How to Choose a Bible Translation

Written By Hampton Apostolic Church

“Which Bible translation is best?” “Is there a singular right translation?”

Many Christians have been asking these questions for years, and they have been widely debated. What I am not offering is the definitive answer to this debate, as I am not so arrogant as to believe I have the answer. What I want to provide is a useful tool for deciding which Bible translation to read to help you grow in your Christian journey.

Bible Translations Are a Tool

Let me start with an analogy. Which tool is the best? Is it a screwdriver? Maybe it’s a hammer. Or it could be a hacksaw. The problem with answering this question is that there isn’t enough specificity. To know what tool is the best, you have to know what task you are trying to complete. The best tool depends on the circumstances you are in!

I believe Bible translations are very much the same way. The best translation depends on the circumstances in which the Bible is being used. When deciding which translation to use, you need to consider things like:

  • What is the reading level of my audience?

  • What language does my audience speak?

  • Is it being used in a sermon?

  • Is it being used in more academic settings?

Questions like these are helpful for determining which translations to use.

Categorizing Translations

A good first step is to organize translations into categories. For this article, I’ll use the five categories outlined by William Mounce. Below is a table with the five categories, a general description of each, and a few examples of translations that fall into each category:

Translation Philosophies

When it comes to understanding translation philosophies, there are two major schools of thought. Some translations prefer a word-for-word approach, while others lean more toward thought-for-thought translation. Let’s look at these individually.

Word-for-Word

A formal-equivalence, or word-for-word, Bible translation strives to retain the original language’s vocabulary, word order, and grammatical structure as faithfully as possible. It seeks to translate each Hebrew or Greek term with its closest English equivalent, preserving even grammatical forms, such as indicative verbs, participles, and noun constructions, when feasible. In practice, translators only depart from this literal rendering when English readability would suffer; in such cases, they may smooth the phrasing for clarity while often indicating the original wording in footnotes.

This approach, commonly labeled “literal,” includes well-known versions like the KJV, NASB, and ESV.

Because these translations work to convey vocabulary and sentence structures that differ significantly from contemporary speech, word-for-word Bibles have a distinctive tone that sets them apart from modern literature and writing styles. You might describe their language as majestic, elevated, or inspiring—or even old-fashioned, though in an appealing way.

Thought-for-Thought

Functional equivalence—sometimes referred to as dynamic equivalence or thought-for-thought translation—prioritizes communicating the sense and ideas behind the text rather than matching each word directly. This approach strives to capture the original authors’ intended meaning and cultural context. In these translations, idiomatic expressions are often rendered in ways that clarify their significance for modern readers, even if the precise Hebrew or Greek wording isn’t retained.

These translations feel very approachable. They are helpful in our modern age, where fewer and fewer people are being churched. They remove potential barriers of difficulty that come from reading an ancient text in older English. Understanding the Bible already has cultural and historical barriers. This approach helps minimize the language barrier.

Which Tool for Which Task?

We can divide the use cases for the Bible into three major categories: study, devotion, and church gatherings.

Study

For serious personal study—defined as word or theme studies—I recommend translations like the NASB, KJV, and NRSV. If you want to do more academic study, it seems the NRSV is preferred among scholars, but any formal-equivalent translation is good. The reality is that when you are in the weeds of study, you often find yourself using many translations, grammars, and other resources.

A tip I learned from Bible scholar Tim Mackie: if a word is translated in many different ways across translations, that is a sign it is a particularly difficult word to translate. I recommend reading journal articles and scholarly works to see the discourse surrounding such challenging words or phrases.

Personal Devotion

For personal devotion, I am not persuaded there needs to be any major barrier to engaging with the text. Devotional reading is “a short, focused time spent reading and reflecting on Scripture, often with accompanying commentary or guidance, to encourage spiritual growth and draw closer to God.” Whatever translation makes you more likely to read daily is the translation you should use.

For example, I like to read the NASB95 for the New Testament, Robert Alter’s translation of the Hebrew Bible for study, and the KJV for memorizing verses.

Church Gatherings

The translation used for church gatherings is at the discretion of the pastor or the leader of the gathering. I’ll let my bias surface here: I am from a very traditional church, and in light of that, I personally prefer translations that are more “formal equivalent” rather than “functional equivalent” or natural reading translations.

Concusion

In conclusion, what’s more important than the translation you use is the time and energy you use to study the Word of God. A person can be a poor student with weak theology, regardless of the Bible translation used.

I’ll end with this. Paul’s encouragement to Timothy is a charge that we all, as believers, should take to heart:

2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV)

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Sources

Hampton Apostolic Church https://www.hamptonapostolic.com/
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