Why use multiple translations? Using multiple translations while you study will give you a well-rounded understanding of the text at hand. Though it’s good to have a primary version for memorization and meditation, reading from different translations demonstrates sound scholarship and can help you better understand a passage by seeing what the biblical author meant in new ways.
The goal of every Bible translation is to balance faithfulness to the wording of the original language with readability in everyday English. Typically, each translation will lean more toward faithfulness to the wording or readability.
- Formal translations tend to mimic the forms—word choice, order, grammatical category—of the Hebrew and Greek (even though this sometimes causes awkward English, or “Biblish”).
- Functional translations work to choose renderings that achieve the same “function” for today’s readers that the original texts would have had for their readers—even if this means introducing more interpretation than may be necessary.
The Mixed Translation Equivalence (Formal and Functional) Bible Bundle 2 includes a selection of both formal and functional Bible translations to help you discover the full richness of meaning God intended: Lexham English Bible (LEB), Christian Standard Bible (CSB), Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB), New International Bible (NIV), and New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVue).