Handbook:Recommended Bible translations
From Gospel Translations
Most of the authors with whom we partner use Bible translations that are literal interpretations instead of paraphrasings. In English, the two most popular ones are the English Standard Version and the New American Standard Bible.
When we choose translations in other languages to suggest to our translators, we try to find ones that adhere to this same word-for-word translation philosophy. This ensures that our translators run into as few difficulties as possible when translating texts, and offers the most protection from unintentional misinterpretations of Bible passages.
Below you'll find a list of the Bible translations that we ask translators to use in different languages. If you have a suggestion for your language that isn't listed below, please leave feedback on the discussion page here to let us know.
And when you're translating, please indicate which version you have used. If it becomes necessary to deviate from that particular translation within the text then you may indicate so as follows:
“…” (Mt. 2:23, NVI).
The above example would be Matthew 2:23 from the Nova Versão Internacional (a Portuguese version). Just use the appropriate abbreviation for your particular version.
Recommended translations
- Albanian: Albanian Bible
- Cebuano: Ang Biblia, Bugna Version
- Chinese: Chinese Union Version
- Dutch: Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling or Nederlands Bijbelgenootschap
- French: Bible à la Colombe
- German: Elberfelder
- Greek: Αγία Γραφή, μετάφραση Ελληνικής Βιβλικής Εταιρείας (1997/2010) ή Αγία Γραφή σε μετάφραση Νεόφυτου Βάμβα (1850)
- Italian: La Nuova Diodati
- Japanese: Shinkaiyaku
- Portuguese: Nova Versão Internacional
- Romanian: Cornilescu or Revised Cornilescu
- Russian: Russian Synodal Version
- Spanish: La Biblia de las Américas
- Tagalog: Ang Biblia or Ang Bagong Biblia
- Ukrainian: Біблія (Огієнко)
