So we have now examined our own assumptions and attitudes about the Word of God, and have also looked at briefly what in the world hermeneutics is and why it is important. I would now like to provide some thoughts on Bibles, the different versions and translations, and some recommended ones to use for study.
We are blessed in the 21st century to have so many types of Bibles available to us. There are numerous versions, translations, names, and brands. There are teen study bibles, children’s picture bibles, men’s and women’s Bibles, Bibles for soldiers in camouflage, and many more. There are Bibles with concordances, maps, study questions, study notes, cross-references, and even cute stories of application for children and teens. There are NIV’s, ESV’s, NASB’s, NLT’s, KJV’s, NKJV’s, CEV’s, NCV’s, Living Bibles, Message Bibles, and every other alphabet soup abbreviation you can find. So what should one use for study, and will that be a different one than a good reading bible? I am going to assume that the reader has some familiarity with the different types of Bibles out there.
A word about translation before we jump into the discussion. If any of the readers know an additional language that is not one’s native tongue, then one will know the difficulties associated with translation from one language into another. Some words are easy: Rain in English is regen in German. Two in English is duo in Greek. Other words and phrases are much more difficult, and some phrases and words cannot be translated one-for-one. The process of translation is itself a form of interpretation, because translators have to make decisions about difficult words and phrases and how to convey the meaning in another language. In studying the Bible, if one doesn’t know the original languages of Hebrew and Greek, then I would strongly suggest a Bible that attempts to minimize the amount of interpretation done by the translation committee and go with one of the more literal translations.
There are basically three different types of translations that we need to consider. One is called a formal equivalent, or literal, translation. This type of translation tends to stick close to the original language, and may be a bit less smooth in the flow and reading. However, the meanings of the words and phrase are translated as literally as possible. Bibles in this category are the English Standard Version (ESV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), the King James Version (KJV), and the New King James Version (NKJV).
Another is called dynamic equivalent, which seeks to translate the meaning of the words or phrases, usually at the expense of a word-for-word translation. All translation is dynamic in some sense, but the range varies considerably. These are less clunky to read, but sacrifice some exactness. Some examples of these types of Bibles are the New International Version (NIV), the New Living Translation (NLT), and the Contemporary English Version (CEV).
A third type of Bible is the paraphrase, which attempts to translate the thought and concept and put this into modern language. It restates the concept in other words. The Living Bible and The Message bible are two paraphrases that are popular today. These are quite easy to read, but are not very useful in Bible study because they have already been interpreted heavily by the “translators.”
A lot of what kind of Bible one chooses is personal preference. That said, I would recommend a NASB, ESV, or NKJV as a good study bible. These are literal translations, read rather well, and provide a solid foundation from which to conduct word and passage studies. A great article about the benefits of the ESV, and why one church switched from the NIV to the ESV is here. However, I would keep additional translations on hand from each category of Bibles, such as an NIV and a Message. One can then compare translations and paraphrases and perhaps some to a better understanding of a particular passage using multiple translations. I personally use the ESV for most studying, but I also have an NIV and an NASB on hand, and sometimes read the NLT and the Message. Mostly, though, my one Bible is the ESV.
What about study notes, or study Bibles with extensive marginal notes? I personally believe that there are pluses and minuses with these. When we get to the part of this series on actual Bible study, I will explain that I prefer to have a clean Bible text so I can read it, study and meditate on it, pray about it, and dig into it. I prefer not to have all of the extraneous commentary in the Bible. That said, I think it is one’s preference on study Bibles. Sometimes the historical notes, commentary, and grammatical notes that are available are helpful for study and perusal after we look at the text by itself, but a clean Bible is best for actual study.
What about an interlinear Bible? An interlinear Bible contains both the English translation and the underlying Greek text (or Hebrew), as well as the part of speech for the particular word and perhaps some other information. These are very helpful for those that have some knowledge of the original languages. They are also helpful for students to see the exact part of speech of a particular noun, verb, or modifier, and this is helpful because Greek in particular can be much more exact when it comes to verb forms and modifiers than English. For a beginning student of Bible study, one would not need this particular Bible, but I would recommend that an interlinear Bible be put on your list of books to get eventually, but not immediately.
So what other tools besides a Bible would one absolutely need before studying the Bible? I would recommend a few other basic tools, but that is the topic for next time!
