How to Tell a Good Bible Version

(By “good,” I mean traditional, readable, un-silly, non-squishy…)

There are a thousand Bible versions out there, each one translated ever so in light of its own angle or purpose. How to tell a trustworthy, reliable one, especially since the English language has morphed incredibly over the past few decades, and continues to do so exponentially?

Well, a nice rule of thumb is the Vatican II rule. That is, any Bible version published after Vatican II (1962-1965) will generally be a faithful, non-squishy one.

An even more specific test is what I call the Psalm 8 test.

It’s simple. Turn to Psalm 8. Now focus on verses 4 and 5.

If you see the editors use the word “human”, “humans”, “people”, or even “a mortal,” drop it immediately and flee.

But if you see the word “man” as the predicate of those verses, then you can start to delve deeper into this version of the Good Book.

The Bible they handed out to each candidate in Little One’s Confirmation class passed this test, so I breathed a sigh of relief. At least, until I delve deeper into it.

Psalm 8.