The Year I Read the Bible with Laurie Larsen

Episode 6: Explore Different Translations

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Laurie shares her journey through the Bible, with the aid of ten different translations in her Bible collection. She urges the listener, if one Bible translation isn't really setting with you, to explore others until you find the perfect one.

Laurie welcomes back Cindy Jolly, her guest from episode 5 for an enthusiastic conversation about Bible translations.  Enjoy this fun and anecdote-filled episode!

Don't forget to check out the following resources:

Cindy's book, Until the World Feels Real Again

Cindy's blog, Fresh Hope

The Year I Read the Bible book options

Speaker:

Hi, I'm your host Laurie Larsen, and this is The Year I Read the Bible. Welcome! A Lifelong Christian, I thought I was familiar with the Bible, but in 2023 I accepted the challenge of reading the whole thing, cover to cover. Whenever I encountered something I didn't understand or wanted to learn more, I jotted it down, but I kept reading to stay on schedule. When I finished reading. (Imagine confetti raining down on me and a huge sigh of relief.) I had more than 50 topics to research. In 2024. I started diving into all those topics. I did research, I wrote blogs, and I shared them with whoever might wanna learn too. And in 2025, the project continues. I published a book containing my essays, and now a podcast. Is there something you can learn from that dusty book that sits on all of our shelves? Yes. Yes, there is. Let's dive into The Year I Read the Bible.

Speaker:

Explore different translations. When I set out to read the Bible, I decided to read the chronological Bible. That way I would not only read the entire word of God front to back, but I could learn about the order of historical events. I went shopping and perused the options. It was important to me to get a large print version. Might as well be kind to my eyes along the way. I'm sure there were various translation options, but without too much consideration, I picked up the new Living translation and off I went. I.

Speaker:

Occasionally during my reading, I stumbled over something and I wanted to check the verse or chapter against another translation. The Bible I was reading most often before I picked up the chronological one was the new international version. Between the NLT and the NIVI was usually able to solve my questions enough to move forward. Now that I've completed my Bible in a year challenge, I've become somewhat of a Bible translation connoisseur for this writing. I went through the various bookshelves in my house and pulled out all the Bibles that I've collected. When I counted them up, I concluded that my Bible collection consists of 10 different translations.

Speaker:

A quick Google search, satisfied my curiosity about how many different Bible translations exist for the English language, and you'll be amazed to find out the answer. 900. A website called Bible Project States quote. Since Dale's original English translation in 1526, translators and publishers have created approximately 900 different English Bibles making it difficult to know which to choose. Wikipedia ads, quote as of September, 2023. All of the Bible has been translated in 736 languages, and the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,658 languages. I'm astounded by this. I honestly didn't know there were 1,658 languages in existence.

Speaker:

So how do you pick one? It depends on what you're looking for. If you want a translation that is the closest and most accurate based on the original Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek, then your choice would be different than if your goal is simply understanding in today's modern English. For the purposes of my own, the year I read the Bible project. I was seeking understanding, so the new Living translation and new international version suited my needs perfectly.

Speaker:

When I was in the eighth grade, I was confirmed in the Presbyterian church that I attended as a child. I was presented with my own Bible. A King James version. The print was small and the words spoken by Jesus were printed in red. It had an impressive black cover embossed with gold. I loved displaying it on my bookshelf, but I rarely opened it up and read it. Why? Because the King James version was difficult to interpret and understand for a preteen.

Speaker:

When I entered high school and I became active in my church's youth group, we used the good news for Modern Man Translation of the Bible. It was a thick paperback with a decorative cover featuring the names of newspapers from all over the world. The translation was much more understandable and well. Modern. It was a great starter Bible for me to really start to dig into the concepts. As a young person, I can't locate it in my current collection, so I must have let it go sometime along the way, which I regret now because it's no longer in print.

Speaker:

Here are the translations I currently own. New international version, new Living Translation, the Living Bible. Literal standard version, blended harmony of the gospels. Today's English version, common English Bible, and the message.

Speaker:

During my journey through the Bible, I was motoring along through the Old Testament. When I came upon the Psalms, I breathed a sigh of relief because after the heaviness of the Jewish Torah detailing all the rules and laws, the first five books and the books, telling the history of the Israelites from their conquest of Canaan to their defeat and exile in Babylon. Next up were the poetic books, Psalms, Proverbs, and Song of Solomon. I anticipated the advent of some light, happy reading, or as much as there could be in the Old Testament. The problem was I didn't connect with the Psalms. Despite being a longtime reader and writer, majoring in English in college and writing 20 some novels, I've never been an appreciator of poetry. It's difficult for me to follow the rhythms and absorb myself in its meanings and nuances. I'm much more a lover of prose in storytelling. But I wanted to complete the entire Bible, and I wanted to do my best to enjoy the beauty of Psalms and Proverbs. So I turned to my other versions of the Bible. Is there one in the stack that would speak to me? Yes.

Speaker:

As it turned out, there was, let me quote to you, a section of a Psalm. In the New Living Translation of my chronological Bible, Psalm eight, one through four, a Psalm of David to be accompanied by a stringed instrument. Oh Lord, our Lord. Your majestic name fills the earth. Your glory is higher than the heavens. You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies, and all who oppose you. When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers. The moon and the stars you set in place, what are mere mortals that you should think about them human beings, that you should care for them?

Speaker:

Here is the same Psalm in the message. God, brilliant Lord, yours is a household name. Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you toddlers. Shout the songs that drown our enemy. Talk and silence. Atheist Babel. I look up at your macro skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky, jewelry, moon, and stars mounted in their settings. Then I look at my micro self and wonder. Why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way?

Speaker:

I really love the rich imagery in the message, so for me, it was my solution to finding a way to absorb and love the Psalms. You may not agree. But what I'm saying is there are so many ways to read the Bible. If you wanna kick off your own Bible reading project, don't get discouraged. If you don't connect to the first translation, you pick up, try another and another if you need to. The important thing is finding that one translation that makes you want to stick with it. What is your favorite translation? What do you like about it? How many versions of the Bible do you own? And let's end here with prayer.

Speaker:

Dear God, we thank you for your word and we thank you that we have so many options for reading the important messages you have provided for us to feast on. Be with us when we sit down to read the Bible. Help us focus and concentrate and understand so that we know what you expect of us as we live our lives. Amen.

Laurie:

And we're back. Thanks for being here on the year I read the Bible Podcast, and for this episode, explore different translations. I am so happy to welcome back my friend and our guest from last week, Cindy Jolly. Cindy. Welcome back.

Cindy:

Thank you.

Laurie:

So I know that when I asked you to guest on this particular episode, you were interested in this because I'm guessing that maybe you have a large collection of translations of the Bible. I mentioned that when I did my Bible in a year challenge, I used the chronological Bible. Have you ever read from it what did you like about it and what was harder to get used to for you?

Cindy:

I have never read from it, but a few years ago, our church, everybody in the congregation was supposed to read a book called The Story, which was basically the Bible in story form from beginning to end. Honestly, I didn't read much of it because I was already involved in my own reading the Bible through the course of a year. When I told you last week that the Lord had challenged me to read the Bible from. Decades. I've been involved in every Bible study you've in read. I. Go back to page one. So I did, and this time I took a lot longer with it. Well, now I'm on my third time through and it's been years and I'm only Ezekiel because if something says to my spirit, stop, I just stop. And I might be there a week or two weeks. I never know.

Laurie:

Hmm.

Cindy:

I'll usually end up blogging about wherever I'm kind of stuck and.

Laurie:

There's

Cindy:

So I don't, I don't have a

Laurie:

there.

Cindy:

timeline anymore.

Laurie:

Maybe there's something there that God

Cindy:

Mm-hmm.

Laurie:

is kind of pointing your attention to. That's why

Cindy:

For sure.

Laurie:

Yeah.

Cindy:

For sure.

Laurie:

What I thought was hard to get used to with the chronological Bible is, when you're reading the Bible, you're used to Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, in that order and. In the chronological Bible, it's broken down into 365 days so that you know what to read, to finish in a year, and sometimes it jumps around from this book to that book and then it brings you back. But what it's doing is it's sharing what is happening in that chronological time of history. Maybe three different authors of, three different books of the Bible cover that one event. And so you're seeing it from different, and that was especially true in the New Testament when the gospels all covered the same story or three out of the four or whatever. So it was interesting to me 'cause whenever I was reading, I always looked at it in two different ways, which is. was the historical significance of whatever the story was or the writing was, was going on in the world at that time, but also what does it mean to my life in contemporary times, It was interesting to see, oh, you know, this was happening at the same time as that. Okay, I didn't realize that because in the real Bible it is in two different books, what Bible translations do you use most frequently and why do you think you're drawn to them?

Cindy:

I used the living Bible, and I'll tell you exactly why I'm drawn to it. When I was in high school, the Living Bible came out. And my grandparents gave it to me and said something along the lines of, maybe now you'll read the Bible. Maybe this version will be good for you. You will understand it and enjoy it. And it's the truth. I do understand it, and I do enjoy it. It is not a word by word translation. It's more of a paraphrase, actually, maybe a paraphrase with the author's opinion mixed in a little bit. Not much. But when I started reading the Bible through the year, I realized that that was not enough. So I got out the other translations I had on hand, I had the revised standard, the King James, and the message. So I would read it from. From each one or if I got stuck somewhere, I would read it from each one and try to figure out what does this really mean? How does this apply to me? And that is when I discovered bible gateway.com, which is a website. They have 63 versions on there. You type in the verse and it says, would you like to see it? In every version you say, yes. You see them all. It has been so helpful, and it is through bible gateway.com that I discovered the voice, which is probably. My very favorite version, although I don't own a physical copy of it, why would I need to, I can just look on bible gateway.com, but the voice is sort of a blend of the ESV or the NIV with the message. So it's, it's if they got married and had a baby, they would have the voice. The voice is really nice. And the other two that I really like on there are the amplified and the expanded Bible. They are more of a word by word translation. They'll give you several words that all mean the same thing as the word that they've highlighted. And then I discovered the Interlinear, which I don't know if there's an app for it or not. People ask me all the time, I don't know, but here's what I do. If I'm looking up, just say, John three 16, I'll type in and Google John three 16 interlinear and it will pop up. It will show you the original language, either the Hebrew or the Greek, depending if you're in the old or new. You click on any word. Every single word is highlighted. You click on it, it pops you into everything you ever wanted to know about that word, starting with part of speech. What other words? It's or it's root words, and then it gives you more explanations like what did it mean in that culture at that time? And then it goes on to show you. Everywhere else, that word appears in the Bible and you can just click on any of them and suddenly you're reading that verse and seeing where that word appears in that verse and how it's used. It is fascinating and I use that a ton when I blog.

Laurie:

You know, what would we do without the internet?

Cindy:

I dunno, I don't have to learn those languages. Isn't that, isn't that stellar? I just type it in and boom, I'm an expert in Hebrew and Greek.

Laurie:

when. A Bible study teacher starts showing off with the root in Hebrew of this word is such and such, and this was, they just start using all the details. I'm like, wow. They must have learned that back in, seminary school, you know? But no, all they

Cindy:

I used to.

Laurie:

click interlinear on the internet. You mean we could really impress people with our knowledge maybe doing that.

Cindy:

About the message versus the living. The Living Bible, apparently, Ken Taylor, who wrote that, he looked at English versions and then wrote his version. But, Eugene Peterson, who wrote the message, he went back to the original Greek and Hebrew and took it from there. So when he kind of takes off and you think, well, that's not exactly what it said, he's looking at the original words and what they really meant, and that's where he's getting it. It's not just something he feels in his head.

Laurie:

Can you imagine being the author of a translation of the Bible? How long must that have taken him to do?

Cindy:

I don't know. He didn't start out to do the whole Bible.

Laurie:

Oh, he didn't.

Cindy:

No, he didn't, but people demanded it.

Laurie:

Wow.

Cindy:

I don't remember in what order he did it. He either started with the Psalms or the New Testament, or maybe just a book in the New Testament, but eventually he did the whole Bible.

Laurie:

Well, my goal after things slowed down, with this podcast and this whole, the year I read the Bible project that I've been embarked on for several years, is to go back to the beginning and read the Bible cover to cover. But I wanna read it in the message because I feel like it's such a. graphic, modern take on it, and I would just love to see what other nuances that I could learn just from reading that translation.

Cindy:

It's full of word pictures and feelings, which honestly it seems to me like that would be how God would want you to read it

Laurie:

Yeah.

Cindy:

with pictures in your head and feelings.

Laurie:

I agree.

Cindy:

And how does this, apply to me in this year, not thousands of years ago.

Laurie:

Right, exactly. What does it say about my life now or the world we're living in right now,

Cindy:

Or the problem I'm having today,

Laurie:

that's right.

Cindy:

Or the questions I'm asking today.

Laurie:

Mm-hmm. Any translation that hits, that's why there's so many. I in the essay that I just read this week, hundreds and hundreds of different languages that the Bible's translated in and versions in the English language. It's just amazing that there's that many. But so great for people who are pursuing to learn more about the Bible because it's just not the King James version. There's so many different versions that if this doesn't appeal to you, try another one. And that Bible gateway is a perfect example of how you can give a version, a trial run. just by looking up the Bible and clicking on all the different versions before you go out and invest in, whichever one you decide to end up with.

Cindy:

And the beauty of having a favorite. Version as a physical copy though, is that you can write in there and put your notes and draw your arrows and write down dates that this meant this or that to you.

Laurie:

Yeah.

Cindy:

inherited my grandmother's aunt's bible. My grandmother's aunt lived with them, so I knew her. She was my grandmother's mother's much younger sister, so they weren't totally in age as far as you might think. Anyway, she was a very. Strict Baptist and she had something called the Scofield Bible, which was popular

Laurie:

I

Cindy:

I wanna say, in the twenties, maybe a long time ago. But she loved her Scofield Bible, and she has almost every single line underlined in red. She has skipped very few and in the back. She has a page for her life verse. Well, it turns out she has about 50 life verses, and then she also has the life verses of her husband and her minister and loaded in the back. So if you're short on a life verse, I could probably find one for you.

Laurie:

Now what is a life verse?

Cindy:

A life verse is something some people have. It's the one verse that they feel like applies to their entire life and they wanna live by it.

Laurie:

You pick it yourself.

Cindy:

You, you can pick it yourself. I don't know who came up with this idea, but my Aunt Anna really hung on to it. She believed in it, and I guess it's probably a verse you've memorized.

Laurie:

I was just gonna say, if, memorizing the Bible is something that is important to you, at least you can memorize your life verse without too much trouble.

Cindy:

My first Bible teacher, his name was Roger, he was endeavoring to memorize all of the Gospel of John. He lived under the idea that he might someday be jailed and unable to read the Bible, and he was determined it would be there for him.

Laurie:

Why did he think he was gonna be jailed?

Cindy:

I don't know. I think he read a lot. I think he read a lot about Paul's being jailed. He just was pretty sure it was gonna happen to him, and I don't think it ever did.

Laurie:

was a modern day Paul. He was

Cindy:

Yes,

Laurie:

redoing Paul's journey.

Cindy:

yes.

Laurie:

That is

Cindy:

he wanted to memorize John.

Laurie:

Yeah. So sitting in Bible studies at tables and everybody has a Bible out and they're, writing in it. I've noticed women with, the Bibles that it's almost like half the page is the Bible verses, but then the other half is commentary

Cindy:

Yes.

Laurie:

what, whatever topic, like their actual article with titles and something that goes along with it. Have you ever had a Bible like that?

Cindy:

No, I have never had a Bible like that. That's what the internet is for. But I'll tell you that when I started the first time and in all the times of reading the Bible through, my feeling is I like to talk to the Lord and ask him what he thinks about it, and let him speak to me before I ever read what somebody else thinks or where it's from or anything else. Because sometimes what the Lord wants to say, has nothing to do with any of that, and that can become a rabbit trail. It can also be very useful too. I'm not downgrading it at all.

Laurie:

I think for me it would be distracting. So as I'm trying to, okay, I am gonna read this page. Okay. I'm reading this page, but it continues on to the next page. But, oh, wait a minute. There's all this other stuff here. Let me put the Bible aside. And start reading that. And then I get back to, oh, wait a minute, where were we? Oh yeah. I'm too linear of a reader. I have to finish what I'm reading and I would be distracted by all that information. And like you said, there's so much on the internet, that you can do as far as looking up commentary that you don't need that necessarily right there.

Cindy:

Love it when I look something up, ESP something from the Old Testament, and I see a rabbi who has a blog. I always go straight to that. I figure he's got some insights I don't have.

Laurie:

that's a great idea. Yes, coming up in a few weeks is my interview with Rabbi Weissman. I call it, a Christian Chats with a Jewish Rabbi. It's actually a two-parter I've never talked to a Jewish rabbi before, so I got in touch with one. I have a Jewish friend who got me set up with him, and we started the interview with. not gonna try to convert me, and I'm not gonna try to convert you, and you're not gonna try to convince me that we're wrong, and I'm not gonna try to convince you that you're wrong. Okay. Let's put all that aside now. Tell me what you know about the Jewish faith. And it was just so interesting. So that's coming up soon. Yep. Are there, any other thoughts that you wanna share about bible translations? I,

Cindy:

I'll be teaching something at our church in the women, in the word that you talk about. By the time this airs, it'll be over, but I think this will tickle you a little bit. I'm doing, Ruth, we're talking about the women in Jesus's genealogy, and I have chosen to use the King James version, not because I understand it. Because I love the way it sounds in that story. It is so charming. They never talk about Ruth the Moabite as much as the Moabite ish damsel. Okay. That's charming. I love it. It's like

Laurie:

that

Cindy:

I,

Laurie:

MOA diet. What?

Cindy:

Ruth is from Moab. She's a Moabite

Laurie:

Okay.

Cindy:

in the King James, at one point they referred to her as the Moabite ish damsel.

Laurie:

Oh, really.

Cindy:

in damel, in distress, or,

Laurie:

Exactly.

Cindy:

it makes it, it just brings the whole book and gives it a whole charming atmosphere.

Laurie:

I love it. I think there's one other thing I was gonna say about not necessarily the translation of the Bible, but just. having a bible, I bought one recently well, within the last couple years I was doing a bible study on the Book of Revelation, and it was an online course, and they said, if you buy the course, we'll throw in this Bible for half price. I'm like, oh, okay. It's got drawings inside and it's got little bookmarks that you can rip out and it's very visual and it's, real nice. But also when you open up the pages, it's got blank lines that you can write notes on. So whenever I'm using the Bible, whether it's at. A Bible study or in church during the sermon, and I'm making notes. I'm approaching it with a purpose to not just make a note that makes sense to me right now as I'm writing it, like shorthand, but with the intention that when I go back to it a year from now or 10 years from now. It'll make sense to me. Try to take some time to make it like, clarify what? The note is about so that even, when I'm not in the midst of that Bible study or that sermon, I can go back and say, oh, yeah, oh yeah. I think I mentioned on an earlier episode, I went back when I decided to read the Bible in a year. The first time I ever did it was, well, the only ever, only other time I did it was when I was 16 and I still have that Bible, so I went and pulled that Bible out and I looked at all the things that I underlined and asterisked and made little notes, and it was so cool to see what my 16-year-old self thought was worth commenting on back then. But some of the notes were like, what was I talking about? What? What is that? So I'm trying to make it more clear this time.

Cindy:

When someone at our church, dies and our minister is asked to, do the funeral, he. Always, if he knows them, asks for you to bring in the person's Bible. He likes to, see what was important to them, where their post-its are, where their things are underlined. It does help you. It does help you look into a person's soul when you see what they've underlined in their Bible.

Laurie:

Yeah.

Cindy:

Unless you're an Anna and you've underlined everything.

Laurie:

Yes. She read it the first time and underlined half the words, and then the second time through, she's like, oh, I miss some. I'm gonna underline everything.

Cindy:

I still have my,

Laurie:

That's right. Well, I am going to wrap it up here. Thank you so much, Cindy. Thank you for your time today and all your insight. It's such a pleasure being with you, and I really appreciate your time on the podcast.

Cindy:

it's been my pleasure.

Laurie:

All right, I will see you soon. Bye-bye.

Speaker:

And that's it for today. Thank you very much for being here with me on The Year I Read the Bible Podcast. We'll be back with another episode next week. If you enjoy this podcast, please do all the normal things to spread the word: like it, review it, share it with your friends. If you are interested in additional The Year I Read the Bible resources such as the book, the video channel, and the blog, I will certainly include the links in the show notes. And I'd love to hear about your own journey to read the Bible cover to cover. Have you done it or are you doing it right now? Please reach out to me and let me know how it's going. Until next time, it's Laurie Larsen with The Year I Read the Bible. Bye.

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