The Bible quotations in The Seed Picker are from the New King James version, unless another version is specified.
Why the New King James version? Because I like it. Any of the other literal translations would do just as well (New American Standard, King James, American Standard, etc.).
Translations, per se, are not inspired. They are the result of hard work by highly educated and intelligent people, and I have a deep respect for them. But it is the message itself that is from God, not the translation of it. That is why any literal translation will do.
I am not a fan of the New International Version. I recognize that it does a masterful job with certain passages (e.g. 2 Timothy 3:16). However, it also blatantly mistranslates some words in order to support the theological positions of its translators (e.g. Romans 8, where the NIV repeatedly uses the phrase “sinful nature” rather than the literal “flesh”). On the whole, it just adds and changes too much for the sake of being easy to read. I was having a study with a young lady some years ago who expressed it very well. She pointed to her NIV, and said, “This one is easier to read, but that one” - here she pointed to my NKJV - “is easier to understand.” So, ask yourself: would you rather have an easier time reading, or would you prefer to have a clearer understanding?
The more blatant paraphrases – The Living Bible, Today’s English Version, etc. – are really only useful as commentaries. You look at them to find out how certain scholars think that the authors might have worded a certain passages if the authors had lived in the same time and culture as the scholars.
Now, I am not an expert in Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic. But you don’t need to be an expert to see the differences between a literal translation and a paraphrase; all you need to do is to take an interlinear Bible and compare it to whatever version you’re interested in. With a literal translation, you will see that the English words correspond to words in the original languages. When words are added to literal translations for the sake of clarity, the added words are put in italics. With paraphrases, of course, the situation is quite different; words are often substituted rather than translated, and many other words are added.
The denomination-specific versions include such works as the New World Translation for the Watchtower folks, and the New American Bible for Catholics (not to be confused with the New American Standard). These, like the paraphrases, may be useful as commentaries, but remember that they are intended to shore up their respective denominations’ creeds, and so you should not expect an unbiased translation. They have agendas of their own.
Having said all of that, I still believe that you can learn what you need to learn to be saved from pretty much any serious version of the Bible; in fact, I originally learned it from the Jerusalem Bible, which is a paraphrase. So if all you have is a paraphrase, don’t hesitate to read it. God can and will get the message across as long as your heart is open.
