Newsletter #12

On Bible Translations and "the Slap"

Congratulations to the South Carolina Gamecocks women’s basketball team on their decisive win last night in the NCAA National Championship.

Choosing a Bible Translation

I recently saw this article that highlighted the bestselling Bible translations. It contained some surprises.

I wasn’t surprised that the New International Version (NIV), King James Version (KJV), and ESV (English Standard Version) were all in the top five. While my knowledge of these translations’ popularity is anecdotal, it certainly seems that these are among the most widely read versions.

Among the results that did surprise me was the emergence of the New Living Translation (NLT). It has now climbed to the second spot on the list of bestselling Bibles. Only last year it was fourth.

My memory is a bit hazy, but I think I first encountered the NLT during my junior or senior year in high school. I knew enough to know that the NLT wasn’t one of the more literal translations, meaning, it didn’t belong in the “Formal Equivale…