When You Feel Lost in Translations: Why your Bible translation matters

This article is featured in the Winter 2020 issue of Just Between Us Magazine — available now!

An edited version of the original photo by Tyler Scarlett of Forest Baptist Church

When it comes to modern Bible translations you probably fit into one of several categories:

1. You’ve stayed at a hotel and seen a Bible in the nightstand drawer, the only “translation” you’re aware of is the Holy Bible.
2. You attended church as a child and remember the “thees and thous” associated with the King James Version.
3. You know the acronyms KJV, NKVJ, NIV, ESV, and… that’s about it.
4. You may have heard of the New American Standard Bible, New Living Translation, and the Message, but you don’t really know the difference.
5. You’re in the minority, but you’re well-informed of the various translations and categories.

Did you know that if you were to search Google for English Bible translations you’d find that there are 450? 450! Though that may seem cumbersome, don’t let that intimidate you. Bible translations are generally divided into three categories on a continuum, though you may find them listed in other ways if you do additional homework, you’ll typically find something along the lines of:

Word-for-word