Which Bible Version To Read And Why

How do you decide what version of the Bible to read? Is ease and comfort your determining factor? Or is authenticity and accuracy of what you are reading your goal?

To one degree or another, meaning and context will get lost in the wash with any translation and revision. So, instead of the trying to get the Bible to reach us at our level, maybe we should try to rise to the Bible’s level. We must conform to the word of God, not the other way around.

Different Bible versions translate scripture differently. How differently greatly depends upon who translated it, why and when the translation occurred. Unfortunately, some translations build upon prior translations, further augmenting the original writings. For example, the King James Version of the Bible is built upon, and in protest of, the Geneva Bible.

By the way, the Bible doesn’t know things such as gender, race, nationality or age. Avoid Bible’s like a woman’s Bible or a teenager’s Bible.

Christianity has always had the problem of people trying to conform God’s word to them, when it is we who must conform to it.

Although some Bible versions afford greater ease of reading and comprehension, we must stop and think about what it is we are reading and understanding. Ease isn’t necessarily concerned with accuracy, ease only cares about ease. Erroneous learning is dangerous.

So what should we do? In my opinion, and I stress, my opinion, the King James Version (KJV) is the best to work with, although I prefer the Geneva Bible. Why the KJV? You will find that just about all helps will be geared towards the KJV. Concordances, encyclopedias, dictionaries, study guides, expositions, commentaries, etc., all most all of them reference the KJV. The Geneva Bible was written before the KJV and in somewhat of a different English.

John Wycliffe is credited with first translating the Bible from the Latin Vulgate in the 14th century. But the English has changed so much since then that many would find it difficult if not impossible to read. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, the bulk of research materials and study guides are made for the KJV.

And what will all of these helps do? Mainly take the language back to its original Greek, Hebrew, Chaldean, Aramaic and such and not only give its original meaning but the word origins as well.

The hermeneutical approach of studying the Bible seeks to understand beyond mere word definitions, but to learn of the who, what, where, when, why and how of the message and messenger.

In short, to understand God’s word requires work and effort. But Jesus was clear, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).

As much as possible reach back to the original and authoritative scripture. Employ the many helps available to you in searching out God’s word. God will make known his message to those that seek Him out.

The purpose here is not to dispel, discredit or even discourage reading any particular Bible version. The purpose is truth and to inspire the pursuit of it. To do so, we as fallen man must rise to the task and not bring down His word through a millennium or two of interpretations and translations.

Bill Hitchcock