What Bible Should I Read?

For a Christian the Bible is THE MOST important document we have. It is God speaking to us! He tell us about who He is and how He has acted throughout history. What could be better!

But which translation should I read? Catholics have extra books called the Apocrypha. But others in Protestant circles grew up on the older version of the KJV. Still others read the more popular NIV.

You come with questions but ultimately you just want to know God and read his Word. What should you read?

There are really two groups of translations we would recommend. There are Thought-for-Thought translations and Word-for-Word translations. Both of these are pretty straightforward. A Thought-for-Thought translation looks at the original languages (Hebrew in the Old Testament and Greek in the New Testament) and does its best to take the thought of the author to translate it in a more readable way. The most common translation is the NIV.

The Word-for- Word translations are trying their best to translate the original language to a specific word in English. These translations are generally given preferences because it does its best to get the meaning and word the author intended. The con is that it might be more difficult to read. Translations which are widely used are ESV, NKJV and NASB.

Both Thought-for-Thought translations and Word-for-Word translations can be helpful in your time with God. Maybe you read NIV to read in your morning devotional and in a time of study you read an ESV. Either way, read your Bible!

Resources:

https://www.biblegateway.com/learn/bible-101/choosing-a-bible/best-bible-translation/

https://bibleproject.com/articles/does-a-most-accurate-bible-translation-exist/