Could I have chosen a post with a more incendiary title?

Perhaps not.

One of my favorite courses in college was “media law“ and one of the topics in that class was, “fighting words.“ The first amendment guarantees freedom of speech, but it’s a limited guarantee. That freedom does not extend to provoking others with your words, in certain ways. But which words provoke others and to what extent is always up for debate. That’s why we have courts.

But back to the topic of Biblical translations… I don’t intend for this post to be incendiary in any way, only helpful. If you have ever taught a Sunday school class, led a Bible study, or even just tried to read the Bible yourself, you have probably wrestled with the question of which translation of the Bible to use. I am going to outline four important considerations when choosing a biblical translation.

1. Consider veracity. You may already know this, but I like to cover this topic as a foundation. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was written in Greek. The original books and letters were carefully copied by scribes and passed along to other scribes. (The historical veracity of Biblical documents is thoroughly noted and accepted by secular scholars.)  All of the standard translations you will come across: the New International Version (NIV), the Living Bible, the English Standard Version (ESV), the Message… All of these were translated, by scholars, directly from the Hebrew or the Greek texts. Occasionally I will hear someone who doesn’t know much about these things say something like this, “Well, you can’t really trust a modern Bible translation, because it has been translated from one language to another over and over through the centuries, and a lot has gotten lost in translation.” This is simply untrue. Whichever modern, mainstream translation you choose, you can rest assured that it was carefully translated by scholars from the original language.
2. Consider readability. I can’t overstate this. If the person reading the Bible doesn’t understand what he is reading, or if the language seems stilted, or if the language is too old-fashioned, then the translation is not appropriate for that person. For instance, the King James Version was translated from the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin Vulgate (here you have an example of a “translation from a translation”) in the 17th century. People spoke in “thees” and “thous,” and the general population was thrilled to have a translation they could understand (instead of the Latin translation which was translation of the day used in churches). It was revolutionary. But most English speakers don’t speak in “thees” in “thous” anymore. Language evolves. Unless you speak in “thees” and “thous” at home, and more modern translation is appropriate.
3. Consider your audience. If you are teaching to an audience that is raised on the King James version, I would consider sticking with that or moving to the New king James. If you are teaching to an audience that is learning English or for whom English as a second language, I would consider The Message or even a children’s Bible. Sidebar:  When I served in Asia as a missionary, one of the first things I longed for was a children’s Bible. It didn’t mean the people I was teaching weren’t brilliant – many of them spoke multiple languages. But I wasn’t proficient in their language, and I knew that if the Biblical message wasn’t abundantly clear, it would be lost. I was sharing truths about God with people who had never heard anything about God before. There was no background knowledge, and I wanted them to capture the ark of God story without stumbling over every other word.
4. Consider the format. The Bible, put together with its 66 books, is long. Because of that, it is conventionally printed on very thin paper. And because of limitations and printing presses, the modern Bible has traditionally been printed in a two-column format. We don’t really read any other books this way. In fact, a lot of us don’t mind larger print books or prefer reading from our phones or devices. Whatever is easier on the eyes, right? Well, the Bible, with its small font and double-column format, is not very easy on the eyes. Because of that, I would encourage you to find a Bible that is written like other books – larger font and one column. This in no way diminishes the sacredness of the Bible. In fact, much of the Bible was originally written on scrolls and stored in hard. Just because we now read the Bible in a book format doesn’t mean it’s any less sacred – it just means that we have just come to find that scrolls and jars are a bit cumbersome.

Now that we’ve established some parameters for deciding which translation to use (or deciding whether it even matters), check out my next post in which I give details on five popular translations.

Also … See my post on children’s Bibles.