Every English Bible you pick up is a translation from the original languages, including the King James Version. And the KJV was not even close to being the first English translation. Wycliff made his translation in the 14th century.
Today there are dozens of popular English versions: New International Version, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version, New Living Translation and many more.
So, which should I use? To answer, let’s look first at the differences.
Word for Word. The goal of some translations is to be as consistently word for word from the original language into English as possible. This can be great for accurate and study. These versions are more revealing of the original words and sentence structure. For example, the New American Standard tries to be consistent in using a single English word for a given Hebrew or Greek word. So if you see the word “loving kindness” in the Old Testament you can know the Hebrew word is hesed. This makes it easier to spot patterns in the original and do word studies. But sometimes this makes it more difficult to understand or read.
Pros: Great for detailed study and accuracy
Cons: Harder to read
Thought for Thought. The goal of some translations is to try to bring across the ideas and not just the words. There is a wide variation in this approach. The New International Version is about half way between word for word and thought for thought. The New Living Translation is further toward the equivalent thoughts or ideas. And the Message is very far toward the paraphrase or thought for thought side. These can be good if you are reading a long narrative (story) portion of the Old Testament or if you are looking for a quick way to make sure you are understanding a verse correctly. But because they might use many different English words to translate a particular word you can’t always see the underlying word pattern. The same word could be used twice in two verses but translated “love” in one place and “loyalty” in another. Both are valid possible translations, but it masks what the original readers would have noticed, and could lead you to go off wondering what the difference is between love and loyalty.
Pros: Great for reading and easier to understand
Cons: Not as good for close study, especially the paraphrases
Word for Word Thought for Thought
NASB ESV KJV/NKJV HCSB NIV NLT MSG
Above are some popular translations and approximately where they fall on the spectrum from word for word to thought for thought.
NASB - New American Standard Bible
ESV - English Standard Version
KJV - King James Version
NKJV - New King James Version
HCSB - Holman Christian Standard Bible
NIV - New International Version
NLT - New Living Translation
MSG - The Message