What do you think is the best general purpose Bible? Which version would "fit" your average reader, and be comprehensible to most people as well as being accurate and reliable?
To be more specific, which Bible would you recommend to your teenage son or daughter, your co-worker or neighbor?
Your thoughts?
This is an interesting question and also difficult to answer.
If I were on an island with one Bible, which Bible would I want? --- might be an easier question to answer.
In this case I would pick the NASB or the ESV. Probably, the NASB would be my book of choice in this case, but I must also remember that the NASB is not an easy book to read because the wording is so literal. If I were going on a camping trip which was temporary, I might take the NIV or even the Living Bible (Translation) and read for leisure. On a trip that was temporary, I might get more out of God's word with a less than literal word-for-word style of translation.
I honestly am not excited about either of those last two translations because I study in detail, but for pleasure reading there is nothing like an Old Testament Bible story of Daniel and the Lion's pit or some other story we grew up with in one of these thought for thought translations.
You are going to have to make a decision on whether you want word-for-word accuracy and a little more difficulty in reading or less literal translation and an easier read. You can't have you cake and eat it too because translation that is very accurate and thought-for-thought translation style (although I read some in Hebrews and Greek--with textbooks near my hands because I am weak in both languages) are not necessarily compatable. God chose to have the authors write the Bible in ancient languages which are not so easy to translate. Thankfully, the Lord has given our scholars more and more ancient manuscripts so that we can continue to increase our knowledge of exactly what the authors vs. the genre meant during their writing. Compare that to living in a home where the people speak a foreign language and you can learn eactly what they mean through practice. The Bible translators do not have native speakers or writers to learn from, so it makes the translation process harder.
If you pick any of the main stream Bibles that are on the market from the King James on up through most of the modern translations, you can't go wrong. Pick something that you WILL read and I don't think you are going to go wrong. If you have trouble understanding or getting much reading done with the more literal NASB then pick something easier. I would stay away from paraphrases like the old "Living Bible" and your also probably going to get a better translation if it is done by a committee rather than a single translator.
In your post you mention a girl or boy, or other person. I would consider the reading level. A young child is going to have more difficulty reading through the NASB than they would with (for example) the NIV. When I was a child I learned to read early and devoured books, but I read very little in my KJV Bible. I just couldn't take in the older English like I can now and even though I have heard a lot of stories about the actual accuracy, I remember ignoring the boring pastor and devoured The Good News paperback NTs that were bought by the small church and given out for anybody who wanted one to read. I LOVED reading the stories. I was only about six to eight, but there were real stories as interesting as the young adult fiction I read that I enjoyed and my mother never told me to put it down and listen to the preacher. I think she knew of my interest in reading and we didn't know how great of a translation it was, but I don't think I read anything in that book that did damage to my theology as I developed it from then on.
My point is, buy what the person you are witnessing to will read and leave it at that. I would never give a non-Christian adult the King James Version simply because if they didn't grow up in church hearing it read every week there is a good chance that they will struggle through a chapter and lay it down and that's where it will stay. I would rather give them an NIV or Living Translation, and if they become or are a young Christian then they will gravitate towards materials and translations they can understand.
I highly advise listening to the classes on Biblical translation that can be found on the web for free. Private mail me if you can't find a link.
