There are probably hundreds of Bible versions currently in print in English. Your webmaster is surely no expert, but is willing to share a few rambling thoughts on were someone who is new to the book may want to start.
King James Version - If you majored in Shakesphere in college, this may be the version for you! A lot of "Thee's" and "Thou's". There are variations (New King James Version) that modernize the language; however, the basic text is still several hundred years old, so you may be better served with a newer version.
New International Version - A modern translation that has a good reputation of being easy to read, but still true to current formal English (without resorting to slang) and true to the texts in the original languages of the Bible.
Amplified Bible - if you are puzzled by all the religious buzz words that are hard to escape, then this version may well solve most of those puzzles. When these terms appear, they are immediately defined in the text. For example, instead of just translating "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ", the Amplified Bible will define grade: "The grace [God's unmerited favor] of our Lord Jesus Christ."
The Message - Some people like to read the Bible in Elizabethan English. Others want to read a version that gives a close word-for-word correspondence between the original languages and English. Eugene Peterson recognized that the original sentence structure is very different from that of contemporary English. He decided to strive for the spirit of the original manuscripts—to express the rhythm of the voices, the flavor of the idiomatic expressions, the subtle connotations of meaning that are often lost in English translations. The goal of The Message is to engage people in the reading process and help them understand what they read. This is not a study Bible, but rather "a reading Bible." The verse numbers, which are not in the original documents, have been left out of the print version to facilitate easy and enjoyable reading. The original books of the Bible were not written in formal language. The Message tries to recapture the Word in the words we use today. (Source: Bible Gateway)
NOTE
Should you click on the photo of any of these bibles, your browser will generate a new browser page that will give you an opportunity to purchase that bible from Amazon.com. We get no commission from these links -- they are simply provided for your convenience. In most cases large print editions are available.
