You will see in my studies that I list many references to Bible verses and passages to support my statements. Although this method breaks up the flow of reading, I encourage you to look up the referenced verses and decide for yourself whether the things I am saying are accurate and within context. Also, I tend to type out representative Bible verses and passages to give the reader the actual Scriptural text without having to look them up right away. Afterall, what the Bible says is more important than what I, or any other authors, have to say about it.
When I type out verses, most of my studies use the New American Standard Bible (NASB—both 1973 and 1996 editions). My two favorite versions are the NASB and the King James Version (KJV) because I have found them to be the most accurate of the English versions that I am familiar with. In my youth I was exposed to the KJV because it was the only version used in the churches I attended. I must admit that I had difficulty reading and comprehending old English (I also struggled with reading Shakespeare in high school!).
In 1974 my mother gave me a copy of the 1973 edition of the NASB (on the recommendation of my future wife, Linda). That coincided with a time in my life when I had a greatly increased desire to understand the Bible, and with my new NASB the Bible became alive for me for the first time. Since most of the Bible study material I was reading was based on the KJV, I finally began to become comfortable with that version. So much so, that my primary concordance has always been Abingdon’s Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, which is based on the KJV.
As I prepare my studies, I use other Bible versions to compare text to help me gain a greater understanding of particular verses or passages. Other versions I use include the New International Version, the New Scofield Reference Bible (1967 edition), the New King James Version, the English Standard Version, and the Amplified Bible. When I see differences between the versions, I resort to my concordances to see how the specific Hebrew and Greek words were translated and used. These include my Strong’s concordance as well as the New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, The Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance of the Old Testament, and The Englishman’s Greek Concordance of the New Testament.
Most of the time I find that all the Bible versions I use are in agreement even though different words are used. I believe all of the versions have some errors that I attribute to misunderstanding of context or doctrinal bias by the translators. Occasionally, I’ll point out translation errors (as I perceive them) when I think they are significant; however, I recognize that true understanding of Scripture only comes as the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to understanding, so I try not to dwell on what I think might be translation errors.