Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Bible Translations

As I start using this blog to record my thoughts on what I am reading in the Bible, I thought I should let anyone who is reading this know what translations I am using.

I know that there are problems with many translations and that some are better than others. The King James Version is one of the best, but I struggle to read it, and I sometimes will read the New King James Version finding it a bit easier to read. But the version I use for daily Bible reading is the New Living Translation. It is the Bible I used when I first started to read the Bible, and find it easy to read and understand.

When I want to do a serious & in-depth Bible study particulary for a word study I will have many books open. I have a parallel Bible which lists 4 translation on one page, I will also keep my NLT version handy because I make alot of notes and highlights right in it. I also have the Strong's reference books so that I can research the original words in Hebrew & Greek. It is a fasinating process to do these studies!

Unfortunately I do not have alot of time these days and have not been able to do these kind of in-depth studies for quite awhile. For now I simply read my Bible and make a few notes as I go. Although I read from the NLT I have a NIV Quiet Time Bible that I use to guide my reading. It is seperated into small sections that include devotional comments, questions about the scripture in the section, and suggestions for prayer. I find it useful not only to set up a reading plan, but also to guide me in digging deeper into the scripture. When I am lost and confused about what I have read it helps to turn some lights on so I can see!

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