Let me start by saying that, in general, I don’t like paraphrases or dynamic equivalent translations of The Bible. I prefer the more literal translations like the New King James (NKJV), New American Standard (NASB) and recently the English Standard Version (ESV). I do use the New International Version (NIV) as a general reading bible, and it’s the one I carry around, as that seems to be the default version for most pastors to preach and teach out of.
My biggest problem with the NIV and the New Living Translation (NLT) is that they tend to present one (usually the most common) interpretation of a passage, as apposed to presenting a literal translation of the text, and leave it to me to figure out what the author intended to say. That being said, I also believe that the best version of The Bible for a person to have is the one that they will read, and enjoy reading. I think that explains the success of the NLT, and the NIV before it.I am considering purchasing a NLT for a couple of reasons.
First, I have recently had an experience with someone who was very intelligent, but suffers from ADD and a reading disability. This person wanted to study the word of God, but found it to be very tedious to put the effort into reading, let alone decipher what the text was saying. The solution it seems is a NLT audio Bible in an mp3 player, paired with a NLT large print Bible.
The Second reason is that people in general are less literate today than in years past, and when trying to witness to a non Christian today, I am starting to think that rather than getting high-centered on the 100% word for word accuracy, it would be better to share with them a translation that is immediately understood. There are so many thoughts and concepts in The Bible that require thought, meditation and teaching that I think that allowing the text to interfere in the process does the nonbeliever a disservice.
Let me be clear, for study, I have no plans to give up my more favored literal translations.
What do you think?
I’ve gone back and forth through Bibles, using molsty the ESV and NIV in the past. I gave up using ESV because it was so choppy to read through, even though it was good for study. Readability and accuracy are both important to me. I still use the NIV a lot (a NIV/ Message parallel for reading), but it’s too familiar to me. I tend to gloss over verses a lot on accident, and the translation can be kind of generic sometimes.I’ve landed on the HCSB. They’ve marketed this Bible molsty as specialty Bibles (the soldier’s Bible etc.) but it’s an amazing version. It uses an “optimal equivalence” approach which uses both thought-for-thought and word-for-word depending on which they felt best portrayed the text. It uses words like “Messiah” instead of “Christ” and it just makes so much sense reading it. It is rich in language and very understandable.Here at SIBI, I’ve heard teachers say, “the real word should be ___ and I just wish a translation said it.” A lot of times the HCSB does! But they always forget the version lol. Anyway, I just bought a bigger version of it and plan on using it as my main version now.