The most common question I get asked is, “Dr. Joel, what Bible translation do you recommend?” Now, I usually respond with a quip: “Honestly, whatever translation you will actually read.” And I truly do mean it. Sometimes I worry we treat our Bibles like how I treat my TBR (to be read) books in my Amazon cart. I purchase the book(s). They get to my house. They sit on a shelf. And they’ve been sitting for a while because a new book just came out that I want to read. In the process, I never actually finish reading (in some cases even starting) the books I’ve already bought!
So I really do mean it. In one sense, I don’t care what Bible translation you pick as long as you are reading your Bible.
With that addressed, let me work through a framework that may help when thinking through what Bible translation may be good for you. At the end, I’ll tell you the Bible translation I’ve been reading from the last few years and why I’ve really appreciated it, along with one MAJOR area of critique I have with it :).
A Crash Course on Bible Translations:
When you choose a Bible translation, you should come into that decision with the prior understanding that all modern translations are fundamentally interpretations. The Bible was not written in English. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew (some Aramaic in Daniel). The New Testament was written in Koine Greek. The Hebrew Bible (OT) was translated into Greek called the Septuagint (LXX) by one of Alexander the Great’s generals who hired 72 Rabbinic scholars to do this important translation work. In many ways, the LXX is the first commentary on the Hebrew Bible because it gives us insight into the initial translation decisions when it came to interpretations of trickier Hebrew passages.
Here is a timeline that may help to orient all of this:
With this information, let me give an illustration. I’m Indian, my wife is white. When we were dating, we would watch Bollywood (Tollywood technically because I’m Telugu) movies, and back then there were no captions. When a funny joke would happen, my wife would look at me and beg me to translate the joke. I would, and when I translated the joke, guess what happened? It wasn’t funny anymore. There is something about the original language—the syntax, word order, poetic play, and rhyme—that is special in its natural context. So when we translate the Bible from its original language, we lose just a little bit of the inflection.
To be clear: We can trust the majority of mainstream translations (I EXCLUDE the Passion Translation as a trustworthy translation. I’ll write more about this later). The major translations like the ESV, CSB, NIV, NLT, and NASB are all amazing. The paraphrase of the Bible by Eugene Peterson, The Message, is spectacular in getting us into the heart of the text. Dr. Peterson never intended for The Message to be a pew Bible, which is why the versification is in block texts.
Each major translation had (or has, in the case of the NLT that is being updated right now) a translation committee with a group of scholars who are specialists in areas that speak into the translation and adhere to the translation philosophy that was established. Here is a rough breakdown of translation philosophies:
Formal Translation - The motto for this is, “as literal as possible, as free as necessary.”
• There is usually some indication of the form/structure of the underlying Hebrew and Greek. For instance, the ESV always translates the Hebrew “hesed” as “steadfast love,” which lets us know when we see the English word what is going on behind the scenes with the Hebrew text.
• Keeps Hebrew/Greek metaphors and idioms intact, which means even if the saying is dead or non-relevant, it will stay as is.
Functional - The motto here is, “translate the meaning.”
• The focus is to get to the meaning of the text, which means it will naturally step closer to interpretation of unclear passages.
• It’s usually easier to read and follow.
• It captures thoughts and phrases in a more concise way.
Dynamic - The motto is, “Translate for readability and accessibility.”
• It is highly readable.
• Modernizes dead metaphors and idioms so we can try to understand what they actually mean.
• It is more theologically accessible.
• A step further into interpretation.
So, curious where the different Bible translations fall in these categories? Here is a rough breakdown:
Formal - ESV, NASB
Functional - NIV, CSB
Dynamic - NLT, Amplified
Now what do I use? All of them :)
But seriously, here is how I do it, and this could be helpful for you. For serious Bible study and teaching, I use ESV or NASB. For my personal devotions and yearly Bible reading plan, I’ve been using the CSB. In fact, I’ve really loved the CSB because it actually toes the line between formal and functional in a pretty helpful way. More on that in a bit. If I am looking at a passage that I am just really familiar with, I will often turn to a Dynamic or even Paraphrase (The Message).
Why I Use CSB For Personal Reading:
I’ve started to use the CSB for personal reading for a few reasons. First, the readability is excellent. I’ve found their phrasing to be helpful and fresh. Second, I really love how they handle grammatical versus biological gender. In Hebrew and Greek grammar, there is a difference. So, in the New Testament when Paul refers to “adelphoi,” technically a wooden translation (ESV) would translate it “brothers.” But the context of the situation and the phrase would be read and understood as “brothers and sisters” or “siblings.” Kind of like saying “guys, let’s go” when the people we are talking about is a group made up of men and women. I appreciate how the CSB draws out this nuance, which I think is SO important for us to recognize.
Here are a couple of hangups (which I’ve shared with them!): There are some edits of phrases that I wish they left intact. For instance, one of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 46 with the refrain, “The Lord of Hosts is with you.” The CSB has, “The Lord of Armies is with you.” Now, I understand why they did that. But I think the context of that phrase has in mind the heavenly army, and “host” lends to a “heavenly host.”
Now, clearly I’m nitpicking here. But maybe now you see that a serious student of the Bible probably wants to have handy a couple of translations based on the use case!
I hope this helps you, and if you are ready to make a decision on a Bible, my friends at LifeWay gave me a coupon code for you guys!
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Helpful! Will link your post on an upcoming post for a resource for my readers. Thanks!
Great resource.