Choosing a Bible

Walk into the Bible section of a bookstore and you’ll meet an alphabet soup: NIV, ESV, CSB, NLT, KJV… These are translations, and they sit on a spectrum — from word-for-word (precise, sometimes stiff) to thought-for-thought (smooth, sometimes loose). There is no single “correct” one.

[Translation continuum graphic goes here — the visual from the class, redrawn.]

Free apps like YouVersion or Blue Letter Bible let you read the same verse in several translations side by side — try it once and the spectrum will make instant sense.

The honest advice: pick a readable, popular one (NIV, ESV, and CSB are all solid) and just get in the Word. You can always add another translation later.