There are many reasons that we read and study the Bible. It is vitally important that we select a version that matches your reason for reading and study together with your vocabulary and understanding of the Bible. Selecting the right biblical translation can support your Bible reading goals.

Select a version of the Bible that matches your vocabulary and understanding of the Bible.

Formal TranslationDynamic TranslationIdiomatic TranslationParaphrase
NASBNIVMSGLIVING
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

 

 

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

 

 

Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.

 

 

16 The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us do what is right. 17 It is God’s way of making us well prepared at every point, fully equipped to do good to everyone.

 

 

Biblical translation takes the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek languages and offers an English equivalent. There are three main philosophies of translation: formal translation (word-for-word), dynamic translation (thought-for-thought or phrase-for-phrase) and idiomatic translation (dynamic translation plus idiom equivalence).  All three of these are translations, relying on an English rendering of the original languages. Scholars, theologians and linguists spend lengths of time producing translations.

A paraphrase takes an accepted English translation and rewords it into another English equivalent. A paraphrase spends no time consulting with the original languages. If you are asked to write a verse of the Bible using your own words, you are making a paraphrase of that verse. The old Living Bible and the old Good News for Modern Man provide examples of a biblical paraphrase.

People often miscategorize and misunderstand The Message version of the Bible by Eugene Peterson. Many – including scholars – assume Peterson took an English version of the Bible such as the KJV or the NIV and reworded it. Peterson was a linguistic scholar and used the original languages.

Why was The Message written? The best answer to that question comes from Peterson himself: “While I was teaching a class on Galatians, I began to realize that the adults in my class weren’t feeling the vitality and directness that I sensed as I read and studied the New Testament in its original Greek. Writing straight from the original text, I began to attempt to bring into English the rhythms and idioms of the original language. I knew that the early readers of the New Testament were captured and engaged by these writings and I wanted my congregation to be impacted in the same way. I hoped to bring the New Testament to life for two different types of people: those who hadn’t read the Bible because it seemed too distant and irrelevant and those who had read the Bible so much that it had become ‘old hat.'”

There is no “right or wrong” approach to biblical translations. Different methods attempt to achieve different goals. The danger in any translation that moves away from a word-for-word approach is simply that the translators may bring in their own personal bias or theological position to the text. The danger in a true paraphrase is that the individuals involved are not Greek and Hebrew scholars. A true paraphrase takes a difficult to read English version and simplifies the text.