20. Open your Bibles -- but which one?

The more we look into what the Bible teaches about the last days, the more I would recommend a Bible version that you can trust to accurately translate what was originally written in the languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

Prior to 1940, there were only two versions of the Bible that were widely used, the main one being the KJV (King James Version). This version was published in 1611 and updated a few times into the 1700's, but it is amazing how well it still holds up as a respectable version. The main problem with the KJV is that hundreds of English words no longer mean the same thing that they did back in 1611 or even in the 1700's when the last KJV updates were done, and the vocabulary itself is at times difficult as well as historically unreliable.

So, if you are going to use the KJV as your study Bible, you should also get a more recent version where the vocabulary is more dependable. Recent versions from about 1970 abound, and are of three basic types: literal word-for-word, hybrid dynamic-equivalence, and free-style. Free-style versions (such as the TLB, The Message, and NLT) are perhaps the most understandable, but are the least useful if accurate study is desired.

The hybrid versions, such as the NIV (New International Version - the best selling of the recent versions), strive for a middle-of-the-road position regarding accuracy vs. understandability. Where the literal bibles attempt to be a word-for-word translation of the early manuscripts, the NIV attempts to be a thought-for-thought translation, rendering the thoughts into a better-flowing equivalent of the word-for-word versions -- and if the only version available was the NIV, I would use it with pleasure. Yet I think we can do better for study purposes.

As for me, since I need to come as close to the originals as I can, I no longer use the KJV, and have gone to a more current vocabulary in a literal version, using the NKJV (New King James Version), the NASB (New American Standard Bible), and the ESV (English Standard Version). Each of these dependable versions have strengths and weaknesses, but often the text in many Bible passages is the same or nearly so in the three versions -- since they all attempt to be as close to a word-for-word literal translation as possible.

If you decide it is time for you to get a new Bible as we study more deeply into the Biblical texts, I would consider all the last four versions as a great improvement over the KJV, and would rank the ESV best, then the NKJV, the NASB, and the NIV. Best of all, get a parallel Bible that has two or more of these versions side-by-side. Often it helps to get a Study Bible, and all of these versions come with excellent ones, but just remember that the Study notes do not have the same accuracy, authority, and importance that the words of scripture do.

For Roman Catholics, the Douay-Rheims version has many of the same vocabulary problems as the KJV (having been published in the same period, around 1609), and I would rather recommend the highly readable, yet literal NAB (New American Bible). The NIV is also available for Catholics.

Hope this helps you select (or at least investigate) a new Bible. If you have questions or comments, please click on Comments below.