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King
James Version (KJV-1611) or Authorized Version (AV); Elizabethan
English; most widely owned English version; poor use of synonyms for study
purposes (translates one word by many synonyms), good for cross referencing
New King James
Version (NKJV-1979, 1980, 1982) revision of KJV in modern English
Amplified Version
(AB-1958, 1965, 1987) much helpful explanatory material and synonyms in
text, but based on older scholarship
World English
Bible (WEB) a new revision of the ASV of 1901 into Modern English.
The New Testament is revised to reflect the Majority Text.
IDIOMATIC
Rating=3
Revised Standard
Version (RSV-1946, 1952, 2nd ed. 1971) revision of ASV; modern formal
English; good balance between readability and literalness; one of the
two best for study
Rating=4
New Berkley
Version (NBV-1969) or Modern Language Bible; helpful footnotes; readable;
revision of Berkley Version (1945)
Translator's
Translation (TT-1973) published by British and Foreign Bible Society;
source text for native translators
Rating=4½
New International
Version (NIV-1973, 1978, rev. 1984) readable; translated by evangelicals;
less formal English than RSV and NRSV
DYNAMIC
Rating=5
American Translation
(1923, 1927, 1948) by Smith and Goodspeed
New English
Bible (NEB-1961, 1970) good scholarship; interpretive in places; loose
handling of order of OT text
Revised English
Bible (REB-1989) revision of NEB
Rating=6
Today's English
Version (TEV-1966, 1970, 1971, 1976) or Good News Bible (GNB-also called
Good News for Modern Man); easy to read; lack of consistency
New Living Translation
(NLT--1996) revision of Living Bible by ninety evangelical scholars; vast
improvement in reliability; easy to read
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PARAPHRASE
Rating=7
Barclay's A
New Translation (WnB-1968, 1969) insightful
Rating=8
Phillips' The
New Testament in Modern English (1958, 1972) highly readable
COMMENTATIVE
Rating=10
Cotton Patch
Version (1968, 1969) puts the gospel story in a twentieth century setting;
only Luke, Acts, Paul's letters. Of questionable value as it is completely
commentative.
NOT RECOMMENDED
Stay away from "gender
neutral " translations (changing men to "people", etc. - the new TNIV
does this) or "anti-masculine" versions (changing God to "She", etc.).
Confraternity
Version (1941, 1952, 1955, 1961, 1969) Catholic translation; NT based
on Latin compared with Greek; OT based on Hebrew
God's Word
(1995) dynamic-equivalent modern English translation without theological
terms; some gender-neutral usage
Contemporary
English Version (CEV-1995) in simple English; numerous mistranslated
passages
Living Bible
(LB-1967, 1971) easiest reading; very poor for study; changes meaning of
passages; contains vulgarisms
New Revised
Standard Version (NRSV-1989) revision of RSV; politically correct agenda
to remove masculine emphasis from Bible
The Message
- This is an out-and-out paraphrase, intended to convey the New Testament
in colloquial modern English. Not the best for study use.
DON'T USE
AT ALL
Kingdom Interlinear
- New World Translation in margin, published by Jehovah's Witnesses
Diaglott -
Griesbach Greek text, Wilson's New Emphatic Version in margin, published
by Jehovah's Witnesses
New World Translation
(NWT-1961) Jehovah's Witnesses version; modern English; mistranslates passages
relating to deity of Jesus in order to agree with JW doctrine |
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