Bible Translations

The bible is possibly one of the most difficult books to translate, because the source texts are from different languages and cultures written over thousands of years by different authors in different styles and circumstances. Certain words or phrases are impossible to accurately translate because of a lack of vocabulary in the English language.

On top of that we no longer have the original scriptures in their original form as it was written by the original authors.

Therefore, it is unsurprising that so many different bible translations exist today.

Many people have critiqued the bible for its redundancy of providing the same messages in different ways, but this could actually be considered a "backup feature". In modern Computer Science, we still use redundancy to store data on unreliable mediums. Likewise, with bible translations one will find that although different sources of text exist, the content is mostly the same with only a few minor differences. When these independent copies found at different sites confirm each other, it means they were reliably copied.

Therefore, one should never base a new doctrine on 1 isolated verse alone as this could lead to wrong interpretations. Instead consider confirmed patterns which are preferably authored different witnesses.

Christian Denominations

Denomination Bishops CEB ESV Great JB KJV MEB NASB NCB NIV NKJV NLT NRSV Wycliffe
Anglican X X X X X X
Assemblies of God X X X X X
Baptists X X X X X
Calvinist X
Eastern Orthodox X X
Latter-Day Saints X
Lutheran X
Methodists X X X X
Oriental Orthodox X X
Presbyterian X X X X X X X
Roman Catholic X X X X X
Name Abbr. Date Source
American Standard Version ASV 1901 Masoretic Text, Westcott and Hort 1881 and Tregelles 1857
Amplified Bible AMP 1965 Revision of the American Standard Version
Bishops' Bible BIS 1568 Masoretic Text, Textus Receptus
English Standard Version ESV 2016 Derived from the 1971 edition of the Revised Standard Version.
Great Bible GB 1539 Masoretic Text, Greek New Testament of Erasmus, the Vulgate, and the Luther Bible.
Jerusalem Bible JB 1966 English version of the French La Bible de Jérusalem.
King James Version KJV 1611 Masoretic Text, Textus Receptus, Tyndale 1526 NT, some Erasmus manuscripts, and Bezae 1598 TR.
Modern English Version MEB 2014 Revision of the King James Bible.
New Catholic Bible NCB 2007 Revision of New Jerusalem Bible.
New Internation Version NIV 2011 Masoretic Text, Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament (based on Westcott-Hort, Weiss and Tischendorf, 1862).
New King James Version NKJV 1982 Revision of the King James Bible.
New Living Translation NLT 1996
Wycliffe Bible WYC 1388 Vulgate Text
The Message MSG 2002 A fresh paraphrase into contemporary language and idiom by Eugene Peterson.

Specialized Bibles

Religion / Church Bible Abbr. Date Source
Congregationalist Julia E. Smith Parker 1876 Masoretic Text, Textus Receptus
Eastern Orthodox Orthodox Study Bible OSB 2008 Adds a new translation of the LXX to an existing translation of the NKJV in a single volume.
Jehovah Witnesses Bible in Living English
Jehovah Witnesses New World Translation NWT 1960 Westcott and Hort's Greek New Testament, Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament, Hebrew J documents
Judaism Jewish Publication Society JPS 1917 Masoretic Text
Lutheran God's Word GW 1995
Messianic Judaism Complete Jewish Bible CJB 1998 Paraphrase of the Jewish Publication Society of America Version (Old Testament), and from Greek (New Testament) text
Messianic Judaism Divine Name King James Bible DNKJB 2011 Authorized King James Version which restores the Divine Name
Messianic Judaism Messianic Jewish Literal Translation MJLT 2018 Based on Young's Literal Translation (YLT)
Messianic Judaism New Jerusalem Version NJV 2019 Update of the 1901 ASV, WEB and “The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text
Messianic Judaism The Orthodox Jewish Bible OJB 2002
Messianic Judaism The Scriptures TS2009 2009 Masoretic Text (Biblia Hebraica), Textus Receptus Greek text
Messianic Judaism Tree of Life Bible TLB 2014 Masoretic Text, the 27th Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece
Puritan Geneva Bible GEN 1560 Masoretic Text, Textus Receptus
Quakers Quaker Bible 1764 Masoretic Text, Textus Receptus
Rastafari Jah International Version JIV 2017
Roman Catholic Christian Community Bible CCB 1988 English version of the Biblia Latinoamericana translated by Fr. Bernardo Hurault.
Roman Catholic Douay–Rheims Bible DRB 1610 Latin, Greek and Hebrew manuscripts.
Roman Catholic Knox Bible 1955 Translated by Msgr. Ronald Knox.
Roman Catholic New American Bible NAB 1991
Roman Catholic New American Bible Revised Edition NABRE 2011 Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia for the Hebrew Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls consulted and referenced
Roman Catholic New Community Bible NCB 2008 Revision of Christian Community Bible.
Roman Catholic New Jerusalem Bible NJB 1985 An update to the 1966 Jerusalem Bible.
Roman Catholic Revised New Jerusalem Bible RNJB 2019 Revision of the New Jerusalem Bible.
Roman Catholic Revised Standard Version (Catholic Edition) RSV-CE 1966 Catholic edition of the a revision of the American Standard Version.
Roman Catholic Revised Standard Version (2nd Catholic Edition) RSV-2CE 2006 The RSV-2CE is a slight update of the 1966 RSV-CE
Roman Catholic The Living Bible TLB 1971 American Standard Version (paraphrase)
Unitarian Christians Revised English Version REV Ongoing Revision of the ASV, Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece

Based on Wikipedia