Why are there different translations of the Bible?
The Bible was originally written in the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages, and the English Bibles we have today are only translations of the original languages.
The reason there are multiple different translations is because with any two languages, it is rarely possible to translate word-for-word. And with Greek, for example, the word-for-word translation is usually very clunky and would never be used in a normal English conversation.
There are various versions of the English Bible. Some versions you might have heard before are King James Version, or the English Standard Version. Some English Bible translations use a more formal and clunky language, like the English Standard Version. Some translate it on thought-to-thought basis (example: New Living Translation), so that phrases are worded in natural, conversational language. The Message is one version that translates the verses into modern day language.
At Princeton Baptist Church we use the NIV (New International Version) translation of the Bible.
It is important to remember that no matter what type of translation we read, the meaning of what the Bible says stays the same, so we don’t need to worry about our Bibles being different from the originals.