“The Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood.”
That may not sound like the typical John 1:14 you’re used to reading, but with so many different translations of the Bible, we wondered what Northwestern students read and why.
The New International Version (NIV), King James Version (KJV), New Living Translation (NLT) or The Message seem to be the most popular versions of the Bible that students use. Reasons range from the level of understandability to simply reverting to what they grew up with.
Senior Dan Laird is one of many who typically use the New International Version. He said, “I grew up with it. I find it, at first glance, [to be] most cohesive. It’s kind of easier to follow than some of the other ones.” However, Laird also occasionally reads the KJV because of the “rich feel of the old language. Some of the reverence of the old language is lost in the newer translations,” he said.
Besides the fact that his family always used it, freshman Jackson Nickolay also finds the NIV to be a comfortable fit. He said that it is a nice balance of beautiful language while retaining clarity. “I like the NIV because I kind of like fancy language and [this translation] is just enough of that to where you can still understand it but it’s still very beautiful.”
Freshman Amalia Vasquez agrees that the NIV as well as NLT “are very helpful to understand what God is trying to say.” She said, “It gives me a better feel of God’s words sometimes.”
However, beyond simply the many translations to choose from, there are also various types of study Bibles with different features to help the reader. Sophomore Lexy Wiersma uses the NIV Study Bible. She enjoys it because she likes that “it highlights passages to give them background” in the side blurbs, particularly the archaeological ones. She also likes having all of Jesus’ words in red.
Having a mom who writes text books professionally, and has even written Bible textbooks, Wiersma is familiar with several different versions. Wiersma’s mother Rachelle, a native of Orange City, said that she looks up specific passages in many different translations to aid her in writing the textbooks.
She often uses the KJV, New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), NIV, NLT and the Message. But, like her daughter, she enjoys the various “study helps,” too, including the Amplified version, the Archeological, the Teacher’s Study Bible, and the Women’s Bible. This habit that developed because of her writing career has become habit in her own personal devotions and in church.
She said that especially in church, she enjoys the challenge of reading a different translation than the pastor because it helps her “notice subtleties” and “compare and get different ideas.”
Whether it’s the Old English of the KJV or the modernized language of The Message, there’s probably a translation out there to fit your style.