Bible translations

I recently bought a Revised Standard Version Bible. I was really keen to get it, and it's hard to get now. They don't print it any more. But I found a Catholic edition, so it has the apocrypha in it as well. 

I have fond memories of the RSV. It's the first Bible I properly read, and then later I read the King James Version. Reading it now, it's not like I remember it though. I remember it being quite difficult, with archaic language. Then later, when I read the KJV a lot, I came to feel like the RSV was the ideal balance between the beauty of the language found in the KJV and the accessibility of translations like the Good News Bible. I wasn't a fan of the Good News Bible, as I felt like it lost a lot of the richness. 

Lately I've been reading the Good News Bible again, but also reading what is one of the most literal/ word for word versions - The New American Standard Bible, so they balance each other out quite well.

But yeah - the RSV wasn't how I remembered it. I think it's because I read it when I was quite young. Reading it now, the language doesn't seem archaic or difficult at all. It seems on the same level as a lot of other translations - like the New International Version, for example. 

I really like the NASB. You can definitely see the difference between its word for word/ formal equivalence translation and the thought for thought/ dynamic equivalence translation of other versions. There's a minimalism about it. Where other translations add in some language to really make the point clear, the NASB just gives you the words. It makes some concessions for readability, but you really get a nice sense that it's very understated. It doesn't labor the point. 

I like the NET Bible (New English Translation) but its strength is its weakness in some cases. It's very modern. More than any other Bible I've read, it speaks to me in language that I really get, as a modern person. But sometimes it goes too far - it uses terms and concepts from our world that don't really fit in the original context of the Bible, and then it's a bit jarring. 

So, I had the idea that the RSV was my favorite, because of the way it balances richness and accessibility, but now, after returning to it lately, I haven't really been aware of that. Now I just like the idea of reading a lot of different translations.