Top Ten Bible Translations in the United States

The Christian Booksellers Association has published its list of bestselling Bible translations in 2012 for the United States.

2012 – Based on Dollar Sales

  1. New International Version
  2. King James Version
  3. New Living Translation
  4. New King James Version
  5. English Standard Version
  6. Holman Christian Standard Bible
  7. New American Standard Bible
  8. Common English Bible
  9. Reina Valera 1960
  10. The Message

2012 – Based on Unit Sales

  1. New Living Translation
  2. New International Version
  3. King James Version
  4. New King James Version
  5. English Standard Version
  6. Common English Bible
  7. Holman Christian Standard Bible
  8. New American Standard Bible
  9. Reina Valera 1960
  10. New International Readers Version

Are there any surprises to you? How many of these translations have you read?

 

 

Posted on March 19, 2013


With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
More from Thom

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

188 Comments

  • Re-reading this, I find it disjointed, unclear, and pretty judgmental. The first two I can’t help, and the third I didn’t mean. My intention is to encourage all of us to think about translations in the context of a world that lives outside the church, and how to use those to further people’s relationship with God.
    I would imagine it must be frustrating to spend years of your life working on a Bible translation, and discover that many people dislike it. When I write for my blog, I find myself referring to many different versions (it’s a blessing to speak English!), and I believe that the major issue with all of them is that they sometimes don’t express themselves well. Obviously, if one is translating, then that means he cannot just “render the passage in common English.” He has to try to find the middle ground between accuracy and readability. In each of these versions, the translators have made decisions based on what they thought was the right “mix.” Since I regularly retranslate some of these passages in various versions for readability, it’s fairly obvious that my opinion differs. I haven’t read through the HCSB (which seems to be the version of interest here), but I’ve used it. I believe that the verses we refer to in ministry the most do coalesce around certain specific language, and that’s where most folks make their choice. The challenge for the translator seems to be the OTHER verses–the ones that are not so popular, and don’t offer so much common language between versions. I like the majority of the versions, and deeply respect someone who gives up years of his life to translate the Scriptures. Martin Luther understood better than most what the personal cost could be.
    I think (and this is a personal statement), that the issue is that people (read average folks) don’t read the Bible at all. If they go to church, they listen to the sermon, and let that be their Bible knowledge. This is a huge problem for our society. As yet, we have very strong Christian influences in our world, but it is changing rapidly, and Christians are ministering “against the tide.” The Bible is seen as irrelevant, unnecessary for modern life, moralistic, and very much outdated. I spent about 30 years in ministry myself, and more recently worked in the “outside world” in mortgage lending. Interest in the Bible was at zero degrees Kelvin in that position, despite the fact that I maintained a consistent witness there. I had no other believers in the company, and it was a place of total spiritual disinterest. There were many young people, many older folks, and lots of people in between. This is the America we live in, unfortunately, and if one goes to work in such a company, he’ll do his lunchtime Bible studies alone.
    I am still puzzling about how to “break through” this indifference and rejection, although the company I worked for has disappeared with the recession. I wish I knew. A conversion or two per week is not going to do it, but that’s what we see (if that) in our churches. Revival, in the sense that we’ve used the term before, is not going to do it. We do need a modern religious/spiritual transformation, but my guess is that we, as “oldsters” are going to have to face the fact that if the church moves into the 23rd century alive, it will have to change its face dramatically, and adopt many new ways of thinking. I’m not suggesting that we change the Scriptures. I’m just observing that there’s not much “draw” from churches in the “real world.” In other words, I think the translation we use may be the least of our concerns. It may be survival.
    To begin to understand this, I’d like to suggest that every pastor get a job somewhere “in the world” and ask his church to co-operate while he learns what everyone else thinks, and that he learns to see things from the viewpoints of other folk. Then I’d like to suggest that every pastor demand that his church boards be made up, at least in part, of people with experience “outside.” And I’d like to suggest that we embrace the opportunity presented by folks who really don’t care–but who might care if they understood. Sorry for the rant, and this is probably not the place for it. It just seemed like all the “stuff” about which translation is sort of like “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.” (by the way, it’s 3).
    Steve Bradley

  • Very interesting to see those figures, even though I’m so late to the party. From the little I’ve seen of the Message bible online, I wish it hadn’t made the Top Ten on any list. I don’t read or speak Spanish so that version is not one of which I can have an opinion.

    Being sixty years old, and from the Deep South, I knew only the KJV until the age of eleven or twelve, when someone left an old RV with Apocrypha in the pews. Bel and the Dragon? I knew that wasn’t in my bible! My next ‘translation’ would be the Good News for Modern Man NT paraphrase – and despite it being a pretty poor bible version, I have to admit that it did have quite an impact upon me at the time (so perhaps I shouldn’t be quite so hard on the Message). Within a very short time, I was gifted the new NASB (this was in ’72) and it quickly became my favorite bible, and remained so for a couple decades. In ’81 I was given a nice leather one in Nelson’s Open Bible, personal-size format that I still have and sometimes use.

    I never warmed to the NIV, though my parents did in the original version. At the risk of appearing sexist, I must admit that I don’t trust the gender-neutral bent of several translations currently popular. However, this is not an anti-feminist stance, but is based upon two specific concerns. First, the language in the OT that may or may not apply to Christ in potential dual-meaning passages can become obscured. Second, the awkward changes from second-person singular to third-person plural grates on the ear of many of us older citizens who were taught that this was poor grammar (ie, the use of “they” to avoid “he”). I have no problem with the translation matching the Greek text, and have seen that there are indeed passages which can be changed from, say, the KJV-family’s renditions in places, but those who are making these translations sometimes go too far, with the effect of obscuring the message. Just to cater to certain political agendas, it seems. Wow, sorry to get so off-topic.

    I still use the KJV, the NASB, NASBu, NKJV, HCSB, ASV, RSV and ESV, and have bought nice leather copies of each over the years. I really like the ESV. Tip to Crossway – move higher up the sales list by making your print just a touch darker for us seniors. My ESV single-column reference would be my primary carry bible if the print were just a little friendlier in that regard. I have come to appreciate personal-size bibles, not just for carrying but also for sitting in a comfortable chair and reading, over attempting to use large study bibles for those two purposes – carrying, and reading in comfort.

    I have yet to decide which translation I will use for 2014’s one-year plan. Was thinking of using a paraphrase such as the NLT (it simply replicates so much the language of the LB that I cannot agree with claims that it is a new translation). In fact, choosing a potentially more accurate NLT over the old LB brings gender-neutral issues into the equation also, making more difficult what should be easy, ie, the NLT should be an improvement. Perhaps my best bet for reading a paraphrase is just to go back in time with the Good News bible I found cheap at a thrift store a few years ago.

  • I Study out of the NASB, the NIV, & the NLT. These three help a lot with scripture that I have problems with. I find using a formal, functional and free translation for study purposes really helps to bring clarity.

    On the other hand for memorization and devotional I go with the NASB!

  • Enjoying the HCSB lately, but glad to see the NKJV hanging around the top of the list. Keeps that traditional KJV ‘feel’ while being readable to modern ears. Also no missing verses, but gives info in the footnotes.. If Nelson had the marketing of Crossway, it would give the ESV serious problems. ..

  • I do not understand on how some people can count it as a blessing to have many so many translations available to the word of God. How many ways can there possible be to say something in the english language. Is Gods word too boring for us? When we get bored of our bible the solution is to switch to a different version? I can not believe on how many people have had the audacity to badly translate Gods word just enough to obtain there copyright and make money off of it??? One of the first things I noticed when I came to my Lord and Saviour was the problem with this. This is just too confusing for everyone. How can we possibily be one in the body of Christ reading all different versions of the word?? Stick to KJV.

  • Bruce D, Woods says on

    Actually, the KJV still reigns supreme [the Reina Valera is the Spanish translation of the KJV]. My go-to Bibles are the KJV and the ESV. The NLT and the HCSB are also used occasionally and sometimes spark an insight the more formal equivalent translations don’t offer. I have no use for paraphrases {as bad as the Living Bible is, The Message is mostly atrocious – replete with doctrine the Peterson makes up as he goes along}. The NIV is readable but pretty loose. The new version of the NIV is awful. The NASB is caught between true equivalence and readability and it’s a very hard line to adhere to. I note that the dreadful NRSV didn’t make the list and it shouldn’t. It is butchery – especially in the OT. I’d advise to have at least one ‘formal equivalence’ translation at hand when doing serious Bible study or teaching. Use others as you may feel the need.

  • I just found this thread and not sure if it’s still open but will write anyway. I’m like many others here. I grew up on KJV but came to find the language to archaic to be meaningful to the ordinary man on the street. I was required to use the NASB in Bible college and it was good for scholarly pursuits. When the NIV arrived on the scene (at the same time I was taking advanced Greek class), I was put off by the inaccurate translation of the word “sarx” as “sinful nature.” I have never picked up another NIV nor use it to this day. In my first pastorate I quickly gravitated to the NKJV when it came out (no “thee’s” and “thou’s”) until the ESV made its debut. I used the ESV extensively for preaching and teaching until the HCSB came into being. I read through it several times and decided it was a beautiful translation, and one that I would use as the main go-to version – except it had one MAJOR flaw. Every time I read “this is the Lord’s declaration” (instead of “says the Lord” or “declares the Lord”) I had to grind my teeth. That phrase to me was like scratching your fingernails on a blackboard. I have written LifeWay and voiced my opinion and have always gotten the response “It’s the literal translation of the Hebrew.” I know that, but it doesn’t work. The phrase is awkward, unpoetic, grating, and sticks out like a sore thumb. And I’m mildly surprised that LifeWay sticks by this phrase. And so I eventually put it back on the shelf and there it remains. I occasionally get it down and read the NT which is great reading. They also need to ditch the bullets and the bold lettering for OT passages. I would prefer to use it for preaching/teaching but cannot until they revise that phrase. Today I use the ESV as my study/research translation along with the NRSV. I have also just purchased the RSV-CE (Catholic Edition) which I’m beginning to find is a wonderful remake of the old RSV that was hounded to death because of its choice of wording in Isaiah 7:14. The RCC took this great translation, reworked the controversial passages to be more acceptable to conservatives (jettisoned the gender neutral wordings) and is one that I am beginning to use more often to compare with the others.

    Enjoy your articles in christianpost.com, Thom. Tell the HCSB editors to change the phrase “this is the Lord’s declaration” and it will become the number one translation for me, as well as a best seller in America.

    Thanks for the forum.

    • Thom Rainer says on

      I will certainly tell them. Thanks Scott.

      • I have to agree with the others who have posted concerning the phrase ” this is the Lord’s declaration” it does not work. In a translation that flows so well I just doesn’t work. I have tried to switch to this version multiple times as overall it is great to read and still extremely accurate, but that one translation choice, the sound of it in my ears or in my mind when I hear or read it completely turns me off, It actually kills a fine translation. I quit using it after a while. If that one phrase could be changed to just even declares the Lord it would be my go to version. It just does not flow in most of its’ occurrences, it just sounds and reads wrong. Declares the Lord means it is the Lord’s Declaration and just sounds and reads more naturally.

      • I just found this thread too. I have been using the HCSB for about 6 months as my exclusive bible. I changed from the ESV. I really like the reading flow and the accuracy to the original languages. But the wording of “this is the Lord’s declaration” also threw me. I have been able to get around it in my personal studies, but I do find it awkward to read when teaching.

        Overall, I love the HCSB. My wife and both use it now.

  • Very interesting reading the comments. I started with Good News when I became a Christian (30 years ago) then moved to NIV then NKJV then KJV. I now switch between KJV, NIV and ESV. Incidentally, one thing i like about the ESV is that there is an Anglicised edition. For sometime however the main criteria for me was that I wanted to read only those translations based on the textus receptus and so that only gave me NKJV and KJV. I’m a bit more relaxed about this now!

  • I´ve been using many Bible translations, such as, the NET Bible, Lexham English Bible, Jerusalem Bible, the Amplified Bible, the New World Translation, the New International Version, the World English Bible, the New Revised Standard Version, etc. , and I say that despite the criticism it has suffered, for me the BEST Bible Translation is the “New World Translation”.

  • I like the 2011 niv, i know the sbc rejected it but i think it was only to promote the HCSB, i like the HCSB version, but i also like the 2011 niv bible. As for the gender language, they are doing the same thing as the NLT bible, so i dont see what the big fuzz is about.
    The 2011 niv clearify the homosexul
    Movement what the niv 1984 failed to do.
    Anyways just wanted to share this. God bless

  • Frederick says on

    Many interesting opinions and perspectives on Bible translations. I prefer the NKJV, NLT (2004) and the ESV. I have used the NKJV for many years and find myself reaching for it for personal reading and meditation. All translations listed are very good, except possibly the post 1984 NIV. I think the most important thing is to read it! Whichever Bible you choose, the most important thing is that you read it!

  • Thanks Dr. Rainer for the update. I am using both ESV and HCSB in my preaching. I also love the NKJV, and will sometimes use it. The only thing that drives me crazy about the ESV are the personal pronouns for deity. I really wished they had capatlized those pronouns.

1 5 6 7 8 9 10