Ep. 2: What Bible Translation Should You Read? | Ok, I'm Christian Now What?

Nate, what Bible translation should we read? Do you think that a lot of Christians have actually gone through what we've gone through?

Absolutely. Absolutely. I think a lot of people are still going through that. When we travel to another part of the world, people speak in accents.

That's what I'm trying to hear is the accent of the original language. Like, we're flawed. This is why we need others to keep us in check, which is why we need constant debate over these things.

So, Nate, what would be some reasons why we can't trust all Bible translations? So, I mean, you're tippy -toeing around it, but let's talk about the message for a hot second.

As Christians, we need to be close to God. Now, I'm using close as an acronym. K -L -O -S.

Close. It stands for... Welcome back to another episode of OK, I'm Saved.

Now what? I'm your host, with the most, Nate Sala, and with me is my... He's my spiritual consigliere.

It's Chuck Williams. Pastor Chuck Williams of Life Baptist Church. Chuck, welcome back. What's up,

Nate? Glad to be back, man. This is awesome, man. I don't know about you, but the feedback that I've gotten just from the first episode has just been blessing my soul, man.

It really has. Oh, wow. Yeah. Well, let's talk about that briefly. By the way, if you are brand new to the show, welcome.

We are here. If you are a brand new believer, if you are a believer who's been at church, going to church for a very long time, we're here for you as well, because we're talking about how to walk after Jesus wisely and well.

So, we're all about that. But we started our first episode last time, Chuck, and we got some feedback.

Yeah, we did. Got a lot of feedback. I mean, I haven't been knee -deep in the comments as you have, but just the conversations that I've had with people has just been awesome, man.

And it's interesting because there's a lot of people that had our same experience, you know? And it's not just subjective to us.

There's been a lot of people who get saved, and then they're like, okay, well, now what do I do? How do I act? What do

I read? Where do I start? All of that. Chuck, would you say that this is a lot of Christians?

Because I had a thought like, well, if we do this format and we talk about our experience, are a lot of people going to resonate with this?

Do you think that a lot of Christians have actually gone through what we've gone through? Absolutely. Absolutely.

I think a lot of people are still going through that, and this is one prayer of mine, that this podcast continues to go out for people to hear, to watch, and to, you know, just be able to not make the same mistakes that we did and then be further along in their walk than what we were when we first started.

Amen. Amen. Yeah, so you've got to listen to the first episode. If you're just jumping in to how we got saved, because what happens next after we got saved,

Chuck, was... It wasn't good. It wasn't good. But that's what we're here about.

So we got some feedback, and you've got to explain this one. So some of this was really great. This video series has come to me at a great time.

I've recently professed Jesus as Lord and want to walk with Him, so this is really great from Boodles.

Thank you, Boodles. Boodles. Lynn Cherry. Miss Lynn also jumped in.

We know Miss Lynn. She's a lovely lady. But Chuck, you're going to have to explain this one to me. Shout out to Brother Eddie Murphy.

Great sense of humor from Brother Eddie Murphy. What is going on here, Chuck? I feel like a pro. This is not the first time that I've been likened to Eddie Murphy, Charlie Murphy.

One thing about this, man, is if you would have seen my dad, you would have legit thought that that was

Eddie Murphy and Charlie Murphy's other brother. I'm like, oh my goodness, is this a third one? My dad is uncanny to them.

I guess I got a little bit there. This looks really great, some of the feedback that we're receiving.

So look, if you are listening for the very first time or if you're with us, we're so glad that you're with us.

And what we'd love to hear from you is your feedback. What do you like about the show?

What do you want us to talk about in the future? And we'll definitely take it to heart. But Chuck, there's been these moments.

Everyone's had these moments. What is the most ridiculous thing that you personally have witnessed in a church service?

I have a story, but I'm sure you have a story. How would you respond? Yeah. Because we live in a creative area, you know?

And there's this line between reverence and ridiculous. And I've seen some ridiculous things.

By far, the most was when I first came to Las Vegas. So I'm from Chicago, raised there, grew up in an old school

Black Baptist church, and it was very traditional. So when me and my family moved to Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world, we're thinking, okay, we need to get plugged into a church and we need to serve.

And the first church we attended, it was a different experience.

I kid you not. It was like a concert for God every single Sunday. And mind you, I've only been to one concert, and that was

Morris Day and the Time. So I didn't have that background in concerts. But walking into this church

Sunday after Sunday, it was like, man, this is like a concert every single week. And me and my wife, we were told, well, this is

Las Vegas. It's the entertainment capital. What do you expect from your churches? So we were like, okay, well, we just need to be involved.

We need to serve. We need to get plugged in. But the straw that broke the camel's back was when this ridiculous moment happened within this church service.

My wife is a huge Eminem fan. She grew up listening to all Eminem lyrics and everything else like that.

But then when she came to faith, a lot of that stuff started to fall to the wayside. And during this one particular church service, they remixed

Eminem's Lose Yourself. And it was in the context of a Christian remix to lose yourself in the

Holy Spirit. Nate, when

I heard the beat, it was like, dun -dun -dun. I was like, what is going on?

We had to leave, man. That was just too ridiculous for me. Mm. Because there's, you know, there's all kinds—if you are somebody—maybe this might work,

Chuck—so I'm trying to be fair. Maybe this might work if you have no context for the song, if you not had previously lived in the world and then stepped out of it to follow

Christ. But for those of us who grew up listening to Eminem, Dre, you know what

I mean? Like, it immediately takes us back to everything that that song talks about, and then all the related issues.

So, I get it. You're very gracious, Nate. You're very gracious. Well, hey, man.

So, we didn't plan this. We're brothers from another mother. I think my story is about the same church,

Chuck. I think my story is about the same place.

So we're not naming names. We're not trying to—but I think it is. So let me tell you the story, and then you tell me if we're talking about the same church.

There is a big church here in Las Vegas, Chuck. Okay? It's big. Big. Huge. And there was an event.

I only went the one time to this place, Chuck. One time. Okay? This was maybe in 2010.

Jim Caviezel came out to speak, and the church hosted him, and it was understood that he was going to talk to everyone about his experiences filming

The Passion of the Christ. And so, you know, you have to remember, back then there was no chosen—you know what

I mean, Chuck? There was no—the only truly artistic expression of Jesus Christ in cinema as far back as I can remember was

Jim Caviezel's Jesus, you know? And I think that he actually did an excellent job. I mean, anybody who gets struck by lightning to play

Jesus should, you know, definitely get support from a Christian. Several times. Several times.

Right. Anyway, so he comes out to speak at this megachurch, but before that, they do a few songs of worship.

So when—I didn't know you were going to share this story, but this is my story. When the worship team came out, you would have thought that it was a

Coldplay concert, Chuck. Like, the laser lights were in full effect, fog was everywhere, you know?

Two big, gigantic jumbo screens were showing close -ups of the musicians, you know what

I mean? And doing guitar solos, and the camera angles looked like a music video. And I get it, you know?

A lot of churches express worship in contemporary styles, but the worship team decided to play

My Hero by the Foo Fighters, and they played clips of Jesus in various movies, like, on the screen behind them, so I suppose

Jesus is our hero. And Chuck, I don't know if you, you know, are familiar with the song, but if you know the lyrics to the song, you would not make the connection to Jesus.

It was so bizarre, you know? Like, it was probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever personally witnessed.

So... Yeah, man. And like I said, there's this line that churches walk in. Listen, I am a firm believer that there needs to be an excellence in our worship.

We are giving our best to the Lord. But there's also a reverence that comes with that.

And when that reverence is viewed as ridiculous, we've missed the mark completely.

Amen. Amen. It's funny, because I think churches sometimes get—so maybe this is another episode for another time—I think churches kind of lose their way because they lose sight of the fact that worship is for the

Lord, it's not for us. Amen. Amen. So, you know, it's funny, because some

Christians will—pull me in, Chuck, I'm rabbit trailing—some Christians will go,

I don't sing that song because it doesn't make me feel anything.

I'm not gonna sing that song because I don't know that song, and so I just don't feel a connection to it, so therefore I won't sing it.

No, the songs are for the Lord, and so that He will be pleased by our worship. And so we can sing songs that we don't know, we can sing songs that feel close to it when we're having a great time.

We can sing the same songs on our way to being killed for the Lord, too, by the way, because it's for Him.

Anyway. Right. It is 100 % for the Lord. Like, when people say, oh, I don't like that worship, it's not for you!

It's for the Lord. We are bringing our worship to Him. It is not there for us to, you know, look at us and point to us or anything else like that.

That's why I'm a firm believer that all songs that we sing to worship should be Christ -honoring and God -exalting, if it's exalting to me, then there's a problem in that.

There is, but I think this is a whole nother episode that we can get into. So let's jump back on track, and listen, me and Nate do this so that way you guys can get to know us more.

We are doing this because we care about you. We want you not to stumble over the same things that we've stumbled over when we first came to faith.

So, a lot of this is for you to get to know us personally. I mean, this is real. This is me and this is

Nate, and we want to share that with you, but we also want to guide you in a right way, because we wish we had someone to guide us in that way as well.

Pete Amen. That's right. Mike Moving on to our question, Nate, what Bible translation should we read?

There's a ton of Bible translations. I think the Bible is the most translated text that we have, and there's a ton of translations.

So, what translation should we read? Nate Well, that's the $6 million question, you know?

And I will tell you personally, I have a couple of translations in my house, on my bookshelf, that I use as a resource.

I mean, there's other questions that are underneath all of that, so maybe we can explore all those things. Like, you know, what is a translation for the sort of the guide or the spectrum of translations that Christians have?

But in terms of my own personal study and preaching, I usually end up coming back to three different translations, and maybe we can talk about this, but they all exist on a certain spectrum of literal translation.

And so, my translations, just right off the bat, NASB 95, the ESV, which is the

English Standard, and then the LSB, the LSB. And that actually was suggested by you.

So, you were the one that told me about the LSB and all of that, but it's actually been quite a blessing.

BF Yeah. No, it really has, and I want to talk more about that later. And I think that even when we're answering this question, like, what translation should we read, we get so bogged down to thinking just within our realm.

And I say this because there's a young adult that we have in our Thursday night meetings, and he reads from a

German Bible. Now, if I were to tell him, oh, just get a good English translation, but if he speaks

German or if he speaks Spanish, then it's like, okay, I'm leading him in a way that's probably going to get more, that's going to bring more confusion for him.

So, one way that I try to articulate this question to a lot of people that say, well, what translation should

I read? It's like, well, you should get a translation that is easily understandable for you because everyone's going to have different language barriers.

They're going to have different cultural barriers and all this stuff. So, there needs to be a translation that you are sifting through that is easily understandable when you're reading

God's Word for you, whether that is a Spanish -speaking Bible or a German -speaking Bible or your preferred

English -speaking Bible. It needs to be something that is clearly understandable. Right. Right.

Because, now, here's why we have translations. We are reading something that was written in a foreign language to us.

You know, to us today, 21st century Americans, assuming you're listening in America, you know,

Western society, we're having to do a bit of translating from the original language, so Hebrew in the

Old Testament and then Greek in the New Testament. Some Aramaic as well, intermixed and all of that.

And now we have to try to understand it in English. The problem is that that journey of translation is sometimes difficult.

The reason why I stay closer to the literal side of translations is because I'm trying to appreciate the original language.

And the original language, like I said, it catches, I've heard it said like this, the accent of the words.

So, there are the words themselves that are being communicated, but when we know when we travel to another part of the world, people speak in accents.

And so, that's what I'm trying to hear is the accent of the original language. So, for example, here's a real quick example.

In the Hebrew, in Genesis, the account, um, there's all kinds of poetic language that's used in order to tell the story.

And so, for example, Adam, adam, is created out of adamah, right?

And so, when we have our English translations which just says man was created from the dust, we have to understand that there was actually, there was a language thing going on where it was very similar.

There's a similar relationship to man and the dirt. And so, maybe it's closer to say something like a human was created out of the hummus, you know, to try to hear the language.

There's another one. It says Adam and Eve were naked. And it's the end of chapter 2.

And then literally at the beginning of chapter 3, it says, and the serpent was very cunning. But we have to realize that in original language, the word naked in Hebrew is very close to the word cunning.

And so, there's a relationship there. Anyway, the point is, I'm trying to hear the accent, and so I want to go as literal as possible.

Yeah. No, I think that's a really good point because with all of the different translations, there's subtle differences.

And I love how you were bringing that out with the literal translation. So, what would you say is the reason why we're having or why we have so many different translations?

Like, there's a dynamic equivalent, there's formally equivalent, there's, you know, idiom paraphrase versions of the

Bible. Like, what would be the benefit in all that? Yeah, I mean, so that's a really great question. And so, the way

I would suss this out a little bit is just imagine that 100 years from now, someone discovers a text message that a teenager wrote today, you know?

They would probably struggle with the slang that the teenager is using in the text message in order to communicate whatever it is that they're communicating.

It's funny, I was a high school teacher for a while before I became a pastor. And so,

I was constantly, you know, trying to figure out, like, what are these kids saying? The first time I heard a student say,

I'm dead, it broke my brain. I'm like, but no, but you're breathing though, you know?

I remember one time—this is the worst of it, and you know this story—but I wanted to be cool to the kids, right?

I want to be hip, you know? And so, I had a moment that I thought was really cool with my youngest son, who was maybe two at the time.

We were sitting down, and he put his little monkey paw on my shoulder while we were watching

Netflix. And so, I was like, oh my gosh, what a moment! So, I just wanted to, you know, on Monday morning, we're talking about what do we do over the weekend, and I said,

I mean, I had a great moment with my son. I'm telling my students this in high school. And I said, man, me and my son, it was so great.

You know what we did this weekend? We just Netflixed and chilled. And immediately, like, their eyes—somebody in the room went, because that's not—I used a phrase that is supposed to mean something, and I had no idea what

I was talking about. So, we have to try to take—it's not only that we're translating words, we're trying to translate the spirit of the message to our

English in a manner that is well -received, and that requires different translations. There are translation committees.

Translation committees will make different decisions about how to bring over a phrase into our

English to best capture not only the words themselves, but also the spirit behind it, and that's why we have these different translations.

BF – Absolutely. I mean, they serve practical purposes for different functions. Like, there's a translation called the

Amplified Bible, and I love how the Amplified Bible just continues to provide different,

I guess, adjectives or different phrases to get you to capture the whole of what that passage is saying.

So, it says it in multiple different ways. I mean, you can—it's a longer read, because there's more words in that, because it's trying to get you to capture the fullness of it, but it helps.

Whereas my personal preference is more of a literal word -for -word translation, because like you said,

I want to get as close to the words, as close to the context, close to the—what did you say?

The—oh my goodness. CW – The spirit. The spirit of what is being communicated. That's right.

BF – Absolutely. CW – So, it gets difficult, Chuck. So, I'm running a dGroup right now, and we're going through 1

John. So, this just is fresh. 1 John 3 .6 says something really interesting.

So, if you try to get close to the original language, it's going to tell you in 1

John 3 .6 no one abiding in Him, in Jesus, hamartani.

Right? But if you just bring the word over, it literally sounds like this. No one abiding in Him sins.

But wait a sec. So, if you're a follower of Jesus and you sin, which by the way, the

Bible says you will, and you will continue to sin, you're a sinner, then you're not abiding? You're not a follower? No.

The Greek is a present active indicative. And so, that's where you have to try to catch the spirit of it, you know?

This is a continuous word that reads better. No one abiding in Him practices sinning or keeps on sinning.

But that's not the literal translation, and so that's where the translation committees come in and you have different translations. BF –

Yeah. No, I think that's a good point. So, do you think it matters which translation a person uses?

I do, because maybe you can speak to this because I know you're really good with explaining and delineating the spectrum of translation, right?

So, you got literal all the way over to what's called dynamic. But I would argue that some translations fell off the scale, it fell off the spectrum, and it's way off into the territory of paraphrase, which

I think is dangerous. So, maybe you can speak to that. CM – No, I would absolutely agree.

It matters which type of translation that you're reading, because there are, you know, I think we would put them in three main categories, like a word -for -word, thought -for -thought, and then a paraphrase.

Now, I'm not partial to a lot of paraphrases, and I think we'll get to that in a minute why, but a good word -for -word translation,

I think you can't go wrong with. NASB 95, ESV, Legacy Standard Bible, those are good word -for -word translations that I would continue to advocate for.

Then when you get into the thought -for -thought, that is where, I mean, because I have a plethora, like you, of Bible translations that I refer to when

I'm going through a text. So, if there is something that is, okay, you know, how did the

NLT or the NIV say this, or the CSB? Let's see how they phrased this to capture the thought of what the original author was intending for his audience.

I think those are okay. I wouldn't go off and say I wouldn't recommend those, but it's where you get into those paraphrase, and you can look this up just by Googling, you know,

Bible translation chart. You can see this chart, and you're in the process of making a new one because of the

Legacy Standard Bible that came out as of 2021. But having, you know, a paraphrase, it's where you get into that dangerous area, because they're not really trying to stay as close to the original languages.

They're just giving you man -centered, and then especially one thing that you said as far as having a committee.

I think that's crucial when you're looking at translations. It needs to be a committee.

There's Bible translations that have come out where it's just done by one person. And I do not,

I don't advocate on that, which is leading me to another question. Like, you can't trust all

Bible translations. So, Nate, what would be some reasons why we can't trust all

Bible translations or some of the modern translations? I think for the reasons that you said.

So, I mean, you're tippy -toeing around it, but let's talk about the message for a hot second. The message, the message,

I mean, the message, is it Eugene Peterson? Was that the guy that was behind the message?

I think it was. Was written, I think, in a, with an original good motive, you know?

It was somebody who wanted Christians, brothers and sisters, to be able to relate to the

Word. And I think sometimes we talk about translations, sometimes, you know, Christians will end up being too restrictive.

There's nothing wrong with people relating to the Word and trying to find points of connection to their own life with the

Word as long as it's done properly. The message, as far as I understand, there was no committee.

It was literally just this one man, you know, with the best of intentions, trying to just paraphrase what he thought the

Bible would, how he thought the Bible would be better received. And so, I would, yeah, I would stay far away from stuff like that.

When you have biblical scholars that get together, they have to run their checks, they have to do their due diligence, they're double -checked by other biblical scholars, there's votes, you know?

Where, for example, if there's a problematic text, here's another one, right? So, the Lord's Prayer.

You know, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our—now, in the

Greek, you have this translation issue, right? The word for bread could just mean bread, like daily bread, or it could mean bread for tomorrow.

And so, that's where I think if you're looking for a translation that's good, the translation is gonna give you the decision that they made as a committee because they voted, because scholars weighed in and argued, and then they're also, in the footnotes, they're gonna give you the other way that it's understood.

And that's, I think, is key. Yeah, absolutely. The Passion Translation is another one that I don't—

Here we go, here we go. And I think your homegirl,

Alicia Childers, did a phenomenal review on why this is not a recommended translation.

I mean, for lack of a better word to even call it a translation. And for just one fact,

I mean, not one fact, but there's multiple, but just the one stance alone that is written by one person. You're getting their subjective opinion that is not even going to the original, or Hebrew or Aramaic, to decipher all these things.

They're just using a modern translation saying, well, I think it should be said like this. And I think that's just a bad translation.

I don't recommend it. And for you to grasp and get the spirit of what was written, that is not something that would help you go about doing so.

Amen. Yeah, that's really good. So, Nate, how did you come to the translations that you read?

Or do you even have a preferred translation? So, I'm about to go preach to a church in Wyoming as of this recording in a couple of weeks.

What translation am I going to use to that church? I'm probably going to go with the

ESV. And I've preached from the NASB95. So when we were together, and we were at Life Baptist Church in Las Vegas, and we were preaching side -by -side, not literally, but, you know, like consecutively, we were using the

NASB95. That's how we were taught. That's how we came up. In my own studies at home, and a lot of times when

I make videos on the Wise Disciple channel, now I'm starting to incorporate LSB. Now again, why is that the case?

I think it's because it's just, it brings us a lot closer to the original language than a lot of the other translations.

And that's important to me, that somebody, if I'm going to try to explain the things that we're talking about, I want to make sure that I'm as close as possible to the original language and that I understand it.

You gotta think of it this way, Chuck. My goal, and everyone's goal, if you're listening to this, you're a brand new

Christian, you've been with Christ for a long time, is to know God. But then you gotta think for a second, like, how do we know

God? Well, you know God through the Word. You know God through His revelations.

You know? As Christians, have you thought about this, Chuck? As Christians, we need to be close to God.

Now I'm using close as an acronym. K -L -O -S. Close. It stands for know

God, love God, obey God, and then see God. And this actually, this formula of seeing

God at the end of it, right? The more you know, the more you'll love Him. The more you love Him, the more you'll obey Him. The more you obey, the more you will see

Him. It comes out of a couple places in the Scripture. 1 John chapter 4, and then also

John, I think it's 1421. Jesus says these things. If you obey my commands, you love me.

Or you love the Father. You love the Father, then my love is with you. If you love me, then

I will manifest myself to you, right? And so, that's what I'm talking about. We've got to stay close to God.

But the way that we do that is we read the Word, and so we've got to know God through the Word, and that's why it's imperative that, you know, that we get the accurate rendering and understanding of His Word.

So I lean way more literal in that sense. Yeah, I would too, because once again, when we are reading

God's Word, it's with the focus of knowing Him. And having that focus, I want to get as close as I can to the words that He was saying so that I can walk in obedience to that.

I can continue to hear His heart. I can continue to know His character through the reading of His Word.

And I don't see how people can get that if you're getting man's interpretation of that alone, like just one solid dude's interpretation and their pair of, oh,

I think God means this, because they tend to put their own thing. Like, we're flawed. This is why we need others to keep us in check, which is why we need constant debate over these things, which is why

I'm a firm believer of, like, translation committees. The Translation Committee for the Legacy Standard Bible did a phenomenal job.

Like, they wrestled back and forth with a lot of things. Like, if you go to, you know, lsbbible .com,

you can see just how they—the interviews that they had. You can see the wrestling over minute words.

It's like, oh, well, I see it clear. Like, no, but we really need to wrestle with this to maintain the consistency and the provision of having a good word -for -word translation.

Yeah, and they'll make it transparent to you because it's on the website, and they'll show you. They'll show you the decisions that they made, they'll show you the original language, and they'll walk you through why they made the decisions that they made.

That's good. Not all committees will do that. Or put it this way, they won't make it as easy to discover the decisions that they made, you know?

Right, right. Well, can I ask you this question, Chuck? Like, you know, because in the interest of somebody hearing what maybe we're not saying, is it possible—because it sounds like you and me are on the same page, you know, as close to the literal translation as possible—is it possible to know

God accurately, to walk with Him and have a relationship with Him, but be somewhere less on the side of literalism and closer to the other side of the dynamic side of things?

So, like, maybe in the middle. Because in the middle, it's what? It's like NIV, maybe closer to the middle,

CSB. What do you think about that? Yeah, no, absolutely. Absolutely. I think you rightly can have that same understanding, get the spirit of what the text is saying by reading those, you know, thought -for -thought translations.

The CSB is another good example. You know, our friend that we listen to on the podcast, Robbie Gallowly, preaches from the

CSB, and it accurately captures a lot of the things that's being portrayed within his message, a lot of the lessons that are being taught, and there's no contradictions in, you know, what a word -for -word or thought -for -thought is saying.

It's just giving you the entire thought of what is being translated. So, I think those are great translations.

Even when I'm doing my personal Bible study, there's some things that I would read in my word -for -word that I will go to a thought -for -thought and be like, oh, okay, this gives me a different perspective to see it from, so that way

I have a better understanding. I think it's good. I don't think that if you are only reading a paraphrased version, like, you know, the message or,

Lord forbid, the Passion Translation, like, that you're going to, you know, say, oh, well, I'm, you know, walking how

I'm supposed to be walking, like, because a lot of those things can lead you astray. A lot of those, especially the

Passion Translation, has a lot of heretical teaching in that because of the simple fact it's one person's idea that they're trying to push for their agenda.

It's interesting because now that we're talking about it and I'm looking into this, the Bible Gateway – this is out of Christianity Today, I'm just reading the headline here –

Bible Gateway removes the Passion Translation. This was

February 9 last year. It's funny, while you were talking, I was looking, because I wasn't too familiar with the

Passion, and Simmons, this guy who actually created the Passion Translation, claims that Jesus visited him personally and took him to the

Library of Heaven and asked him to write the translation. Mm -hmm. So, anyway, so, but, you know,

I mean, you'll get, moving on, the pushback that the translation has been getting is very clear.

They're very good translations. There's numerous that you can choose from. I mean, even with my journey from the,

I was, I grew up reading the King James Version. Like, that was the only version that my church had, and that was the only version that I read, but then coming through more, studying more of the biblical text, studying more of how translations came about, that led me to the

NASB 95. And that's where, you know, I've learned to preach from, I've learned to grasp it, and I've just had some preferences that I love, like the capitalization of the pronouns for the deity of Christ and God.

I love that. And then, moving to the LSB, the consistency that they have with it.

Like, Nate, this is, like, I'm reading through the Bible chronologically in the

LSB, and I'm loving it, man, absolutely loving it, especially the consistency in the

Greek and Hebrew words they maintain. So, for example, the word Zerah is seed, and in Genesis, where God pronounces the curse, he says that, you know, the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent, right?

And then we get that promise, or after Cain kills Abel, Eve says, the

Lord has provided another seed in place of Abel. So, you see that consistency, and then the promise to Abraham, I will promise this to your seed, and it's maintaining that consistency, whereas other translations would use offspring or descendants or child or anything like that.

The LSB maintains that same word in the Hebrew, and then when you get into the

Greek, same thing, where in Galatians 3 .16,

where Paul says the promise was to the seed, not seed as in plural, but seed as in Christ.

And it's just so cool seeing how this translation is making me more aware of how

God is just consistent throughout the entire Old Testament and again in the New Testament.

Yeah. It's funny, because I was just telling you about 1 John. 1 John 3 .9 says, you know, anyone born of God refuses, there it is again, to practice sinning.

Why? Because God's seed abides in him, right? So, there it is again, right? And the consistency of the message is throughout the

Scripture, that's really good. Well, is that then what you are preaching from now?

So, I know that you, for years, have used NASB 95, but now because of your using

LSB, are you now bringing it to the pulpit, I guess? Yes.

So, in the past few messages that I've been preaching, I have been preaching from the LSB. Now, our church is currently going through a series in 1

John, and I will be preaching a few verses in chapter 3 of 1

John. But I will be preaching out of the ESV to maintain the consistency for the congregation, because once again, this is something that we're taking our entire people through.

So, I don't want any of those questions to arise to show that there's any division or anything like that, because once again, the

ESV is still a really good translation. My preferred preference is the LSB, and as we are taking our congregation through the series, we're going to be reading from the

ESV, and I'm completely fine with that. Jason So, yeah, I have preached from the

LSB. I will continue to preach for the LSB, but once again, I think the importance for me in preaching from the

ESV during this series is for the broader congregation. Jared That's good. And readability,

I mean, maybe we can talk about that for a hot second. You know, readability is really important, you know? I mean, we've advocated against paraphrasing because we would argue that readability was the top priority, not accuracy.

You'll get this kind of woodenness to very literal carryovers from the original language, you know?

But, so, we're trying to find this interesting mixture of readability and being literal.

I mean, we don't want, you know, in John 1 .14 it says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, right? He tabernacled with us, which takes us right back to the

Old Testament. We don't want the message to say, well, you know, God moved into the neighborhood, which is literally what he says in the message, and loses everything.

So, what is the LSB, the best sort of mixture of current readability and then also literalness to you?

Brandon So, for me, absolutely. I have dyslexia, so when I was looking, okay, which translation do

I need to read? The ESV, for me, read so fluently. I loved it. I just had personal preferences with not capitalizing the pronouns, and then on top of that, there's been multiple translations of the

ESV. So, if you grab an ESV from, you know, 2000 and you grab one today, there'll be minute differences.

Nothing major or anything like that, but like with the NASB 95, every single year they let you know, okay, this is a different translation.

It's gonna be different from the NASB 74 or the 2020, all of that. But the

LSB, I just love the readability of it as well. I think it took away a lot of that woodenness that the

NASB 95 had while maintaining the consistency and maintaining the word -for -word.

Jeff Yeah, that's so good. That's so good. It's very important that we, again, we've rung this bell, and I'll ring it one more time.

It's very important that we get as close as possible to what the original author was trying to communicate, because there's an accent to it, there's all kinds of intentionality that sends us backwards.

If we're in the New Testament, we're supposed to be understanding that the New Testament is almost a, it's almost a, the

Mishnah was the rabbinic interpretation of the text of Scripture, right? It's almost like looking back and commenting on so many things that came out of the

Old Testament, and we need to see those connections, and the way that we do that is with original language, not the message.

Or the passion, apparently. Brandon I can't speak highly about the consistency of the

LSB translation. I can't. It is just phenomenal, man. So if you have not had an opportunity,

I would highly suggest, just give it a read. And one way that has helped me, and this is advice that you gave me, in just picking different translations, read your favorite translation in that translation that you're considering.

And mine was Romans 5. When I read Romans 5 in the Legacy Standard, I was like, this is it, man.

Oh, yes! It was just even more robust for me, coming from the

NASB 95. One of the things, well I have to thank you now, because you were the one that suggested

LSB. You were the one that was tracking when it was actually being put together, because originally it wasn't all complete, it was just certain books of the

Old Testament that came out first, etc., etc. And so you were telling me about it, you were excited, and I was like,

I'll get to it eventually. And I finally did, and I really appreciate it. You know what

I, there's two things really that I appreciate about the LSB, is they're really trying to bring the spirit of the original language back as much as possible.

And so, in the Old Testament, they're going to call Yahweh Yahweh, you know? They're not going to translate it as Lord, and they're going to, for example, they're going to bring back the word slave and slavery in the

Old and New Testaments. They're not going to say servant, they're not going to say bondservant. Not that using those other words are bad, it's just they're trying to get back to the spirit of the original language, and I really do appreciate that.

So it sounds like we're recommending the same translation to everyone. Is that right? I think so. And if you would allow me, man,

I would love to just read this on the podcast, because, you know, we love it when we read scripture.

Psalm 23, this is another one that just grabbed me. This is out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

Yahweh is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me besides quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the path of righteousness for his namesake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You have anointed my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely, goodness and loving kindness will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of Yahweh forever."

Man, there's just so many things about that that I absolutely love. Number one, saying God's covenant name,

Yahweh. And then when you go down to verse six, surely goodness and loving kindness will pursue me all the days of my life.

In other translations, it says that it will follow me, as though I'm the leading. And therefore, it is, you know, these things are coming along.

But it is this aspect of this is pursuing you. It is pursuing you. And man,

Nate, I'm telling you, every time I continue to read passages like that, it just comes more alive for me.

And I feel like I'm knowing God more and deeper because I'm getting closer and closer to his original words.

Yeah. Yeah, in Genesis, the account of Eve dealing with the serpent and, you know, the serpent inciting her to eat of the fruit, it's interesting because in verse six it says, this is

LSB. Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was desirable to make one wise.

So, she took from its fruit, Nate. And it captures what I think is,

I think, the spirit behind that particular text. Because again, if you go to the original language, there is a connotation of lust that Eve has for the fruit.

In the same way that then later that sort of lustful desire is for the husband as part of the curse later in the same chapter, she has this same lustful desire for the fruit.

So, it's not that she just saw that it was good, you know? And again, this is what it looks like to try to capture not only the literal language word for word, but the spirit behind it.

And I think LSB does a great job. Yeah, absolutely. So, that's my recommendation,

Nate. If someone is looking for a translation, I would highly recommend that you check out the

Legacy Standard Bible. It's a phenomenal translation. You can download the app for free. You can go on the website and read it for free.

And then there's definitely several prints that are coming out. I got multiple copies.

I think I got three LSB Bibles at home. And somebody's thinking, oh man, he's getting paid to say this.

LSB's giving him kickbacks. Are you connected at all with getting any kind of money for mentioning this? Absolutely not.

No, no, I don't. I'm just a big advocate for it because I love it.

I think what they're doing with God's Word is phenomenal. And I'm a big proponent of it.

I don't get any free merch. I don't get any stipends or anything. I mean, I would love some free merch if anyone from LSB wanted to hook me up.

LSB, hello. But no, man, this is just my heart and love for the text.

No, that's really good. I agree. I agree. I think that, well, first and foremost, let me back up.

If somebody's thinking to themselves, well, you know, LSB, I'm not going to buy a new

Bible right now. I'm going to stick with my CSB. I'm going to stick with my NIV. The bottom line is, the best translation to read is the one that you actually read, right,

Chuck? Amen. Yes. Yes. I love that you said that.

The best translation to read is the one that you read. If it is going to cause you to spend more time in God's Word, praise the

Lord. Just stay away from the passion in the translation. Stay away from the passion in the message. And the word moved into the neighborhood.

And you were filled with the Ephesians too. You walk according to the prince of the power of the air.

There's all kinds of Hebrew meaning in that. In the message, it's, well, you were filled with polluted air.

Huh? Yeah, man. Yeah. Anyway, well, this episode was fortuitous, and not by accident, because next episode, we're going to talk about how you should read the

Bible, right? So, we talked about translations, we talked about good translations, what translations are. But now, this next episode is arguably one of the most important things that a

Christian needs to wrestle with as they live their lives. Whether, again, you're brand new to the faith, you've been with Jesus for a while, we highly encourage you to join us for the next episode.

Invite some seasoned Christians to come into the conversation and sit down, because everyone needs to hear this, right,

Chuck? Yeah, absolutely. Once again, I made a case last time when we were talking about what are some important things that you need to do.

You need to be in your Word daily. But you can't just go about reading it like a novel. Like, there's specific tools that you need that we will discuss next episode that I highly encourage you to do as you're spending time in God's Word.

Right. I'll even tell you, Chuck, how I talk to God. Ooh, am

I slipping into trouble? You just slipped into trouble. So, that's going to be really great.

So, as always, we sincerely hope that something on this episode blessed you and that you continue your walk with Jesus wisely and for the glory of God.

Chuck, any parting words as we end? Listen, we love you guys. Get in the Word until the

Word gets into you. Read a great book. Yeah, the best translation is the one you read.

Well, we're praying for you. Let us know if you have any comments or questions. Please send them to hello at wisedeciple .org

or just comment below and we'd love to hear anything that you have. More comments about Eddie Murphy and Chuck would be greatly appreciated by me personally.

Who does Nate look like? That's what I want to know. You've got to grow this ass back out and look like the

Brawny Man again. I do with the paper towel guy.