What Translation of Bible Do You Use?

I am new to this forum, and I was wondering what translation of the Bible people use? In my Vietnamese church, most of the English speakers use the New International Version. I use the New American Standard Bible after I lost my NIV due to an unfortunate incident. Note: My church is Evangelical Protestant, even though most Vietnamese Christians are Roman Catholic.

I am also curious to see if there are any Orthodox Christians here because I heard some Orthodox churches have a few extra books in the Old Testament whereas the Protestant Christians only keep the Hebrew books, but I am certain the New Testament books are always the same.

One last thing: Is there any good websites that have Greek translations of the New Testament books and Hebrew translations of the Old Testament books?

Check out the New English Translation (NET) Bible. www.netbible.org. They have translator’s notes and the online version has Greek text, if you are interested.

Hi Thanh,

Welcome! I typically use the NIV, although I often consult the Jewish Study Bible when I am pondering Old Testament passages.

Eddie has provided some very helpful background information for you. I would add that you can consult the website Bible Gateway for Greek and Hebrew texts of Biblical passages.

I tend to use the ESV, primarily because I like the free ap that I have on my phone. How is that for a deep theologic reason.
I think Scot McKnight had a blog discussing translations ayear or so ago that was interesting. Basically said most modern translations were quite good, but also got into the politics of why some use different versions.
It is a little disconcerting when you look ar the different canons, different translations etc. especially if you are more of a literalist or inerrantist, as you see things are not always black and white. My favorite phrase is that the Bible is “perfect for it’s purpose” and have faith that God’s hand is present in preserving what He wants us to know throughout the process.

Thank you everyone who answered. Its a lot of good help.

I use the NIV. A couple of good bible websites are https://www.blueletterbible.org/ and https://www.biblegateway.com/.

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Glad you provided the link to Bible Gateway, Nick; I should have done so in my post.

My favorite translation (at the moment) is God’s Word Translation (available online at biblegateway.com, but hard to find in print these days). It’s approach seems a little more direct to me and less informed by particular theological stances.

When I use quotes from the Bible, I use the King James version. The language of the KJ V has been used in a literary context for centuries, so most Bible quotes that have become a part of standard English are known in this translation. Sometimes these quotes are used so often that many people are unaware the phrases come from the Bible.

I personally grew up with the RSV. Being written in modern English, it is much easier to understand. (The KJV is technically early modern English, but some of its language is just about unintelligible even to native speakers of English today.)

An interesting translation I found on the Bible Gateway website is Young’s literal translation. It gives the original Greek or Hebrew word followed by its translation.

I’ve been using the New English Translation since about 2001. It’s the first translation I go to. I haven’t seen its equal. I supplement it with original source language critical texts.

My translation of choice is the ESV, but that’s really just because I’m a Calvinist. :slight_smile: The NASB is also helpful, and the NET is a marvelous piece of work.

Great answers. Just like the other people here, I think my pastor also recommended the Bible Gateway website some time ago. I think I will also check out the Jewish Study Bible and the New English Translation too.

They also offer the Disciple’s Literal Translation which is interesting, too.

All good and helpful info so far. Another site worth mentioning is biblehub.com. It is useful to compare different English translations of specific verses. John 3:16, for example. Here is a link to online Hebrew and Greek texts.

The OP doesn’t mention if English is the second language of most of people in the Vietnamese church he/she attends. I would suggest that non-native English speakers should use English translations that are less literal, such as NIV or New Living Translation (NLT). (There are others, of course.)

I prefer a more literal rendering for serious study, but the more literal translations are difficult for non-native speakers of English to comprehend (as well as many native speakers!).

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