Which Bible Translation Is Best?

I believe that the best answer to this question is not to limit yourself to one translation.

Whenever you go from one language to another, you can either try to go word-for-word (this is called "formal equivalence," or a "literal translation") or thought-for-thought (so-called "dynamic equivalence," possibly more of a "paraphrase"). A quick and easy example of this is Spanish buenos dias. If you translate the words, you get "good days." But the thought expressed is "hello."

As an aside, to clear up one common misconception, new Bible translations are always made from the original Hebrew and Greek versions of the Bible. Some people think that the Bible has been retranslated over-and-over, such as from Hebrew to Greek, from Greek to Latin, from Latin to German, from German to Old English, from Old English to Modern English. If that were the case, then there would be some truth to this notion about losing something in the translation each time and possibly ending up not knowing what it's supposed to say at all. But the reality is that translators — and many pastors — work with the texts in their original languages.

But it is true that something gets lost in translation. For example, the English expression, "Put up or shut up," isn't going to have the same oomph in another language when the rhyme and rhythm aren't there. Nuances and word plays are difficult to bring from one language to another.

On the one hand, a word-for-word translation tries to be "faithful" to the original text by being able to claim, "This is what it says." In extreme (but not uncommon) cases, effort is made to use the same part of speech (verb, noun, adjective), such as translating John 19:28 as "I thirst" (using a verb, as in Greek) instead of "I'm thirsty" (using an adjective, as we would normally do in English).

On the other hand, a thought-for-thought translation tries to be "faithful" to the original text by saying, "This is what it means." Thus the NIV translates the "work of faith and labor of love" of 1 Thessalonians 1:3 as "work produced by faith [and] labor prompted by love."

Either way, you're going to lose a little something. A good solution is to use both. There are parallel Bibles which have different translations in parallel columns on the same page, and web sites like www.biblegateway.com allow you to quickly and easily compare multiple versions.

Here are my favorites:

• King James Version (KJV). A classic, unbeatable for beauty and endurance, plus an excellent literal (word-for-word) translation, going so far as to italicize words that had to be inserted in English to make it flow when there is not a corresponding word in the Greek original. But it is hard to read, especially if you're not used to it. Memorize special passages (like the 23rd Psalm) in King James, but look them up in other versions to make sure you know what they're saying! The KJV is sometimes referred to as the Authorized Version (AV).
  
• New International Version (NIV). This is what I grew up with, so this is what usually "sounds right" to me. It's a good translation, maybe halfway between word-for-word and thought-for-thought, so that sometimes it feels like it fails at both. You should also try its successor:
• Today's New International Version (TNIV). More than a simple updating, the TNIV moves the NIV toward the thought-for-thought philosophy of translation. It handles gender-inclusive language accurately, using inclusive terms like "people" when both men and women (and children!) are meant by the original (such as 1 Timothy 2:4) but never trying to neutralize gender language for God, who is consistently "he," unlike some other modern translations. The main drawback is that it accomplishes gender-inclusive language at the expense of the original wording, using plurals for singular, for example, which could lead to misunderstandings.
• English Standard Version (ESV). Some of you will be familiar with the Revised Standard Version (RSV) which came out in the 1950's to succeed the American Standard Version (ASV) of 1901. In 1989, a revision of the revision was made, called the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). To avoid calling this one "Yet Another New and Improved Revised Standard Version" (YANIRSV), the 2001 version is called simply English Standard Version. I like it because it is very literal, in the tradition of the KJV, but much easier to read than King James. It also reverts some unnecessary (and biased) changes, such as restoring "virgin" to Isaiah 7:14, where RSV and NRSV have "young woman."
• Other translations. I'm not a huge fan of "The Message" because I think its author (Eugene Peterson) got much too interpretative in many places, but it's interesting to read and get its unique perspective, as long as you have a more literal translation nearby to make sure that the Bible really says what Eugene Peterson says that it says.
• Original languages. For the really serious student of the Bible! Even learning a little Hebrew and Greek opens up worlds of possibilities in reading commentaries and other resources like lexicons for word studies.