puts biblical concepts into very natural terms and is aimed mostly at unchurched or teens.

1996. New Living Translation (Tyndale House Publishers) -

This translation produces the closest natural equivalent of the original message in natural, contemporary English.

Obviously, there are other Bibles out there, but I believe this gives a good overview of the most popular and widely accepted translations available in today's market. I hope my little list serves to guide someone who is wondering why or when to use which one.
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