How can I pick a good Bible translation?

from the old testament

• God gave His Word in human language (e.g., Exodus 24:4 and Deuteronomy 31:9). The Bible is intended to be written down and passed along. The foundation of any translation is relaying what God said.
• From Israel’s earliest days, copying Scripture was carefully done. For example, kings were to “write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests” (Deuteronomy 17:18). Being done under Levitical authority underscores the importance of making sure copies are accurate. Translations, then, are to strive for accuracy.
• While God originally revealed His commands in Hebrew, not everyone spoke Hebrew, particularly in Israel’s later history. This is why, after the exile, when the commands were given, “They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading” (Nehemiah 8:8). Giving the sense means they were translating it in a way that everyone could fully understand the commands. Thus, a good translation conveys the sense of what Scripture teaches in a way that those who don’t speak the original language can still understand.

from the new testament

• The New Testament was not written in a special language. It was written in what is known as “koine Greek.” “Koine” means “common” and refers to the language that the ordinary person understood at that time.
• When the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples, we read about those in the area that “there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language” (Acts 2:5–6). God always intended His Word to be understood by people in their own languages, giving Peter and the disciples the ability to speak in all of the languages represented by the people listening. Thus, a good translation understands that people need to be able to understand the Bible in their own language.
• When the New Testament authors quoted from the Old Testament, they often quoted from Greek translations (such as the Septuagint) rather than from the Hebrew (i.e., Hebrews 10:5 quoting from a Greek translation of Psalm 40). Once again, they demonstrated that translations are necessary so that people who speak different languages can understand God’s Word. Translations today follow in that same tradition of making unknown languages accessible to ordinary people.
• All Scripture is directly from God (2 Timothy 3:16–17) and warns severely against changing its meaning (Revelation 22:18–19; cf. Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32). Therefore, a good translation strives to convey the sense as accurately as possible.

implications for today

As an English reader, you have a wealth of very solid Bible translations from which to choose. As long as you choose a faithful, evangelical translation, it’s hard to go wrong.

Here are some general thoughts and suggestions. It is not uncommon for a new believer to start with an NIV. It uses more dynamic language, meaning it is easier to understand in modern English. It is very accessible and widely used.

If you prefer a deeper study, the NASB or LSB are great translations for that. They are slightly harder to read as the language can be a little more stilted, but that comes from trying to follow the original language’s word order more closely. That structure helps when parsing an author’s argument.

If you want to go even deeper into study but don’t know Hebrew or Greek, the NET Bible is a good companion Bible. That is because it provides detailed notes to explain translation decisions. However, given the number of notes and thus the sheer size of it, most access it online.

If, however, you’d like something with smoother English than the NASB or LSB but not as simplified as the NIV, the ESV is a great choice. Its strength is making the text, particularly poetry, read like literature.

Note that in addition to these modern translations, the KJV (and NKJV) are still in print. Theologically, they are sound. They were created before key ancient manuscripts were discovered, so they contain some deviations from the original texts. However, no doctrine is adversely affected. Keep in mind that even the NKJV uses more archaic English, making it harder to understand. If you are a fan of KJV’s more traditional language, many have found the modern ESV to be a good replacement translation.