I have a perfectly good Bible. It is maroon, NKJV, regular print, and was a gift a few years ago from my sweet sister. I have to admit that lately (as in it was on my Christmas list but I backed out until I was 100% sure what I wanted) I have been considering getting another Bible. An additional bible. I know I want large print, tabbed (haha i hate searching!), study bible. What I don't know is the version. I have always known about the errors in the KJV and I have always had either the NKJV or NIV. My Bible class teacher had been using the English standard version and I really liked that one. So to me the simple solution would be Which one is easiest to follow and understand?
Not so. I believe, no I know that they do not all word The Message the same. They do not have to until it changes the message. That's what worries me. I bought Savannah a Bible when she was 2. It was pink and a little bigger than the babies' new testament w/ psalms and since she couldn't read it, that was all that mattered. Instead of a version on the front it said iCONNECT. I put a horse sticker over that and off we went. She is 6 now and when she started using her Bible in class we decided to get the NIV child's study Bible..perfect. By the way It is the adventure Bible for her age group with little excercises in it as well. Anyways, I read some of her old Bible and could not believe the outright changes in wording. To actually prove a point, I think. This post is getting unintentionally long so I will give 1 example Acts 2:38.
NKJV Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
iConnect Peter replied, "Each of you must repent of your sins, turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ to show that you have received the gift of the Holy Spirit."
NKJV says repent and be baptized for forgiveness and the 2nd says repent and then be baptized to show that you have already been saved. Now it says it is based on the NLT translation but if you look at 2:38 in that translation here, it does not word it that way...hmmm?
Well back to the beginning *sigh* ( My thoughts are all over the place but it is late :)
God is loving, just, and all-knowing. That means He knows I am a C student and certainly not a scholar with the time to search back to the language of the original scrolls and so I should be able to trust that what I read in the Bible is NOT up for interpretation. Do not add to and do not take away lets me know that if He says "Do it with bells on'" I will be jingling.
I gues I have narrowed it down to being easy to read and scripturally accurate, with the latter being the most important. We'll see how it goes. Next post will be back to the girl who cries while watching HGTV and not so deep! Ha!
Here is a joke I found earlier tonight:

A woman went into her kitchen to find a burglar loaded down with a bunch of stuff he was stealing from her kitchen. Not having any kind of weapon to scare him off, she raised her hand and said "Acts 2:38," and proceeded to quote scripture.
The burglar froze in place and didn't move. The woman called 911, the police arrived and were amazed to find the burglar still frozen where he stood.
"What did you say to him that kept him from moving?" they asked the woman.
She told them that she had simply said Acts 2:38 and quoted scripture.
The police chuckled and escorted the burglar out to the patrol car. "Why did the woman's quoting scripture scare you so much?" they asked.
"Scripture?" said the burglar, "I thought she said she had an ax and two 38's!"