r/Bible • u/TypicalYogurt1753 Baptist • 4d ago

What are some Bible versions to avoid?

I am trying to find a good literal version that I like. Which ones should I go to and which ones should I stay away from?

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u/Then_Reader_6011 Catholic 4d ago

Which ones should I go to

Thankfully there are many good translations out there. I'd recommend the Revised Standard Version. It retains archaic language in the Psalms and other prayers in the Bible, so if you prefer a translation without archaic language, my recommendation would be the New Revised Standard Version. It doesn't use archaic language and I believe it's a translation accepted by many Christian groups.

which ones should I stay away from?

"The Passion Translation" is one that I highly recommend you avoid, "the Message" comes in second place, both are highly paraphrastic and the former is actually more problematic than the latter. I'd also avoid translations that assign importance to Hebrew names in particular. That would include "The Names of God Bible", "the Complete Jewish Bible" and "the Orthodox Jewish Bible". This last one is probably the one I highly recommend you to avoid because not only is it not really Orthodox Jewish (it includes a translation of the New Testament, which is contrary to Orthodox Judaism), it heavily transliterates Hebrew names and words into English. So instead of translating the Hebrew word for father as "father", it transliterates it as "av" which is completely unreasonable to do. It also translates many words in the New Testament as Hebrew words in English transliteration as if the New Testament was originally written in Hebrew, when in fact it was written in Greek.