Versions

My pastor has taken to using the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible. I'm not sure why, but hey, he's the pastor.

I needed a new Bible, so I got one. It's very small, VERY pretty, and comes with a boatload of free software. Did I mention that I like free software? Oh, I did but not on this blog; that was here: http://spiritedmenagerie.blogspot.com/.

Okay, so before that, I was using the NASB, and before that, the NIV. I've gotten away from the King James and NKJV.

I still use the New American Standard Bible, for a couple of reasons. One, I heard that seminaries prefer it for its accuracy in translation, and two, it seems to be precisely a word-for-word translation, so that all you need to do is find out the Greek work and maybe do a work study on it, but not the definition, since you have the definition right there in your Bible.

The ESV...I like it. It's a nice complement to the NASB. It's a bit more modern, but not quite so paraphrased as The Message. I don't particularly like The Message. To me, it's not the Bible. It's interpretation of the Bible. You might as well pull out your J. Vernon McGee's. But the ESV seems to have had the same intent as the NASB, but there is a little more modernity to it, and while I find that a little annoying sometimes, it does help to shed light on the meaning of passages on occasion.

Who knew that scientists could be such purists, huh? Or...maybe that was obvious--I don't know.

So, I think I will do the bulk of my studies from my el cheapo NASB, that I actually highlight in, and the other one I have, the huge and clunky, old International Inductive Study Bible, which I'm afeared of marking in even thought that's its design, and use the ESV for church and times of lighter reading.

I might compare passages of the NASB and the ESV at times, and might even check out the study notes in my broken-spined NIV Study Bible. Sounds like a plan. :)

Regi dG

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