What are the strengths and weaknesses of various English-language translations of the Bible?
The United Church of God has chosen the New King James Version (NKJV) as its standard English-language translation. We recommend this as a good all-around translation for your everyday use. Although there are more than 60 English versions of the Bible available today, we can divide them into three broad types: word-for-word, meaning-by-meaning and paraphrased. The word-for-word and meaning-by-meaning are referred to as translations, but the paraphrased are considered just that, paraphrases, not translations. (Most Bibles explain in their introductory pages which approach was used in preparing that particular version.) The word-for-word versions most accurately follow the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts. They can be slightly harder to follow the meaning sometimes, due to the word-for-word approach, but are generally slightly more accurate. The King James Version and its modern counterpart, the New King James Version, are word-for-word translations. The King James Version is a good trans
