Actually now there are SIX … I have recently added the BSB (Berean Standard Bible) to my list of favorite translations! Read (and watch some videos) about why! I now use the BSB translation almost daily (but also use The Voice almost as much).
=> BSB (Berean Standard Bible) – including links to articles and videos

Here are the original FIVE Translations I typically use:

  1. NET (New English Translation) – they did an excellent job and have over 60,000 translator notes explaining WHY they translated some word or phrase the way that they did.  This translation also has the kindest “copyright” … they did copyright it but are way way more lenient in letting you quote from it! They also make it available as Word Processor documents! This way you could (if you wanted) set the font to any size you want … choose a specific font even … and then print it out for yourself … make your own custom printed Bible!  It is the translation that I am using for my JOY / OBEDIENCE Bible that I have been working on for … hmmm … well over a decade now?
  2. ESV (English Standard Version) … I chose this as the most “normal” translation. NASB and HCSB and CSB are good too … but I needed just one of these “regular” translations and chose ESV … the ESV Study Bible is SUPER!
  3. The Voice – this is such a good translation. I remember the first time I discovered it in Barnes and Noble (or was it in Borders book store?) … and I *HUGGED* the Bible right there in the book store in front of the shelf where I had taken it from!  Bibles are something I love like that! I liked that they wanted to translate the Bible ACCURATELY but without losing the IMPACT that the Bible had back when it was written (or spoken). **THAT** is one of the typical problems with any translation … so much is “lost” in the translation!!  To try to keep that impact their translation team included the typical language and Scripture experts … but also included poets and musicians. PLUS they present it in play or movie script format – this lets you get a better feel for the places where people are talking!
  4. NCV (New Century Version) – this is a much easier to read translation. They try to stay accurate, but use simpler sentences. However … the main reason I chose this as one of my FIVE is that this is the Bible that Kirsten, my DJ friend from San Francisco who moved to New Hampshire or Vermont and then came to Madison to visit me and took me to Family Christian Bookstore and bought me a NCV Bible, then back at my house, proceeded to open it up and read with me exactly what I needed to hear … the day I was saved. I called her my lifesaver.
  5. NLT (New Living Translation) – there are TWO editions of this and the FIRST edition is way way better.  However … BibleGateway only has the second edition so that is what I use … maybe I am wussing out and should find someplace online that has the first edition or just TYPE what I am quoting directly from my First Edition NLT. Anyway … this seems to be based on The Living Bible but maybe made a bit more accurate and less paraphrased. It tends to word things in a nice way (I think)