The wording of my advice for the day is deliberate. I could have said, “Use more than one translation for Bible study,” but I didn’t. I’m recommending that you use more than one translation in Bible study. There’s an important difference.
The first option might lead you to think that I’m advising you to switch Bible versions from time to time when you study Scripture. That isn’t the case. Rather, I’m suggesting that you have several translations at hand while you’re studying. That’s why I chose to word my advice as I did.
Having several English Bible versions open is very useful for detecting something in a verse or passage that might deserve serious attention in your study. Let’s look at a couple examples. The first one is Genesis 49:10.
| NASB (1995) | ESV |
| The scepter shall not depart | The scepter shall not depart |
|
from Judah, |
from Judah, |
| Nor the ruler’s staff from |
nor the ruler’s staff from |
|
between his feet, |
between his feet, |
| Until Shiloh comes, | until tribute comes to him; |
| And to him shall be the |
and to him shall be the |
|
obedience of the peoples. |
obedience of the peoples. |
The two translations are quite different in the boldfaced portion. If you were using more than one translation, you’d notice that easily. If you were just switching translations for a while, you’d never see that. A clear difference like this is a signal that there’s something going on in the original biblical text that matters for interpretation. Let’s look at Romans 8:1 this time.
| ESV | NKJV |
| There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. | There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. |
Again, there’s a dramatic difference. The NKJV is twice as long. And the difference matters. The NKJV seems to suggest that one reason we’re not condemned is that we’re living (walking) in the Spirit as we should. Are works part of the reason we are not under condemnation? How good must we be? We need to study what’s going on here to find out. And now you know because you compared translations.