Discussion: Which Bible Translation is Best?

There are a lot of different Bibles out there that you can buy - some are most scholarly, others are designed to be easier to read. But which should a person use - which is best in terms of having an accurate translation? Which do scholars tend to use, and which are worst? That's not an easy question to answer.

A forum regular asked about the best Bible to use and Atheist Keith wrote: As far as being faithful to the source documents, the New American Standard Bible (NASB) is the best, if you forgive its slipping into archaic English when someone is praying. However, it is not easy to read, since it is fairly rigorous right down to the nuances of verb tense. The Revised Standard Version (RSV) is reasonably translated. The New International Version (NIV) is the most popular after the King James, although it takes plenty of liberties with the sources and fixes some known contradictions. You shouldn't ever make too big of a claim about "what the Bible says" using the NIV until you cross-check with other translations.

Ibn Tumart wrote: The New Oxford Annotated Bible is pretty good. ... Each book has an introduction of several pages, and the back contains numerous scholarly essays on the interpretation, transmission, history, and other issues about the Bible. I understand the Jerusalem Bible is extremely prized for its translation and commentaries, but it's also extremely expensive the last time I checked. If money's no object, though, you might want to give this version a go.

Which version of the Bible do you have - do you prefer the KJV, the RSV, or something else? Have you used the Jerusalem Bible, despite it's cost? I myself have a number of versions, translations, and languages - including the Jerusalem Bible as well as the Oxford Annotated Bible. I tend to use the latter more often than the former, although that's more a matter of habit rather than a preference for the quality of the translation. Read More...