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I’m sometimes asked why I quote from the translations I use. Sometimes I browse translations to pick one which best reinforces the point I’m making, but I don’t always. The English Standard Version (ESV) is the one I carry and is the default for most of my quotes. Is it the best? I defer to a Bible translator who, when asked which was the best translation said, “You tell me which verse you’re interested in, and I’ll tell you which translation I like!”

Sometimes I use the New International Version (NIV2011) if I want to use gender-inclusive language, which it works hard at. (Sometimes, however, the meaning gets lost. For example, 2 Corinthians 5.17 reads in most translations something like, “If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation…” In the NIV2011, it reads, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come!” I don’t think that quite gets it.)

Often I use The Message (MSG) if I want to get our attention as with today’s closing quote.

A recent translation for me is The Passion Translation (TPT) by Bruce Simmons. Like The Message it uses everyday language although Bruce also works hard to stay close to the original languages. Sometimes the footnotes alone are worth having TPT in your toolbox. For example, when talking about the wise men in Matthew 2, a TPT footnote is the only reference I’ve seen to the fact that these wise men are most likely descended from contemporaries of Daniel! We know that Daniel was chief of the wise men, and he could have taught them the prophecies, some of which he wrote. 

As we discuss translations, I hope you know that there is no value in NOT reading a particular translation. Often when I’m teaching a seminar on daily time with God I suggest some translations to start with. Nearly always someone comes up afterward to tell me they don’t like, and don’t think I should recommend, a particular translation. I usually (kindly, I hope!) suggest that they not read one they don’t like, but I strongly recommend that they read one that they do approve of!

As always, however, the bottom line is not which translation we read but which one we put into practice!

These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards. (Matthew 7.24 – 27, MSG, emphasis mine)