# What Bible Translation(s) Do You Use? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2013, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562 "2013-08-07T05:02:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![want2befree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3e96dc/32.png) [@want2befree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2befree)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/21 "2013-08-07T17:24:43Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I’m waiting for the movie There was a movie/miniseries made just recently. [The Bible (TV Mini Series 2013) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2245988/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/22 "2013-08-07T17:27:35Z")
I think most of my copies are NRSV or NAB. I haven’t really cracked them open since 2008 though, so my memory is foggy. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/23 "2013-08-07T17:35:06Z")
To me, there is nothing that matches the grandeur of the King James Version, especially for reading aloud. I understand that it has been surpassed in textual accuracy by other versions, but no one else has rendered the poetry anywhere near as well. I need get a large print version now that I am in my dotage, but that’s my favourite bible. (How I wish that someone would (have) commission(ed) Seamus Heaney, Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, Samuel Beckett, David Mamet or Michael Ondaatje (among many others) to sit down with a panel of bible scholars to craft a new poetic translation!! Could you imagine?!?) I also have a New English Bible from the early 1980s, which I quite like. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/24 "2013-08-07T18:00:57Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > To me, there is nothing that matches the grandeur of the King James Version, especially for reading aloud. I understand that it has been surpassed in textual accuracy by other versions, but no one else has rendered the poetry anywhere near as well. I need get a large print version now that I am in my dotage, but that’s my favourite bible. > > (How I wish that someone would (have) commission(ed) Seamus Heaney, Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, Samuel Beckett, David Mamet or Michael Ondaatje (among many others) to sit down with a panel of bible scholars to craft a new poetic translation!! Could you imagine?!?) > > I also have a New English Bible from the early 1980s, which I quite like. The publishers of the New English Bible put out the Revised English Bible in 1989. It’s a more scholarly accurate version, but the quality of the literature suffers a bit. There’s also the Jerusalem Bible which is/was a quite poetic English translation from an original French translation. It’s been succeeded by a more scholarly accurate New Jerusalem Bible, but, you guessed it, the quality of the literature suffers. A group of noted authors did do a retelling of Genesis’s stories. I’ll have to check and find out what the title is and who they were. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/25 "2013-08-08T01:38:15Z")
Count me as another faithful lolcat-er. Blessinz of teh Ceiling Cat be apwn yu, srsly (Seriously though, our family Bible is the New American Bible, IRC) ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/26 "2013-08-08T01:54:24Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > King James Version is beautiful poetry. > > New International Version is easier to understand, but not pretty to read. > > Revised Standard Version is a reasonable compromise. I completely agree, in all respects. But I’d add: The Message, while I wouldn’t rely on it for accuracy, can nevertheless give an interesting different perspective. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/27 "2013-08-08T04:04:18Z")
The Vulgate of Saint Jerome! Just kidding. None. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/28 "2013-08-08T06:40:38Z")
> [@MacSpon](#): > > The Message, while I wouldn’t rely on it for accuracy, can nevertheless give an interesting different perspective. Sure, in the same sense that asking your neighbor what he thinks the Bible says might give you an interesting different perspective. Unless you’re neighbor has ever actually read the Bible, in which case, his answer will be significantly more accurate (and so less interesting and different?) than The Message. Seriously, it’s not even a paraphrase (which it pretends to be). I don’t know what it is. ---
**Author:** ![Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eugene_of_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/29 "2013-08-10T21:48:16Z")
“King James Bible! Good enough for the Apostle Paul, good enough for me!” I, too, grew up with and around the KJV. That’s still all that I own (well, I have a Oxford (RSV) from college) but I use the NIV online and also like the NASB. Oh, I also have one of those Living Bible paraphrase versions giving to me for a birthday when I was growing up. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/30 "2013-08-10T22:11:22Z")
> **[King James Only movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_James_Only_movement)** > > The King James Only movement (also known as King James Onlyism) asserts the belief that the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible is superior to all other translations of the Bible. Adherents of the King James Only movement, mostly members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Conservative Anabaptist, traditionalist Anglo-Catholics, Conservative Holiness Methodist and some Baptist churches, believe that the KJV needs no further improvements because it is the greatest English tran... This how I grew up. I was literally taught that all other versions of the Bible were just flat out wrong. I do recall that I was allowed a NKJV with lots of annotations and such, and each chapter had a little history on who the (probable) author was and when it was written in relation to the stuff it was about. I don’t know why I was allowed that NKJV, I think my Dad probably didn’t really look at it that closely. It’s largely responsible for me becoming an atheist (among other things). I would read the little blurbs before each chapter and be like, “wtf, we don’t even know who wrote this, and it was written way WAY after the fact? Hmmm…” Nowadays, I just look at the Skeptics Annotated Bible whenever I need to look up something. And I think they usually include lots of different versions for each passage. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/31 "2013-08-10T22:18:03Z")
Looking through the KJVO people, I would say specifically our family belonged to the following: > [@](#): > > “The Inspired KJV Group” – This faction believes that the KJV itself was divinely inspired. They view the translation to be preserved by God and as accurate as the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts found in its underlying texts. Sometimes this group will even exclude other language versions based on the same manuscripts, claiming that the KJV is the only English Bible sanctioned by God. I remember having discussions about how the KJV was inspired by God and was the only valid translation, and that literally all other translations of the Bible were flawed by men. People who use them might not necessarily be evil, but they certainly are mislead, and we should feel sorry for them and try to get them to use the KJV. I remember being young and getting into arguments with other Christians that their Bible was wrong and only the KJV could be relied upon. Wow, this thread really brought back some memories! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/32 "2013-08-10T22:27:16Z")
[BibleGateway](http://www.biblegateway.com/) defaults to the NIV, and I’ve heard that that’s a reasonably accurate translation, so that’s usually what I use when I’m looking things up. Unfortunately, like most Protestant versions, it doesn’t have the deuterocanonical books like Sirach or Maccabes-- Sometimes I can get BibleGateway to give me those from the Wycliffe version (which would not be my first choice for readability or accuracy), but the site generally gets weird when it comes to those books. At home on my bookshelf, I have a New American Bible (note: Not the same as the New American Standard Bible), which is a Catholic version. I mostly use that one when I’m looking up something for someone in the same room (and where I already know where I’m looking, and don’t need to use a search feature). I’m not certain which version is used in the missals for mass at my church, but most of them seem to be from the Douay Rheims version. And of course, the King James version is the most beautiful poetically, and is also the version I have on my iPod, since it was free and easy to find. ---
**Author:** ![Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speak_to_me_Maddie)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/33 "2013-08-10T22:28:04Z")
I use the **NRSV** for these reasons: I think it is the best available balance between literal meaning and literature; my church (Episcopal/Anglican) uses it; it includes the deuterocanonical books which are used in my church’s liturgical readings; and the translators were broadly representative of Christian belief to avoid sectarian interpretations. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/34 "2013-08-10T22:36:12Z")
I like to read from the Amplified Bible at the top of my lungs. **"FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD…"** just think of Garrett Morris in the corner of your computer screen. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/35 "2013-08-10T22:56:26Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > [BibleGateway](http://www.biblegateway.com/) defaults to the NIV, and I’ve heard that that’s a reasonably accurate translation, so that’s usually what I use when I’m looking things up. Unfortunately, like most Protestant versions, it doesn’t have the deuterocanonical books like Sirach or Maccabes-- Sometimes I can get BibleGateway to give me those from the Wycliffe version (which would not be my first choice for readability or accuracy), but the site generally gets weird when it comes to those books. > > At home on my bookshelf, I have a New American Bible (note: Not the same as the New American Standard Bible), which is a Catholic version. I mostly use that one when I’m looking up something for someone in the same room (and where I already know where I’m looking, and don’t need to use a search feature). > > I’m not certain which version is used in the missals for mass at my church, but most of them seem to be from the Douay Rheims version. > > And of course, the King James version is the most beautiful poetically, and is also the version I have on my iPod, since it was free and easy to find. The major modern English Catholic versions are the New American Bible, the New Revised Standard Version (Catholic version), the New Jerusalem Bible and the Revised English Bible. For whatever reason, these are harder to find online (and the REB just isn’t there at all.) ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/36 "2013-08-11T01:10:47Z")
The Geneva Bible was good enough for Oliver Cromwell and it’s good enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/37 "2013-08-11T01:14:48Z")
I grew up with the Douay-Rheims, but now I read it online with the New American Bible. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/38 "2013-08-11T02:41:56Z")
NIV. I’m a fence-sitter, but I see no reason to keep my son from learning some good stuff. KJV would really pretty much require him to learn a new dialect, and after getting rid of his unknowing use of Spanglish, we’ll go with something more useful. Maybe Klingon. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/39 "2013-08-11T02:56:09Z")
New Jerusalem, which kills two birds with one stone. It’s a Catholic bible, and it was the version used in my art history department. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562/40 "2013-08-11T03:13:32Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > The major modern English Catholic versions are the New American Bible, the New Revised Standard Version (Catholic version), the New Jerusalem Bible and the Revised English Bible. For whatever reason, these are harder to find online (and the REB just isn’t there at all.) I go to [http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/\_INDEX.HTM](http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0839/_INDEX.HTM) and am able to get the New American Bible. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-bible-translation-s-do-you-use/665562.md?page=3)