Why Are There So Many Translations of the Bible, and Which One Is Best for Me?

Claire Black: This is True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. Together we’ll explore God’s Truth for us—one drive at a time!You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus!

In this season, Dannah Gresh—the author of Lies Girls Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free—and her friend, Staci Rudolph, are Bible detectives! 

They’re investigating questions people have about the Bible, questions like: “What is up with all the different versions of the Bible? And which one is right for me?” If you’ve ever wondered about that, you’re being a good student of the Bible. You should be careful about which version you read. Let’s see if we can help you find a good fit!

Let’s join Dannah and Staci who are at our investigation destination of the week: a Bible museum.

This is the fourth episode of True Girl season 6, and we’re calling it: “Why are there so many translations of the Bible, and which one is best for me?” 

Dannah Gresh: Are you having fun, Staci?

Staci Rudolph: I am . . . even though you wouldn’t let me wear my detective hat! 

Oh, hey True Girl! Welcome to the Museum of the Bible!

Dannah, I have to admit, when you said it was going to take us five hours to get through a museum about the Bible, I was scared. I never imagined it could be this interesting though! It’s so cool. It felt like I was actually living in Nazareth walking where Jesus walked back there in that . . . What was the name of that exhibit? 

Dannah: The World of Jesus of Nazareth.

Staci: Yes! 

Dannah: I liked that one too, Staci. But it’s not my favorite here at the Museum of the Bible. 

Staci: Was your favorite? The Blessing of the Elders? The one that honored the rich history of the black church in America?

Dannah: Well, that’s on my list of favorites, but it’s not the favorite!

[Beep. Beep. Beep.]

Staci: Whoa! What was that? The sign reads, “Drive through history theater.” Oh, it’s the Jeep for the drive through history of the Bible! Hey, is that your favorite?

Dannah: Ah, no!

Staci: Was it the Milk and Honey Cafe?

Dannah: No, but that yogurt parfait and latte were just what this girl needed to get through the second half of our tour. 

Staci, stop guessing! We’ll get to my favorite very soon because it’s on this floor. 

Staci: Here’s a new exhibit. Translating the Bible. Is that it?

Dannah: Staci! No. But we’re getting hotter.

Staci: So, I have to ask, what Bible mystery are we solving here in the Museum of the Bible? We’ve been here for hours, and I almost forgot why we’re here.

Dannah: Well, the question we’re answering is one lots of people ask about. And it’s a really good one.

Staci: Well, what’s the question?

Dannah: The question is, why are there so many translations of the Bible, and which one is right for me? 

Staci: I am so glad we’re talking about that! Whenever I look at buying a new Bible, it feels overwhelming. I mean, you’ve got the ESV, CSB, KJV, NLT. There’s probably an ABC and an XYZ.

What’s it all about?

Dannah: Let’s start our investigation with this important fact: the Bible wasn’t originally written in English. Okay, quiz time! Do you know what language the Old Testament was originally written in?

Staci: Let my True Girl friend answer that. True Girl, do you know which language the Old Testament was written in? Did I just hear someone say Hebrew?

Dannah: Yes, Hebrew! And the New Testament, what language was that originally written in?

Staci: That’s a harder one, True Girl. Careful now. Bam! I think I heard someone say Greek!

Dannah: Yes, the New Testament was mostly originally written in Greek. Some of it was in Aramaic.

Staci: Aramaic was the language Jesus spoke.

Dannah: Yes. 

So, for hundreds to thousands of years, the Bible consisted of scrolls of paper with the original languages handwritten on them. Any time they made a copy, someone had to hand write the entire thing. Again. 

It took someone four years to rewrite a copy of the Bible—and that’s if they wrote for fourteen hours each and every day!

Staci: Stop! You’re givin’ me a hand cramp just thinking about it!

Dannah: Fast forward to today. Over the years, different people have taken the Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic words of the Bible and translated those words into their own languages. And that’s something I want to explore today.

Okay. Now, we’re ready to begin to bring some clarity to translations and figuring out which one is best to use. Are you ready?

Staci: You bet! Lay it on us!

Dannah: Okay, translations, of course, are what we call it when someone takes the original words of the Bible and turns them into another language really-extra-carefully. It’s not a translation if the translator doesn’t begin with the original languages. When you’re done with it, you should have a super accurate translation.

Staci: Note: Important data coming in: a translation requires really extra carefully translating of the original words of the Bible into another language. End Note.

Dannah: Oh, you brought that thing again, huh? 

The Bible scholars who work to do this are living out a really important Bible verse—one that we all need to strive to apply to our lives. In fact, let’s go ahead and make it our power verse of the day.

I’ve got this one memorized. It’s 2 Timothy 2:15.

Staci: Oh, I know it too! Let’s say it together!

Dannah: & Staci: 

“Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.”

Dannah: We were good at that. 

Staci: Yeah, not too bad. That’s a super important Bible verse! Paul wrote it to his student Timothy, encouraging him to study the words of Scripture. And not just to finish his homework—sometimes we rush to do that, let’s be honest! But Paul wanted Timothy to study his Bible carefully. In fact, study so carefully that at all times Timothy could have God’s approval for his hard work. The goal: correctly understanding and explaining the precious and powerful words he was studying. 

Dannah: Staci, the goal of working hard to handle God’s Word correctly should be the goal of every Christian! So, let’s keep learning!

Staci: Do you mean investigating?

Dannah: Yeah! It’s about to get real. Turn around, Staci.

Staci: What is that!?

Dannah: It’s a Gutenberg Press.

Staci: A Guten-what?

Dannah: A Gutenberg Press. 

It was the first printing press. Well, that’s not an original, but it’s what it would have looked like. This is a replica.

Staci: Who’s that? His hat sure is funkier than my detective cap!

Dannah: Oh, that’s an actor pretending to be Johannes Gutenberg. In the 1400s he invented this way of printing pages with a machine so people didn’t have to copy pages by hand. 

Looks like he’s almost finished placing the metal letters—they call that moveable type. He will put one metal letter for each letter until a whole page is laid out in that flat wooden plate. Then, he’s going use ink to press the letters onto paper.

Staci: He’s putting the letters in one by one?

Dannah: One by one! But eventually, well, look at that! 

Staci: He printed a page. A very, very big page! It looks like a poster.

Dannah: Yep. It’ll take a long time for printing to make small books. For now, a giant page is a giant leap forward for Bible translation. Because now, people will have a way of copying those translations once they’re made. 

Let’s keep walking. Johannes has 1,285 big poster-sized pages left to go before he’ll have a whole Bible. He’s gonna be here for a while! But it’s still faster than handwriting it!

Staci: Was that your favorite part of the Museum?

Dannah: No, but we’re getting closer. In fact, let’s take a detour and stop at this case.

Hmmm, I don’t know why, but I love seeing this beautiful Bible artifact.

Staci: It’s an old book.

Dannah: Very old. Very precious. Staci, read the label.

Staci: Tyndale’s New Testament.

Dannah: About 100 years after Gutenburg invented his moveable type press, a man named William Tyndale translated the Bible into English. That’s Mr. Tyndale’s hard work there. He was a man who worked hard to present himself approved by God! He handled the Word of God correctly, and because of that, I can read a Bible in our language.

Staci: You seem sad about that.

Dannah: Well, I do get a little sad when I think about it, because evil forces were at work. William Tyndale was killed for translating the Bible into a language that introduced me to Jesus.

Staci: What? Oh wow! That is sad!

Dannah is this the display you like most? Because it’s so precious?

Dannah: Naw, but it’s right over there! 

That is IllumiNations—my favorite exhibit at the Museum of the Bible. Let’s go!

Okay, while we’re walking, I meant to tell you . . . a translation attempts to use the same words—in a different language, of course—as the Hebrew or Greek or Aramiac of the Bible without adding or subtracting any meaning. That’s important. A good translation accurately tells us what the Bible originally communicated.

But, here’s where you have to start to be discerning. Some versions of the Bible available are paraphrases. When someone writes a paraphrase, they take an English translation and reword it to make it easier to understand.

Staci: The NLT, or New Living Translation, is the translation we use a lot for True Girl. Is that a translation or a paraphrase?

Dannah: Complicated question. It started out as a paraphrase called The Living Bible. The man who did the work to paraphrase the Bible, he wanted modern people to have an English version that was easy to understand so more people would read the Bible, because this was like back in the day when everything was “thou sayeth, and thou shalt not.” So he wanted people to have an easy-to-understand version of the Bible.

Staci: That’s a noble goal!

Dannah: The problem was, he ended up admitting there were a lot of inaccuracies in it. That’s not good. 

But he had a heart for people to know God’s Word. He wanted to fix those problems. So, a team went back to the original languages and made a new translation that was still easy to understand.

I like that it’s easy to understand, so I made it the unofficial official translation for True Girl Bible studies. But I might not have done it if it were still a paraphrase.

Staci: Note: When someone writes a paraphrase, they take a translation and restate the ideas in up-to-date English. Paraphrases can help us understand the Bible, but you gotta compare them to respected translations! End Note.

Dannah: I like how you said that. I prefer to read regularly out of a respected translation, but I also like getting perspective from some of the good paraphrases out there. Every now and then and it gives me good understanding. 

Staci: Note: Different Bible translations and paraphrases can teach me different ways of understanding God’s Word. End Note.

Dannah: Okay, here we are. My favorite part of the museum.

Staci: Must be pretty special since these bookshelves are enclosed in this glass room.

Dannah: Yep! Staci, you see all those Bibles in the yellow section?

Staci: Sure do!

Dannah: Those Bibles represent the languages in the world that have a complete Bible—Old and New Testament—in their language!

Staci: Woah, That’s a lot! 

What’s with the orange section though?

Dannah: Those are the languages that only have the New Testament. Translators are still working on getting the Old Testament into those languages. 

Staci: That’s a lot too!

Dannah: And see those empty shelves?

Staci: The purple and blue ones?

Dannah: Yes, the purple ones are languages that have the New Testament started, but it’s not finished. And those blue ones represent people who speak languages that don’t even have translators working on a Bible for them yet.

Staci: Well, if that doesn’t make you think!

Dannah: Yeah. There are 6,100 languages in the world and every one of them that speak that language needs to hear that God loves them. The Bible tells them that truth. But the Bible has yet to be translated into 4000 languages. Image how many people speak those languages and still need to hear that God loves them. 

Staci: True Girl, imagine not being able to pick up a Bible and read John 3:16 and hear that God loved you so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for you!

This is a special part of the museum, Dannah. But why is this your favorite part of the museum?

Dannah: Well, because I got an idea to do something when I came here a few years ago with my friend Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. She and I stood in this room together and I thought of all the True Girl aged daughters who can’t pick up a Bible to read about Jesus. I decided that I wanted to do something.

Staci: What?

Dannah: I wanted to ask my True Girls who do have Bibles to pray for those girls!

Staci: Hey! I love that. Let’s pray for those empty bookshelves right now! God hears our prayers. We have like tens of thousands of girls listening to the True Girl podcast. Imagine what can happen if we all pray together for those Bibles that still need to be translated and the girls who speak those languages!

Dannah: Imagine!

Staci: True Girl, this week we challenge you and your mom to pray that God’s Word will be translated into every language. Take some time each day to pray about it. Man, I wish you could see these empty shelves. 

Dannah, maybe we could pray for the first time right now. Together.

Dannah: Sure! I’ll pray. 

Lord Jesus, I really ask You to see the girls who are living in these nations and these lands and these regions with languages that don’t have Bibles. You want them to be able to hear that God so loved the world that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for them. That if they believe, they will have eternal life.

Father, I pray that You would call my True Girl friends and moms to pray every day this week. And Lord, when they’re praying, I pray that You would speak to some of them, and that You would call them to be translators one day. I pray that they would be a part of the force of humans that are bringing the truth of God’s Word to people who don’t even know that it exists yet. I ask this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.

Staci: Amen! Note: Remember to pray for more Bible translations every day this week! End Note.

Claire Black: Amen to that. 

I’m excited to join in on Dannah’s prayer challenge. Would you join us this week to pray that the Bible would be translated into more languages? I hope so!

Staci and Dannah sure are having some fun experiences as they solve Bible mysteries, aren’t they? Now, I feel a little less intimidated by all the different versions of the Bible. I hope you do, too. In fact, a bonus mom+daughter activity this week could be discussing which version of the Bible you like to use. Is it a translation or a paraphrase?

And remember, if you want to keep diving deeper into God’s Word, you should check out our online Bible studies made just for tween girls like you—and your mom is invited, too! Right now, we’re registering for our Fall 2022 study based on Dannah Gresh’s book Lies Girls Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free. It’s part of a series of books edited by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Let’s face it; girls today face a number of challenges their moms never had to deal with at their age—from skyrocketing anxiety rates to bullying on social media, the enemy’s lies are everywhere. This study is your chance to find answers in God’s Word. True Girl lead teachers Shani McKenzie and Janet Mylin will guide you, with special weekly appearances from Staci Rudolph. And, oh, we’re pretty sure Dannah will pop in too! Go to MyTrueGirl.com to learn more and register!

Okay True Girl, raise your hand if you love ice cream! Me, too! I really like salted caramel. On the next episode of the True Girl Podcast, Dannah and Staci have ice cream, but it’s not just ice cream on a cone. Join us next time to see what kind. We’ll learn how the Bible—a collection of letters, poems, and historic documents—ended up being one big book. 

True Girl is a production of Revive Our Hearts, calling women of all ages to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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