Favorite Translation and Translations

What is your favorite translation of the
English Bible? In what ways do you use it?
Reading? Study? Both? Tell a little about
your history with it. Did you grow up on
it? Did a pastor, scholar, teacher, or
friend recommend it to you? Why do you
use it?

What other translations do you use?

For those of you who preach or teach each
week what translation have you found has good literary style for reading out loud?

Clay

I was raised in a KJVO church. So I was firmly KJVO until I began to actually study the Bible and the issues on my own. A friend lent me his NIV, and I picked up an NASB. I used these two translations pretty much exclusively (NASB From the pulpit) until the ESV came out.

I use the NASB, ESV, NRSV and KJV for study, a formal translation being the best for serious study. I recentaly came upon an old ASV that are now being used and well as an RSV

I use the NLT, Message, NIV for narrative reading and devotional type stuff, you get the main point but these break down for anything more then this (IMO)

If I had only one to choose it would be the ESV.

I am KJVO.

I use a NKJV for reading and studying.
I didn't grow up in church, and bought my own first bible 12 years ago, we didn't know anything baout translations and the first bibles were KJV, I read some in my sons bibles NIV(a man at church had given them to them when they atarted church before us), well I liked that I could more easily understand it. When we could finally afford a larger bible(we had little paper backs before) we looked for a long time at the different translation in the bible book store (now that we knew about translations) and we both finally settled on the NKJV, simply for readability, and understanding.

I was saved while reading a NIV. After I got saved, a dear brother gave me a NASB. I used it all through bible college and a few years beyond. Then about 13 years ago I got sucked into the KJVO mindset and stayed in it until about a year ago. Since then I have settled in on using the NKJV while referencing the NASB, ESV, and NIV.

I was a student at Tennessee Temple University in the early 1980's. While at this school I took Old Testament Survey and New Testament Survey during my first semester. One of the requirements was to read through the Bible during the semester.

As I often do, unfortunately, I put off much of the reading until about one week before finals. Although the professor did not care which translation we read from, he did require that we finished our reading before our final exam. He said he was concerned with which translation we lived, not which translation we read.

I was having trouble with the KJV because of the sentence structure although at this time I was a staunch KJVO. Even though I enjoyed the KJV it was difficult to read very fast. In desperation I went to a local Christian bookstore and bought a cheap, paperback NASB to read. The print was too small and I was back at square one.

I then got my hands on a NIV I had owned for some time, but had never even opened (I had bought to book at a garage sale). As I read from Deuteronomy to Revelation in five days, I fell in love with the NIV. It has been my favorite translation since that time. In all fairness, I still enjoy reading the NASB, NKJV, and sometimes even the KJV.

I grew up with the KJV and, because my early memorization was done from it, still think in terms of the KJV.

As a teenager I adopted the NASB (you know, the one with ugly orange soft cover) and also used the NIV a bit. (When I bought a Bible for my daughter to take to church camp, it was the NIV.)

Last year I got a copy of the ESV and liked it immensely; it flowed smoothly for someone who had grown up with the KJV.

I also have a lasting fondness for the Phillips NT, which renders some passages with remarkable power.

I also like the NET Bible, if only for the exhaustive notes, which shed light on many a troublesome text.

As a child back in the 60's, my earliest church memories (S. Baptist) involved using the KJV.

Later, as a college student, when I actually came to the Lord, I began using the NASB. I guess this is the translation I still feel most at home with to this day.

For a time in the 80's, I used the NIV. However, I had problems with its DE approach to translation. I'll never forget a comment my pastor at the time (Bible church) made during a study when someone read a passage from the NIV:"Is this translation or is it interpretation?".

Recently I have begun reading the ESV, and might adopt it as my primary translation IF(big IF) the newly released Deluxe Classic Reference edition is of significantly higher quality than Crossway's publications to date. Otherwise, I'll stick with my old reliable NAS Side Column Wide Margin reference.

I use NASB and NIV most of the time, although I've been reading the ESV lately. If you prefer formal translations, the ESV is even more literal that the NASB. For example, in Exodus 32:25 it's said of the Israelites that they had "broken loose" in worshipping the golden calf. NASB says they were "out of control," which is an accurate rendering, but not a strictly literal one. ("Broken loose" is also found in the RSV.) No translation is literal in every instance, and all of them interpret to some extent, but the ESV probably has a more consistent approach is this area than other versions.

Best translation of the 20th Century: RSV

I use RSV, NJB, JB, NIV, NRSV and GNT with kids. I was raised on the RSV, and this text is the one that flows the best for me. I also enjoy the NJB/JB (have quite a collection of these), as they are written differently from translations based on the KJV.

Jude,

I feel just about the same as you do!
I grew up with and was educated on
the RSV.

After reading some of your messages I
see where we think a lot alike on the
issue of Bible translation.

Clay

I use the NASB and ESV for study.

I use the NKJV for preaching and teaching.

I started out with the KJV in the 50's and was still using it when I was saved in the 60's. It is the one I still use for the most part(95% of the time). I also use the NASB a little and do like it and have NKJV, NIV and ASV on my book shelf, use the ASV a little. Learn to read with the KJV so I'm comfortable with it.

Grew up with the KJV, didn't know there were any others. When I discovered other translations I looked at them and asked trusted people, most gave thumbs down to many of the modern translations for various reasons. My pastor recommended the NASB as the best literal translation and it is still my most respected translation. I have since collected several (8-10) different translations and use them for reference and study. My father gave me a New Scofield Reference Bible when I first got saved and when it wore out I bought a new large print edition of the same thing. That way the same verses are in the same place on all the pages and I can find what I am looking for easier. Posters on this board have made me curious about the ESV, I will have to give it a look see. I am also quite fond of my handheld Franklin Electronic Bible (KJV). Don't care for the NIV, Paraphrases, and most modern translations because I don't trust them to be accurate. I do use them however, for reference and to get a different slant or opinion on difficult passages, so maybe I do trust them a little (but only a little). I think of it as listening to any pastor, author, evangelist, or teacher. I listen to what they have to say and then let the Holy Spirit convince me of the truth of the matter. So far, He has been remarkably sound.

I like the NASB and NIV, would like to get a copy of the ESV and take a look at it.

Hey Jude (OK so I am a Beatles fan),

Drop me a private message if you like.
I'd like to converse some about our
mutual love for the RSV.

Clay

1. NASB (That's New American Standard BIBLE), 1995 Updated Edition. I believe it because it's the only preserved Word of God in the English language (which is what God said only because I say it's so).

KJV?? Burn it, I guess, since it's a flawed, conflated, Anglican regurgitation of Popish drivel derived from that eeeeeeevil Textus Receptus, whose Greek and Eastern Orthodox scribes had their satanic paws all over the transmission of the majority of manuscripts (now, that's a conspiracy theory if I'd heard of one.....).

I hope I had made my point!

Nope. What is your point?

LRL71, that was one of the best posts I have read.