Which Bible Translation is Best?

Join us today as we discuss different bible translations and where they come from. Which one is best for you?

Ultimately, the best bible for you is the one you will read, but there are some to be wary of, we just want you to be informed!

Below are a couple of links to articles about bible translations, we hope you'll take the time to pick through them and learn some more. If they links don't work, please copy and paste them into your browser.

https://www.logos.com/grow/min-textual-criticism-of-the-bible/

https://www.logos.com/grow/best-bible-translation/

Produced, edited and hosted by Scott Askew and Dan Daugherty

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Hey everybody, it's the Creek Cast with Dan and Scott. It is early July 2026, and we are uh in the midst of summer. It is hot. Hot, hot, hot, hot. It's ridiculous. Um, and uh, but it is summer, so we can't complain too much. Summer in the south. Oh my gosh, uh, the humidity and everything else.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

But I I saw a map the other day like of the of the United States. Yeah. Everybody was hot, yeah. Except right on the uh Idaho-Montana border down into Wyoming, and uh they got five feet of snow two days ago.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

You know, I was coming I was coming out of Target yesterday. I stopped by to get some medicine, and um, I was walking out and uh the alarm went off like I had stolen something. So and I had gone to Starbucks, a friend of mine had said, hey, get the um mint citrus tea or whatever, and I had never had it. So um, but it was good. It was good, it was. That was really and it helped clear me out and stuff. I might actually stop and get another one on the way home. And uh, and anyway, I was walking out, and uh, that guy had been sitting in the Starbucks, he was talking to himself, and so um I was waiting for him to say something to me and I was gonna engage him, but he never did. He was talking to himself, and so but he was standing next to me, he was walking out um beside me or or near me, and uh so the alarm went off and I and I dropped and I looked at him and he stepped away from the thing and I said, uh, I think that's me. And he said, You know it snowed in Wyoming. I was like, What? That's exactly what he said. So random. And I said, Oh, oh yeah. I said, I think I heard that. And he said, Yep, yep, crazy. Snowed. I was like, Yeah, it was like this awkward thing, and that was the first thing that popped out of his dad.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

That's funny. I mean, yeah, just look at look at you, the alarm's going off. Yeah, one of you stole something.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Snowed snowed in Wyoming. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Well, Jack told me it actually got down to SS Park uh in uh Colorado. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

I've actually man, that's a beautiful place. It is a beautiful place.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

It's gorgeous. But that's crazy. Yeah. Here we're, you know, sweating to the oldies.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

110 degrees heat index. Um yeah, um, the guy last night said that we break probably break some records on July 4th. And man, I remember some hot July 4ths, and I cannot imagine us breaking a record on July 4th. That doesn't even make sense.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Well, did you know the guy who uh um I think it was the uh yeah, the guy who invented the heat index passed away recently. He was 95, but he felt like 105.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

I knew it was a joke. I knew it the way you had the look on your face. Couldn't figure it out. That was good. That's good. Bless his heart. Um Dan's and the guy that created the heat. Especially Dan's. Oh my, we are we are, and I'm I'm up on medicine because I've got a sinus infection. So um if I say something loopy, uh, y'all just forgive me and move on. Oh me. We are going to talk about Bible translations today. We get a lot of questions about Bible translations, and uh that those are and they're excellent questions, and and um it's worth it to spend some time talking about different Bible translations. And so uh we want to talk about one, some that are um well worth your time, um, some that are worth you know literally throwing away. Um, there are a few making the rounds right now that we do not we would encourage you not to touch. Right um, and uh one specifically that's really making his rounds is still in you version. We'll mention that one and talk about that a little bit. Um so yeah, we just want to lay some groundwork on what Bible translations are good. Um, and and really of the mainstream ones, we're not gonna we're not gonna bash a whole lot of the mainstream Bibles because, and and this is because we really feel like if you're not gonna read uh an ESV or an NIV or a New American Standard or you know CSB or something, if you're not gonna read one of those main ones, one of those formal ones to mid midline ones, then we want you reading a a living Bible or a message. Right. Um, we want you reading a Bible. And so we're gonna talk about those different translations probably and and get to cover what we do. And so Dan, where would you like to start?

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Um, I think we need to define a few things uh because as we talk, we're going to you're gonna hear words like codex and syntax and stuff like that. And I, you know, just in case it's not a I gotta let a you hear that? Oh, is it that? It's the air conditioner. We're gonna shut it off, we're gonna sweat. It's gonna be awesome. Anyway, um there's there's some words that we often use that maybe you may not understand. Um and maybe you do, maybe I'm just you know, treating you guys like you're five, but um, but oftentimes we hear things that uh in the church that we may not fully grasp. So uh I I wanted to start just some just some important terms like a syntax, if you hear the word syntax, all that means is the study of words and and their um their their formation, you know. So it's it's the it's the elements, a sentence structure, those types of things that um um when we say syntax, and that can be used just out of Bible talk, too. That's just that's a general term. Uh codex, uh the books we have today are are considered what what is the um what our predecessor was, a codex. So the codex basically is stacked copies um inbound on the side, and so our modern book is a form of codex, right? The original codex uh was made of papyri and uh other uh animal skins, that type of stuff, where it they would write on the front and the back, and then they would put it, stack it together and bind it on the side. So that's that's the it's a precursor to the modern book. Um, so that's what a codex is. Um uh scroll is is a um it's just exactly what it sounds like if you're familiar with scrolls. It's uh usually really long and it's written, uh it's written um in in just long format. Um never typically you're not gonna find scrolls with a front and back. Right. Uh that's why they're longer. Um and you had to unroll it to read it, stuff like that. Uh Jesus picks up scrolls in the synagogue and reads. Um, so those types of things, uh, textual criticism is this idea that you uh before you translate, before you do anything like that, you look at the text that you you have and you you you criticize it, which in our world in our world today it's more of a that's a negative connotation, but it's it's not what it's supposed to be. Uh criticism is just this idea of understanding and breaking down. And so textual criticism is this idea that you take uh what you're looking at and you verify it and to the best of your ability to find the actual information. Is this true? What's the context? All that kind of stuff before you actually translate, so you can translate it from the best knowledge that we have. Right. So that so that's uh you know, in layman's terms, that's that's what that means. Yeah. Um so I I wanted to start there because I think we need to we need to see like when we start talking about these different translations of of the Bible that we have today, um, as to how they were translated into what we have and what goes into it, because there's some misconceptions. Yeah, definitely so. Especially when we start talking about the King James Bible. Um uh and and we'll talk a little bit about that because I think it's something in our in our area, um, in the South really, um, there are uh a lot of, and you probably know them, maybe you might be, um, what we call King James onlyists, um, where you believe or they believe that the only translation you can use is the King James. Right. Um, because it's the authorized version. Yeah, we'll and we'll talk a little bit about what that means.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

And we both know people like that. Yeah, yeah. We've come across folks like that.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Well, we get we get um we've told a few people this, but we get uh tracks left at our at our uh over at the worship center on the bench there. Every now and again we get tracks. Um I don't know who does it, but they're King James only, and it's like I don't know if they're leaving them for us to distribute or they're trying to tell us that we're wrong because we don't use King James, but anyway.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

They're not leaving piles of them. No, they just leave a couple, it's just a couple, and that yeah, I mean it always surprises me when someone's gonna show up to another church and give them a track, but anyway, right? Uh yeah, we get that.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Um in and quite honestly, translation uh work has uh been a great divide in the church for a lot of years. It has um and so uh we just wanted to kind of hit this. Uh it may not be very long, it may be very it may be long today, but we uh we just wanted to kind of because we both Scott and I get the question all the time what version should I be reading? And what's the differences between these and and that type of stuff? And so um, if you do have those questions, um maybe in the show notes we can include uh um Wesley Huff's um chart uh picture uh that they can download. I don't know if we able if we're able to do that. I know we've had some issues in the past trying to put it in the phone.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Yeah, maybe we can provide the link, if nothing.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Yeah, um, but uh you know, there's there's some great resources out there that help you see uh the differences in translations and where they where they fall on the the what is often called the Bible translation chart. Right. Um and so uh because they we have different types of translations, and that's I don't know where we want to go with that one.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

But well, I I think we can just start. I mean, you know, the understanding that um the Bible's translated when they translate the Bible, it's it's the it's dependent upon the philosophy of the group that is translating the Bible. Like some some groups want to translate the Bible as uh what we call a dynamic equivalent, which is more of a thought-for-thought idea. Um like the NIV is a thought-for-thought. CSB would probably fall into focus.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

It is, it's but it's see in that CSB goes a little further. Kind of a little further to the word for word. Um and that's what that's what we need to understand too, is that even on these scales, there's a there's a um there's there's uh there's the sliding scale, I guess. Yeah, uh, because NIV, um, although good, it does lean more towards almost almost to the paraphrase. Right. Almost, but it not not quite. Right. It's it's very middle.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Like most charts that you find, it's gonna be in the middle between the formality and the functionality of of what the philosophy of Bible translation is.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

And so and and all of that's determined a lot on, too, of uh if the the the textual criticism that they perform. Um there are there are groups that uh um just to piggyback off what you said, like you know, um they are um ha have a an agenda in mind. Yeah. Um and so and you really get into that when you start getting into the political realm. Yeah. Uh or uh the I'm gonna I'm just the cult. Yeah. Cult back. Yeah, the cult realm. Well, the New World Translation is New World Translation. If you have an NWT, that is that is a Jehovah's Witness Bible.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

That is a that is a Bible written for the Express can intent to promote Jehovah's Witness agenda. And um, and and they will they and that's why it's so hard sometimes to have a discussion with a Jehovah's Witness because they're gonna want their base to be the the new world.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

They're gonna show you what is I Isaiah 6, whatever says, and you're gonna show them and it's gonna say two different things because our version points to Jesus as the Messiah, their version does not.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

Yeah, I had a friend who was in college, and when he was there, he met a Jehovah's Witness, and he spent pretty much the entire year witnessing to this person in the library, and they would bring out their Bibles, and he was trying to, and finally, about three quarters of the way through the year, he finally broke through with her on the New World Translation, yeah, and she finally decided, yeah, this is wrong. This is I need to dismiss this. But it took him a long time, right? And then he felt like he could tell her the truth of what scripture said.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

So I mean, because it's it's it's interesting to me because how could you look at that? I mean, and and and I guess we can say the same thing with King James only, but how could you look at the the New World Translation and then look at even the worst of the translated English versions that we have um that are in the realm of Christianity still say the same thing, right? And your your version's the only version that doesn't have Jesus as as Messiah. Yeah. I mean, I don't understand that. And how you can say, well, I'm right, all of those other ones who are very consistent, church history is very consistent, you know. And so that that's part of textual criticism, though.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

It is, it's part of knowing and having and having the ability to look at it for what it is, right? Um, not not necessarily coming at it with an agenda um per se. Uh we mentioned the King James Bible. The King James Bible, when it was translated, was probably the best that they had.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Oh, it was beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

I mean, it was absolutely beautiful. The and and one of the big things about the King James, and we could get into the um textual criticism part of it because there are parts of it. And when we talk about codecs, they were using um later codecs, and since then we found earlier codex writings, which is more accurate to the originals, and so um we have better translations now than what they used to determine the King James Version. Yeah, but ultimately with the King James Version, langu C. S. Lewis, I think it was C. S. Lewis who said language um the the Bible translations change because language changes. Right. And he and he wasn't talking about the originals, he was talking about how we translate them into modern day languages.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

How we understand the original.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Yeah, because even Noah Webster, Ben Franklin, all those guys knew way back in the 1700s that the the mannerisms and the language of the King James Version of the Bible were already out of style. And so they were trying to relate them to people who didn't use the language. Right. And that's where, you know, I I've always been a big fan of the NIV, the 84 translation. Um, not the 2011 and not the recent um revision. But um, and I've also been a big fan of the NESB, and only over the last few years, really the ESV, um, different Bibles and different goals in translating, different the the um the uh philosophies of them, but um excellent versions of the Bible that I think anybody can read and really understand, um, you know, to that to that point.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Yeah, yeah. And I I think too, the you know, when you look at the King James, um, you know, you there's no denying the cultural impact that the King James has had since its inception. Yeah. Um it was it was uh commissioned by King James I and like Scott just said, it was it was translated from the original languages, but from the ones that they've found. And so so and and and that's that's where we we have this, that's where textual criticism comes in. Um because there are thousands and thousands and thousands of copies of the New Testament books, thousands upon thousands. Old Testament, there's not as many. Um we we hate we do have uh um uh a copy, uh I think it's uh umaticus. Yeah, Synaticus Receptacus, yeah. Yeah so that's from the first century BC, but that's the earliest and oldest copy that we have that includes the entirety.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

And so um, and so so we so the old testament's a little harder, um, a lot of oral tradition, that type of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Uh and you have to get into like Jerome and his work bringing the Septuagint over and everything, and there's a lot of and we talked about that in a previous um yes podcast as well.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

And so, and so what we have with with all these thousands of copies of these New Testament books is the dating of these um and how early, because we we do not have, and we've said this before, we do not have any original copies of Paul's letters, right, Peter's, John's, any of those. We don't have any original copies. Right. So what would happen is Paul would write a church to say Thessalonica, and it would go to the church in in Thessonica, and it would uh it would be read to that congregation. And then uh people in that congregation who could be trusted would copy those in order to have further distribution. Right. And so when you start copying things, you start having uh a little bit of uh issue, not with message, but with air of of uh syntax, uh all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

Where it's basically the telephone game, yes, if you think about it on those terms.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

And so um, and so what we have to do as as uh people who translate the Bible from the original languages in in our modern culture is it's we have to do our due diligence to find the best representation of the originals that we can find. Right. And that's what King James did at the time. Well, since then, we have found thousands upon thousands of copies that are much, much older than what King James could find at the time, what was available. Right. He had the best that was available at the time. We have better that is available.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

We have older and more closer to closer to the actual first century church.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

And in fact, we have we have copies of of letters from Paul and and all them uh dating back to mid-second century. Yeah. And so when these are written in the first century, mid-second century, so that's that's pretty good. Um that's pretty close to the original. And so um, so this is why you you would find in your Bible if you read like you know, Mark 16, it stops at verse 8. Right. Uh, and it will have a thing in brackets that says the following uh wasn't uh is not represented in the earliest copies.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Right, the earliest manuscripts do not have this.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

And so, and so you read it and you read understanding that the earliest manuscripts closest to the first century do not contain those. It doesn't mean it's wrong. Right. There's various reasons it couldn't contain it. And that's not the only place. Acts 9, uh John 8. Yeah, and John 5, right? There's one in John 5. I think John 5. Uh Romans, Romans 8.1 uh talks about how you know we um uh God were it was 8.1.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

I think Romans 8.1.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

But uh uh the King James has an extra um bit onto it. Uh-huh. Oh, yeah, it's uh therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That's the NIV. The King James says, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. That phrase who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit is not in the earliest manuscripts that we have today.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

And so what they did um in the King James is they took what they had and they did the best they could with what they had, and it was the best of the day.

unknown 19:55

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Um uh but since then we've had we have earlier copies, and so um what we have now is it doesn't mean King James is a bad translation, it's still a very good translation.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Yeah, I would say if you're gonna read King James, read King James.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

I mean, yeah, I'm not gonna bash you know, but you can't come to me and tell me it's the only one. Oh, no, no, no. Because King King James I commissioned it and it became the official Bible of the Church of England. Yeah. Um, and at that time, the Church of England had transitioned from the I think I think it was the Catholic Church that was the Church of England at one time or the over the Church of or over England. The Church of England is what we know as Anglican. Uh in America, the Anglicans are known as Episcopalians. Right. So just if anybody's uh confused on that.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

I'm trying to tie those two together.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

And so because it became um the official uh Bible of the Church of England, um they think that it's uh a divinely preserved text.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

Right.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

To the point where you and I have both seen the videos. I've actually had a conversation with a gentleman who was a King James onlyist who have said we can correct the Greek and the Hebrew with the King James.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Which is that's I can't even describe it. I think it's blasphemy personally. Yeah, I would say blasphemy, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

I think that's heresy and blasphemy. I mean, all those Amy's that you want to I mean common sense, yeah, blasphemy. I mean it's stupidity. I don't even because because we get the English from the original languages. So how can you use the link the the English to reinterpret what was originally written? That doesn't make sense to me. No, it doesn't matter. But that's a pride thing, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

And it is honestly it is, and and it yeah, and pride being the the key key word there. Yes. I think it I think it's important to understand what the King James uh I was reading earlier about how eighty percent of it was probably set on Tyndall's work, um, which of course got him killed by the Catholic Church. Right. Um so I mean there's there's so much, you know that. I I and I think also if you're gonna say, well, King James only, then you're also writing off the how many people groups in different languages because we're not translating the King James into Swahili.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Swahili that doesn't make any sense either.

SPEAKER_01 22:17

And so and I and I guess they would just throw that off and say, well, if it's a different language, but that again, we we we we we have a uh an embarrassment of riches is what we have when it comes to Bible context and and and textual variations and and just interpretations and stuff. We we we sit at the banquet. There are many languages in this world that only have one translation of the Bible into their language, and they don't have these arguments. Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

They're not saying, well, wait a minute. Right. So just a quick search. There are have been around 900 translations of the Bible into English since the 16th century. That's insane. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

This also shows the the power of the church and and where the church was seated. Um I'm looking at some um, let's see, some portion of the Bible has been translated into 3,400 languages, but approximately 3,945 languages still need scripture. That's right. So um and this this That's why we support Bible translation. That's right, which one of our Bible trans our one of our missions, Bible Broilers, who's actually our uh mission of the month this month, um he's actually they are working on uh a translating an oral language into a written language so that they can translate the and then teach the people how to read their own language in written form so that they can write a Bible so that they'll have a Bible in their own. That's right. That's a life's work, it will take them decades to do that.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

And they've made a lot of progress, but that's you know, we we have to support Bible translation because um scripture is very clear until the whole world hears. Yeah, so uh keep going. That's right, gotta keep doing it. Um but but I was gonna say with the King James, um, you know, so so they had the the best they could uh or had the best that they had. Um it's been it's been a pivotal um uh translation in the history of it's taught English to people trying to learn English. Um, I mean the cultural impact of the King James has been phenomenal.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

Um and so uh after we've discovered all these newer uh or not newer, newer to us um um copies that are actually older than what King James had, um, we've discovered that there is uh so much uh that that we have um uh we have missed as far as not truth but just detail. And so that's why um you know that's why we you know we can look at the King James and the in the in the older uh and the newer translations and say, why are there so many omissions or whatever um type of thing? Um and so uh but the the the idea of of textual criticism is so key because we have to find out, and that means you got to know the context. Right. Um and uh to me, Bible translation process is fascinating. To others it might be boring, um, but I I love the languages, and so uh, you know, looking at the languages over the years of of study and stuff, um, you know, it helps you appreciate because uh the the word for word or the uh formal equivalence uh is also called. Uh those are the those are the Bibles that are the translations that are more um true to the original language in in their idioms, uh in their um the the way they they say things, uh uh as far as like their um contextual words that they use. Um your thought for thought or your um uh what is the other how they say that in the not formal, but it's uh dynamic or dynamic, yeah. Um those are more of like let's take what Paul said here in the Greek and let's put that into a uh better understood phrase, phrase by phrase type thing that that um to get the point across. It doesn't take away from the meaning, it just may not be word for word. I personally like the word for word uh as much as possible. Now the English in the English um that we as far as formal equivalency or word for word, um, the closest we have to the original languages is the NASB, according to most scholars. The NASB, the New American Standard Bible, which was a Bible that was put into uh action um probably in the 50s, like 60s, started that time. Um is put into action, but it was based off of the ASV, uh, the American Standard Version. Um and so, and when I say based off, it wasn't translated from the ASV, it was translated from the original languages, but with the with the same intent that the ASV had. Right. Uh so the NASB is is um by far the closest to the original language. Right. Um and so then there's been a couple updates in that the 95 um update is my favorite update of the of the NASB. And there's a new one now. Um it's called the LSB.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Oh okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

The Legacy Standard Bible. Um and the NASB is the uh uh process or is the is the I don't know the the model for the L LSB. Um and so I haven't gotten into that one yet, but um I plan on buying a copy and trying to see what what's going on. Um but the you know that word for word for me is uh as as someone who um deeply studies the word um as a scholar myself, I like to understand that what I'm reading is very, very close and in the same sequence as what the what was written. Um but but uh in in a in I'm like the study Bibles. I if if you ever use an NASB study bible, um it's incredible. Yeah. Uh because here's people who like, I mean, they're bringing context to life for you, and that's a lot of hard work. The cont uh doing the context studies, yeah. But it's but it's so crucial to understanding the word of God is context, understanding what was going on, the history, everything like that. Um, and then I would say probably ESV, as which is my personal favorite, um, English Standard Version, um uh is is a very good uh word-for-word uh formal equivalence. It to me it's taken the it's taken the NASB, which sounds a lot like Yoda, if Yoda were to read the Bible to you, yeah, um, and it cleans that up, but still maintains the the authenticity to the original languages. Right. So um so the that ESV is my favorite my my absolute favorite. Now I've been getting into the CSB uh and I love it. It's fantastic. In fact, if you're in our in if you're in my uh Kinet class uh uh for the gospel project, that's what they use as a CSB. Um and it's it's really good. Um I got to preview it before it actually came out and published. It used to be the Holman Christian Standard Bible uh back in the in the 90s, 80s and 90s, but now it's just a CSB. Um but it's it's phenomenal as far as it's readable um and it's very accurate. Um and so that's what you know I've been kind of using. If you've noticed, I I don't know if you've certain people aren't gonna notice. I've been using that for my communion meditations the last uh last couple months because that's what we've been in in our in in our class, and so I've just been kind of trying to get used to it. Yeah, um, but it's a good one. So New King James, excellent.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

Well, and the NK, the New King James, the King James, the um NESB, the ESV are all going to fit into the Bible Project actually puts them all in the formal category. Yes. And um with the CSB, it's interesting to me that you mentioned that because it actually slides the uh CSB one step out of the formal and into the moderate.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

And to the moderate, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

Which is really cool to me because I think, you know, and and Bible Project does a good job talking about okay, you have meaning for meaning or functionality, you can't have both. But and the NASB is a perfect example. It reads like Yoda, you know, to the to the you know, to the village Jesus walked, you know, yeah, and so and that's what you get out of the NASB sometimes. The NASB you're reading and you're like, whoa, wait a minute. And um, but there's so the the CSB might be if you're coming out of King James, I think the ESV and the NASB are gonna be where you want to fall as far as um readability. If you're used to really used to reading the King James, that's not so much of a step. For years it seemed like the step out of KJV was NIV. Yeah, and that was almost to a KJV only. That was a that was a hard step because NIV is is it's very functional and like I say, middle of the road, but it is a really different intent of taking it. It's a lot looser, it is, it's just very loose with it, and it's not quite the message or the new living, which have their uses, yeah. Um, but it's um it's certainly not um not where you would want to be. So KJV, if you're KJV, maybe New King James is your first step, but may ESV or NASB is gonna be uh NASB, sorry, we always call them NASBY's NASB. Um or NESB um uh might be the one for you um uh yeah uh to to step into. But that CSB to me is is one that I have been reading more of and I've enjoyed it. I I really I like that it takes it takes a step towards functionality away from formal. And while and and you also have to understand, I'm as a preacher who preaches application of stories, biblical truth uh you know, based, of course. Um I I I like it when a Bible translation helps me bridge that gap um before I get to to that. And the CSB does that better than the ESV. And the NIV, and the NIV to me does not give enough um solid English scholarship to to the translation. So CSB seems to be this working model now, this middle for me at least, where I'm I'm kind of getting into it.

SPEAKER_00 32:25

And that that's what I'm discovering too. I I think that's uh it's it's definitely bridging a massive gap that used to be between the absolute readability and then the the uh formal equivalency that I really enjoy because I want when I read the Bible, I want to know that I don't have to guess that is this the same type of thing they would have understood. You know, I mean I don't have to guess with that. I want to know that, yeah, that's I can trust this translation to say that yeah, that's that's what the original language is getting at. Yeah. Um the NIV, you you just you just can't. There's a lot of questions there. Yeah. Um, especially when they start doing the updates of the gender neutrality and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

And and you have and if you have an NIV, keep reading it. It's fine. If you like reading the NIV, keep going. And again, that's something that that you're gonna hear from us. Look, we we I think both of us are landing around the ESV, CSB as our favorite Bibles now. Um, but but let me say this. I don't think Dan or I preparing anything that we do. I know for me preparing sermons, I'm not just reading one version.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

No, I use several.

SPEAKER_01 33:31

It has to be multiple, and the reason it has to be multiple is because it it's it's because there is no perfect English version of the Bible, but also it gives me insight into questions that I need to be asking from the regular learner's uh um perspective that doesn't have access to BDAG, doesn't have access to Halot, doesn't have access to all these deeper uh lexicon materials that we do have access to.

SPEAKER_00 33:59

Those are just for study materials to help you understand.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

Greek study and Hebrew study materials um that they don't have access to those things.

SPEAKER_00 34:07

Right.

SPEAKER_01 34:07

That how what questions are they needing answered from these versions? And when I read multiple versions, not only does it help me learn, but it also helps me gain perspective into what people are actually looking at. And so we I would say if you ask me what the best Bible to read is, I would say, you know, one guy on here he said flip a coin. Um but I'm I I don't I don't know about flipping a coin, but I would say have a have a Bible that makes you that's your main reading Bible, but then get another one, get a get a parallel translation, get something where you can read it in another version to kind of give perspective as to um as to how it was written.

SPEAKER_00 34:47

And we've even said in a in a previous podcast, which I I when I texted you, I was like, have we done Bible translations yet?

SPEAKER_01 34:53

But we were doing um uh oh crud. I'd have to look at it.

SPEAKER_00 34:58

If we did, we apologize.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

No, we we didn't do translations. We did um I can't remember. I can't remember what it was.

SPEAKER_00 35:04

Um but but anyway, you know, when when we look at um these translations, uh what we desire for our congregation is that they read and understand the word of God so that they may apply it.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

Um, not just to read it and and and just oh, I read it, okay. Um if you want just enjoyment reading, we've said this in a previous podcast, um, you know, in and I and I catch a lot of flack, especially from some of my some of my scholar friends, um, you know, just pick up pick up the message and just read it. But you don't don't study from it. That's not a study Bible.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

No, no, no, just read it.

SPEAKER_00 35:40

Just read it for enjoyment. It's like picking up a book yeah, you would normally just pick up and read and for enjoyment. Um, but we want you studying the word of God. We want you to to read and understand and do. Um, because that's what James tells us, you know, that uh we don't just merely listen to the word and so deceive ourselves. We need to do what it says, James 1.22. You've got to do what it says. And so um pick a pick a version that you understand, but yet it challenges you um to to be better. Um and I and what we're saying is we think um if you if you're a little more advanced in your understanding of language, um, so you know, uh I don't know what they recommend in Bible college for you, but not recommended they required they required two for me.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

Yeah, I had to have the NIV 84 and the next one.

SPEAKER_00 36:31

Mine was just the NASB. Yeah. That's the only version that my college would allow us to use.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

Well, it's funny, my old testament professor wanted us to um study uh the NIV 84. Right. But my new testament professor wanted us in the New American Stand. Right, right. So and that's and that's basically what we did. So we had two different Bible, but I kind of liked it looking back, I kind of liked it because and that was back in the day when when they really made us dig into our Bibles in college. And um, and it was it was excellent, but I had to have both of them. Reading both of them helped me. Yeah, yeah. Um it really helped me.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

So I mean grab an NASB um and and study it, like especially if you if you don't mind the it's a little harder reading.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

It is, it's more difficult to read.

SPEAKER_00 37:13

Grab an ESV, grab a grab a King James, grab a New King James, grab a CSB, like we're grab an NIV for heaven's sake. Yeah, just read your Bible and understand it. And if you don't understand it, ask questions.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Yeah, yeah. And like Dan said, if you're starting out, then the Message Bible and the New Living Translation, I I would say, I would say go read those. Just understand that when you know, what was it? Um It comes with a warning. It does. Uh Ward, who writes, uh, let's see here. He says the most famous paraphrase is the message by Eugene Peterson. He um has the apostle Peter and Moses and even Jesus talking like modern-day English speakers. Readers who regard this as sacrilegious are misunderstanding the intent and missing a useful and stimulating Bible study and devotional to. No, a paraphrase is not a Bible per se. It's not intended to be, but you still ought to have one on your Bible shelf. Pick it up once you have a pretty good understanding. It's um the the message isn't meant to be read solely and alone. Right. It's meant what I would do is I would say get you a good parallel. There's someone in our uh Wednesday morning Bible study who has an NIV 84 parallel with the message, and I love that. I think that's that's an excellent, you know, that's an excellent tool. I would rather it be kind of a uh tri uh parallel with ESV there, right? But um, I still think that side by side, being able to read it side by side is is a is an excellent thing. And they sell a lot of parallel Bibles. I used to have an eight-way parallel Bible. I had eight different translations in it. Now that is uh no idea where it is.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

That is, yeah, I haven't seen that in years.

SPEAKER_01 38:47

I had a eight, it had eight on so every single page had eight paragraphs. It was huge, and it had eight paragraphs. And um, yeah, it was, but I could read all those eight different, I think it was eight. I'm pretty sure Greek was one, it was in Greek in one of them. And uh, but anyway, yeah, I had I think I had eight. And so um, it was crazy. Maybe if it wasn't eight, it was four. But no, I thought I swear.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

I I think I think you're right. There was one that was uh and it was really thick.

SPEAKER_01 39:12

Yeah, it was thick. It was really thick, and I bought and it was very small text. I founded uh the library at Roanoke had it. Um they were getting rid of it, and I bought it for like five bucks. Yeah, and so had it.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

I mean, you're probably not I probably wouldn't uh none of us probably be able to read it today because it's just if I remember right, it was really small. Oh my gosh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:31

The premise was small, and I had perfect eyesight back then, and it was small for me. I can't, I wouldn't even be able to see it now.

SPEAKER_00 39:36

Um and I wanted to mention too, with the uh, you know, so grab grab a version, as Scott said. Um don't don't make the parallel versions your study Bibles, please.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

Right.

SPEAKER_00 39:46

That that's the warning we give you. Do not study out of them. They're not study Bibles. Right. They are to me, they are in which in which we'll talk in a minute. I'm gonna talk about that. I'm gonna talk about the a good version first, yeah, before we get into one of the ones that we we desperately want you to stay away from. And then we'll wrap it up. Yeah, um, so the legacy standard bible. Uh I just mentioned that at the beginning. It's a newer version, it's based from the NASB 95. It's not any of the older uh or the newer um updates of the NASB, but the NSB 95. The reason why I think it's really cool, um, and I again I haven't gotten into it, but I've just been doing some research on it. Um, the recovery of God's name in the Old Testament is Yahweh. They use Yahweh instead of God or Lord. Uh L-O-R-D, capital. Okay, whenever you see that in the in our in our Bibles in the Old Testament capital, L-O-R-D, that's Yahweh. That's what it's meaning. And so they use Yahweh. And in the New Testament, um uh they instead uh for the Greek term uh uh duolos, uh they use slave. So they actually bring back what was actually written in the original, like you are you are a slave uh to to Christ. Um and so uh and it says here they change certain words and phrases in order to ensure English words consistently matched their original language counterparts, and that the phrasing matched the grammar of the original language. Now, one thing that I've noticed is um we to Scott mentioned it earlier that uh when groups uh paraphrases are normally done by individuals, word for word, um uh formal equivalent, those types, or thought for thought, um, those are all usually done by committees. And I I I don't know about you, Scott, but I tend to trust the committees more than I do the individuals, a lot of accountability, a lot of accountability, and so the LSB was no different. There was it was done by a committee, um, but the main driver behind it was uh Masters Seminary and um uh John MacArthur. And so um, which leads me into sometimes you're gonna get a translation that's gonna lean to a certain type of uh uh theological uh preconceived presupposition. Right. And John MacArthur is a Calvinist, or what in and God rest his soul, he's he's no longer with us. Uh great teacher, um, you can glean a lot from him, but you have to understand that he's coming from a Calvinist uh point of view, right? And so um from what I've gathered, that's probably where the ELSB is coming from. It's gonna have a very Calvinist bend to it, um originally, or uh as as it's written. Um, so just understand that's that you're probably gonna get that. Um uh in in people have even said the ESV, uh they had a lot of Calvinists uh on ESV uh as well. Um, but uh but you're always gonna get that. Yeah, you're always gonna get those types of uh uh bends uh or leanings. Um in Calvinism, Calvinism isn't, you know, if you're Calvinist, you're not going to hell. I'm sorry, you're right, you're saved. Right. Just like Armenius are saved. So we are we had another podcast on that too. Uh if you haven't caught up on our podcast, you got a lot to catch uh catch up on. Yeah, we're close to 20 now. Yeah, yeah. And uh so anyway, um, but the one that we want you to um please stay away from. And it's in in in it's called the Passion Translation. Yeah, don't don't worry about. Okay, the Passion Translation. Um do your research on the criticisms of the Passion Translation. Uh you uh in and find some videos of the guy who translated it. Uh it was one individual. Um, and some of his videos he's talking on stage and he's bragging about how he was given a dream. And I mean, very Joseph Smith esque type uh um things. Um Brian Simmons is his name, it's the primary work of Brian Simmons. Um it it doesn't have a team of scholars that can help him stay on with what he's doing. And as as far as I know, I I'm not 100% with this, I don't believe Brian Simmons has any formal, and I may be wrong, formal education in the realm of Bible translation and uh and understanding or even teaching the biblical languages. Um, and I may be wrong on that. Um, but um I I've tried to stay away from because it's it's exhausting. Anyway, uh critics argue that Simmons relies on questionable manuscripts, particularly emphasizing Aramaic sources over the original Greek texts, uh, which can lead to inaccuracies. And so instead of going to the Greek texts, he went to the Aramaic equivalents of the Greek. Um he has uh adding and changing meaning. Uh it's noted for inserting new material and changing the meaning of verses. For example, it often uh transforms direct speech about God into speech directed to God, which can misrepresent the original intent. Um the translation is reported to be at least 50% longer than the original text, indicating significant additions that may distort the original message. Um, Simmons has made claims about receiving divine guidance for his translation, including visions and direct communication from Jesus. These assertions have raised eyebrows among scholars who prioritize textual accuracy. And then conclusion, the and I'm just reading what I have here, um, the Passion Translation is popular among some readers for its emotional and accessible language. However, its lack of rigorous scholarly backing and tendency to uh alter the original text have led many to caution against its use as a reliable biblical resource. Now, what happens when you get overrun by emotion? You are willing to disregard truth.

SPEAKER_01 46:12

Right.

SPEAKER_00 46:13

And I've I've said it many times here. Um, it's one of the things I've taught for years, is truth should always be done through the lens uh or through the lens of who got who God is, what he wants. So we should never let emotions produce truth, but rather truth produce the emotion.

SPEAKER_01 46:32

Right.

SPEAKER_00 46:33

Uh, we have to be careful about that. That truth is producing the emotion that we are exhibiting, right? Not the other way around. Yeah. Because sometimes we feel differently and we're trying to say, and it's producing this quote unquote truth in our life that is not in line with what scripture actually says. That's right. So stay away from it.

SPEAKER_01 46:53

Absolutely. I just read where Bethel Church, which we have a lot of issues with Bethel Church and their theology and stuff, they drop the passion translation because they said it was a bad translation. When Bethel drops it, you're like, Oh my gosh, we all need to run away screaming.

SPEAKER_00 47:10

If the Bethel cult is dropping it, yeah, then you know it's just that's insane.

SPEAKER_01 47:14

That was a week ago. That's insane.

SPEAKER_00 47:16

I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_01 47:17

Yeah, that well, it just uh That's in that's crazy. It was just posted on Facebook a week ago that um Bethel Church has reportedly removed the passion from their online um from its online bookstore after new allegations raised questions about how Brian Simmons had produced it. The move is significant because Bethel leaders have long promoted it, with Bill Johnson publicly endorsing it. The translation has faced growing criticism after a recent expose accused Simmons of plagiarism, false claims, and adding meaning into the biblical text rather than faithfully translating it. So this is Bethel saying that he didn't faithfully translate the Bible.

SPEAKER_00 47:53

And uh that's so funny though. Wow. And that's not that's not it's it's not as haha funny, but like it's very ironic. Yeah, a church like Bethel would say, Yeah, don't use that translation. Yeah. Finally, something I agree with Bethel Bethel about.

SPEAKER_01 48:10

Well, there you go. Congratulations. I'm a good day. See, thanks, Scott. I'm such a bridge builder.

SPEAKER_00 48:15

Um if you want to know my opinions on Bethel, come talk to me. We'll uh we'll do another podcast.

SPEAKER_01 48:22

Um, all right. So yeah, stay away from the passion translation. And um, and and if you have questions, you you can always reach out to Dan or I through our email addresses. Um they're posted on the website. Um, you can reach out to us through the fan mail button here on the um podcast itself. But uh just don't be afraid to ask questions. We we want you to understand though, out of these major, if you want to know what the major translations are, go you can actually Google, say Google, what are the major translations of the Bible according to and I would say something like logos.com.

SPEAKER_00 48:59

Right.

SPEAKER_01 49:00

And uh it will come up with it.

SPEAKER_00 49:03

Um uh what was it? The the the I'm trying to remember, I'm thinking back our conversation.

SPEAKER_01 49:11

Oh, today? Uh I've got yeah, I I actually have it where um this is a logos.com best bible translation. Okay, and it actually has like graphics.

SPEAKER_00 49:21

Yeah, and that's kind of what I'm thinking about that, or or you you said something about the Bible project or the project something.

SPEAKER_01 49:26

It was linked it was uh located in this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:28

So yeah, let's put that link there.

SPEAKER_01 49:30

Yeah, I'll put that link to the logos articles. Anyway, go ahead. I'm sorry, didn't mean it could be. No, no, not at all. The the Lagos article, I'll put the link to the Logos article because that is actually really good because they ask, like, they're okay. So what is Bible translation? Is one translation strategy better than another? How to choose the best Bible for translation? You know, and you can go read and and see what they say. And this this author is a little um loose about it, in my in my opinion. And when I say loose, he's like, if you ask him what Bible to use on a Sunday, he's gonna say whatever Bible my trip my preacher's using. Um, you know, and and so I mean, I I get it though, but what he's trying to say is that there are many choices for good Bibles. We don't need to spend our time necessarily arguing over which of those versions is absolute the best. If you ask Dan or I, we're gonna fall ESV, CSB, LSB, you know, this legacy standard, which we haven't got into it. Which we haven't gotten into, so that may change. If you ask me personally, I'm gonna say uh right now I'm gonna say CSV. Um, that's kind of my favorite translation, um, the the Christian standard Bible. And uh I just the more I read it, the more I like it.

SPEAKER_00 50:32

It's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 50:33

And uh it's just good. But I will tell you this if I'm stuck and in a rut and I need something, I'll pick up the message really quickly and just read for a while um Eugene Peterson's translation because uh or or paraphrase because it it's it's worth to me, it's worth opening up my yeah, my mind to and just uh just kind of loosening up a lot of people.

SPEAKER_00 50:53

And what Eugene, what Eugene did is if you if you've ever read about his process of it, yeah, I was one individual, there's no accountability, that type of stuff. And we can go on and on and on about that. Yeah. He did make it a note that uh I did this translation f directly from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Yeah, yeah. He didn't use any other English translations to help. So I mean, if that puts any rest, I don't know. I just just take that with a grain of salt. Yeah. I just uh yeah, I just texted you um uh the link, um uh what is textual criticism of the Bible from Lagos.

SPEAKER_01 51:27

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 51:27

Uh if you want a little nerdier read um instead of a loose, uh loose read, uh I would read both if I were you. Um, but it kind of gets into the nitty-gritty of what textual criticism is, um, and and how that's important to to have that before you even translate the Bible. So and uh I think when Wendy Wendy Witter does that, and she does a great job with explaining that.

SPEAKER_01 51:48

So I'll link both these in the show notes so that you can go and and take some time and read through it if you like. Logos is a beautiful thing. It is logos is great, and um that's yeah, it's a it's a really well well well healed tool that we use quite often. All right. Sounds good. Uh Dan, do you have a dad joke for us?

SPEAKER_00 52:06

I do like me. I don't know if I want to do that one. He's already laughing. I just will this be appropriate. Um we we can edit it if it's not. Oh my lord. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 52:21

All right, give me space so I can edit it. Okay. All right, go ahead with the dad joke. Give me give me uh a buffer here, so three, two.

SPEAKER_00 52:29

What was Bruce Lee's favorite beverage?

SPEAKER_01 52:33

I don't know. What was Bruce Lee's favorite beverage? What I'm horrible at cultural appropriation, so I have no idea whether that's good or not. It's it's kung fu. I mean, I liked it. I mean, I thought it was. Let's leave it. I thought, yeah, I mean if somebody upset gets upset with it, then we'll I'll go back and edit it. All right.

SPEAKER_00 53:03

So on that note, do you want me to do another one just in case? Yeah, yeah, let's do another one. Yeah, so three, two, one. What how many animals did Moses have on the Ark?

SPEAKER_01 53:16

Well, I I know this one. So Moses didn't have an ark. That's right. It was Noah. It was Noah. That was that was that's very appropriate in that sense. But not nearly as funny as well. We're in so much trouble. We're gonna get out of here, guys. Y'all have a great day. Go read your Bible.

SPEAKER_00 53:39

That's right. Pick it up. Love you guys.

SPEAKER_01 53:41

Love y'all. Dan, have a good one. You too. All right, buddy.