One needs to understand the three theories of Biblical translation:

Literal- these translations seek to keep the sentence structure and emphasis of the original languages, but at times this makes the English more awkward.   They also leave matters of interpretation entirely up to the reader, such as translating the Greek "sarkos" literally as "flesh," as in passages such as Romans chapter 8.  The King James (KJV), New King James (NKJV), New American Standard (NASB), and English Standard Versions (ESV) are examples.  We consider the ESV and NASB 1995 Update to be the two best literal Bibles.

Dynamic Equivalent- with these, the translators take a little more liberty and venture into the gray area between translation and interpretation.  For instance, they may translate "sarkos" as "sin nature" in Romans because that is widely accepted that this was Paul's meaning in using the word in certain contexts.  In general, Dynamic Equivalent translations make better use of the English language and are more readable and more easily understood.  The New International Version (NIV), Amplified Bible (AMP), NET Bible (NET), Revised Standard (RSV), New American Bible (NAB), New English Bible (NEB), New Living Bible (NLB), and New Revised Standard (NRSV) are examples. The NET and Amplified are in our opinion the best dynamic equivalent Bibles.

Free- some popular "translations" intended to be Dynamic Equivalent border on not being translations at all and could be put in a third category by themselves.  These pay very little attention to the original languages in an attempt to be very readable in English, almost re-writing the Biblical accounts.  The Living Bible (LB), Phillips Modern English (PME), Good News Bible (GNB), Modern Language (ML), Contemporary English (CEV), Today's English (TEV), Worldwide English (WEV) and The Message would be examples. ESRI does not consider these to be true Bibles.

I would recommend the individual use at least one literal and one dynamic equivalent translation. I personally use the ESV and NASB (1995 Update) for my literal translations and the NET Bible for my dynamic equivalent version.  The 60,932 translation notes and satellite maps in the First Edition NET Bible are outstanding.

                                                                                                                                             Gary Butner, Th.D.

Literal Bibles