Bible Translation

[christyg]

Hey ladies! I have a quick question. We are gearing up to start Bigger with my daughter in July. In Little Hearts and Beyond, we just used whatever Bible translation that went along with the CDs for the verse memorization and the children's Bibles that were recommended in those guides, and then we read the KJV for the 5th day Bible/History stories (in Beyond). Well, this year, since she is reading so well, I wanted to get her a big girl Bible that we could use during school and that she could read on her own. She already owns a small KJV that she carries to church with her, but it has really small print, and no pictures, charts, etc. I would really like to get her some sort of student/study Bible.

I asked my husband about it and after talking with him, I am leaning toward either staying with the KJV or getting a Holman Christian Standard Bible. I know that the HCSB will be easier for her to understand, but I read somewhere that the KJV was actually easier to memorize because of the flow of it. My husband suggested reading stories out of the HCSB and then letting her memorize her verses from the KJV, but I was worried that it might be confusing to do 2 different translations at her age. We were both raised reading the KJV.

I know that I also need to consider that there will be more Bible study and more CD's in the future guides, and they might use different translations as well.

So, back to my question......do you use different translations for different things or do you stick with one translation for everything? And, if you stick with one translation, which one fits the best with Bigger thru the upper guides in your opinion?

Thanks!

Christy

[pjdobro]

We used the NIV (older version) for our scripture verses in Bigger. I think you could use any version you want for this though as the discussion is general. I noticed that for Preparing, the music is based on the KJV. I just looked at CTC and The Illustrated Family Bible and the music are both based on NIV. In RTR, the music CD is again based on NIV. In DITHR when the scripture quoted, it is given in NIV. I think those are all the older version of NIV though. NIV is redoing their translation and it is somewhat different in this new one released this year. So a new NIV Bible wouldn't necessarily match up either. I struggled somewhat with this as well, but I think it doesn't hurt at all for dc to read several different translations. For the main Bible for your dc, I would go with what you and your dh use. I just recently bought Bibles for my dc. I'll be giving them to them tomorrow for Easter. I'm really excited to see how they like them! Here is my post where I debated about which Bible to get for them: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8387 I hope that helps a little.

[Heather4Him]

Hi Christy,

If you and your dh were raised in KJV, and your dd is already familiar with it, this may provide the most consistency for your family overall.
With all the Bible translations changing and updating, the KJV can be memorized and you don't have to worry about it being different in a few years!

[twoxcell]

We use NKJV, because that is what our pastor teaches from. My ds has his own NKJV bible that he reads from, and uses for memory verses. We used the CD also for Beyond, and the verses were similar enough that the songs still helped him memorize.

[Dustybug]

We only use the KJV when reading directly from the Bible, and there will be a few things that I will have to skip over in later years in HOD because DH believes that is the only translation that we should use. However, we do use the children's Bibles suggested and look at them more as stories rather than actual "scriptures." (does that make sense?) When memorizing verses, we memorize from the KJV and just make alterations in our guide if necessary.