I hope you didn’t think I was going to give you my top ten translations.
My top five reasons for not listing my top ten translations.
- I don’t think others care or should care what my top ten translations are.
- I’m not qualified to judge which ones are the best.
- Related to number 2, it would mainly be my preference, which is what most top ten lists are anyway, which is what Douglas Mangum at Biblia Hebraica asserts.
- I’m determined not to be a “fan” of any one translation which would be my #1 translation.
- There are only two translations I’ve read all the way through.
I do think that for someone who is interested in choosing or switching, the top ten lists can be educational. Some that I have seen are:
- “This Lamp” favorite bibles via He Is Sufficient
- English Bible Translations: My Top Ten - Iyov
- My Ranking of English Bible Translations - Biblia Hebraica
Any others?
I really don’t have a 10 ten list of favorite translations rather, I view a number of them and see which strikes me the most. I’ve generally settled on HCSB, while the NIV my old standby. With that said, when doing by Bible studies I use my Biblesoft software to compare which translation works the best for the particular passage I’m working on.
My perspective is that the Bible is the living Word of God and his spirit can instruct us regardless of what translation we settle on.
#5 is the best one for me. We’re far too prone to make snap judgments based on limited information. Not to say that we have to read the whole Bible before forming an opinion of the translation style but we tend to swing too far to the other direction.
Jeff, catchy title. Helpful even though not at all what I expected.
My perspective is that the Bible is the living Word of God and his spirit can instruct us regardless of what translation we settle on.
That’s a quotable quote.
David, it takes so much time to make a decision to switch not only in research but just plain reading the candidates I want to switch to.
Maybe it’s not necessary to have one main Bible but I prefer it.
You know how I like the catchy titles even though it’s gotten me in trouble. It’s honest though because I left out the word “My”.
Jeff
Jeff, wise words on the matter, I say. I’m curious: Which two translation did you read all the way through? Thanks.
Which two translation did you read all the way through?
Hi,
Those would be the NIV and more recently the NRSV.
Jeff
Jeff, not back!
I’m not sure what you mean. ?
Jeff
Jeff, two good versions, the NIV and NRSV.
Indeed they are.
I’ve finally quit trying to find out which translation is best. They are all good for different reasons. The biggest shame is to see christians deride scripture because it has been translated in a style that they don’t happen to like. I’m hopeful we can get past this shallow stuff and keep digging into the word in many translations.
I couldn’t agree with you more. I do have something of a top 5, but it is purely a matter of personal preference, not anything I would try to persuade others to subscribe to.
Thanks for stopping by Peter. I’ll check out your blog.
Jeff
The NIV is pure error!!! It takes so many things and preverts them its not even funny! ya its easy to read but thats not what is going to save, or cost, you your soul!! Kjv, ASV and YLT (young’s literal translation)..thats what im sticking to
I don’t trust commenters who don’t know how to use punctuation and capitalization correctly.
Jeff
That was random… Though the persuasiveness of his argument has compelled me to convert to using the ASV from now on.