Holy Bible: The best English translation ever

I am about to undertake a year long journey of dedicated bible study and refuse to use the KJV or NIV and I want to know what is the best English translation ever. I am going to buy it as soon as I figure it out and would appreciate any input at all. Also, is there any version that uses the Masoretic texts, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Greek?

Thanks.

a reply to: Caligula

Maybe not the best but a good one ...

a reply to: Caligula

What you might like to do is to download to your PC Esword www.e-sword.net... they have over 30 free bible versions as well as strongs and other bible helps .maps ,commentary ....lots of good stuff . If you want you can also down load some versions for a price ...worth while checking it out ...best to you and your quest .

The "best" version all depends on who you ask. Some will say the KJV, some the NKJV, others the NIV, etc. Find whichever one you think is the best, though to be honest they are all pretty much the sane exact thing only with very minor differences.

a reply to: Caligula
"Best ever" does not exist. You can only get what is most clear and accurate in the language of the time.
The best translations of today will be incomprehensible in 500 years time.

I made the RSV my study Bible a long time ago, and still use it as my standard quoting Bible. Not so different from the AV, but modern English and modern text.
At various times I have been given copies of the Jerusalem Bible and the NIV ("Nearly Infallible Version"), so I sometimes compare the translations in those versions.
I think all modern translations will be using a modern scholarly version of the Greek text.

way off....kjv is the only one.....

the other ones are missing the best part.....refuse to be a victim of the missing 16 verses....

a reply to: DISRAELI

Best ever exists, some are more accurate, some more honest to the most ancient texts. I am looking for what is the most truthful to the ancient Hebrew, preferably the Dead Sea Scrolls, as they are the most ancient period. I am leaning towards the NRSV I hear it used the DSS but I want more footnotes. I want the Catholic one because it has more books than the non Catholic.

a reply to: GBP/JPY

KJV is garbage. Like I really want to read it in that silly language. The KJV is not an option for me.

a reply to: DISRAELI

The Jerusalem bible is probably the best I hear. But I still want opinions as its rare and expensive.

Why would anyone buy a bible? Many places give them away.

If you need big text, sometimes you have to pay for them. But you can read almost every version free online.

"Best" bible is really open to personal choice. I hear many people swear by the lolcatbible.com

I get a chuckle out of the ceiling cat..

originally posted by: Caligula
a reply to: DISRAELI

Best ever exists, some are more accurate, some more honest to the most ancient texts. I am looking for what is the most truthful to the ancient Hebrew, preferably the Dead Sea Scrolls, as they are the most ancient period. I am leaning towards the NRSV I hear it used the DSS but I want more footnotes. I want the Catholic one because it has more books than the non Catholic.

There is no "best ever". And oldest isn't necessarily the best, when it comes to the original texts. Maybe you should read a few good books on texts and translations before spouting off about something you clearly have not done any research on. Do you even know the difference between the TR and Westcott-Hort? Do you understand the different methods of translating, such as word for word, literal, semantic, adaptive, and so on?

You might want to get with Disraeli and learn a few things.

a reply to: Caligula

I am about to undertake a year long journey of dedicated bible study and refuse to use the KJV or NIV and I want to know what is the best English translation ever. I am going to buy it as soon as I figure it out and would appreciate any input at all. Also, is there any version that uses the Masoretic texts, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Greek?

I assume that you mean the Hebrew Tanakh and the Greek NT?
In the Hebrew Tanakh you can choose the Torah from the Hebrew to English Masoretic texts or the Greek to English Septuagint texts. You might want to consider buying the Tanakh apart from the Greek NT if you decide to go with the JPS Tanakh.

In the Greek NT you may want to consider a simple rule and that is by choosing the majority of the over 5,000 manuscripts which agree with each other. Okay let me start over. There are better than 5,000 Greek manuscripts available today that comprise the English NT bibles. The majority of these texts (well over 80%) agree on most all major points of textual matter. The rest do not and are called corrupt texts by most all renowned translators of Greek to English. The choice is yours of which bible you choose. Most all modern English NT bibles are not from the majority texts so be careful in your choosing.

I will not argue the point but my choice is always with what the majority texts will use in translation. My personal use is the Eth Cepher which you can examine at your own leisure and my old standby which is the 1611 KJV bible. The choice is yours.

Source is - www.cepher.net... - The red prompt "Go Inside" and listen to the short video. I think you will be impressed as to this offer. It does include the Masoretic OT, the Apocrypha, the majority Greek texts of the NT, 1 Enoch, Jasher, Jubilees and much more. The books are arranged in chronological order.

It does not include the red letter commitment that is found in most all bibles. It is a large condensed study bible with the Hebrew alphabet, History, and maps which I find very ell organized.
Good Learning and God Bless ---

I have a concordance and use all the translations. My favorite is the one translated by the jehovah witnesses. I am not one, I just like bibles since I was a kid.

a reply to: Klassified
You might want to get with Disraeli and learn a few things.

You might want to get with Disraeli and learn a few things.

Well said. Disraeli is outstanding in knowledge and a gifted teacher. I admire Him/Her very much.

The best bible is the one noone opens.

originally posted by: Seede
I will not argue the point but my choice is always with what the majority texts will use in translation.

Neither "majority of MSS" nor "age of MSS" is necessarily the final rule in finding the best text.
That is because a manuscript tradition which has made a number of errors might happen, by the chances of circumstance, to survive in a large number of copies, or to survive in a copy older than surviving members of a good tradition.
That is why the work of the nineteenth-century textual scholars was so important. They examined the texts line by line and came up with rules of thumb like thinking about the kinds of error which copyists can make, and considering which of two rival readings was more likely to result from one of these errors.
The standard Greek New Testaments which can be bought today are usually following the text which resulted from their labours.

a reply to: Seede
Thank you. Him, as it happens.

a reply to: Caligula

I like NASB overall, but there is no "best version". The best thing to do is compare various translations to the older manuscripts.