Which translation is correct?

The Bible says that we are not to add or take away from God's Word. The translation you use must be able to convey the thoughts of God as he wanted them conveyed. Watered-down translations are as useful as salt-less Christians. This is why a concordance and an Interlinear Bible are so important to building your biblical knowledge.

We have several translations in our home (KJV, NKJV, NIV, TLB, and CEV), because it is necessary to understand the other translations when people come to us with biblical questions and issues.

What about the Apocrypha?

The Apocrypha is a set of books or parts of books that are found in some Bibles, but not others. The Apocrypha may be arranged in the traditional Catholic order, interspersed through the Old Testament, or in a separate section between the Old and New Testaments (like Martin Luther first did in his Bible translation into German).

The word Apocrypha means "hidden". The origin of the Apocrypha occurred between the last book of the OT called Malachi and the first book of the NT called Matthew. The Apocrypha is mainly rejected by most Christians and scholars for the following reasons:

1. No scriptural quotes from the Apocrypha were made Jesus or the Apostles.
   
2. The early church did not consider the Apocrypha to be inspired.
   
3. The Apocrypha did not appear in the Hebrew Scriptures and subsequent translations.
   
4. The quality of the writtings has been deemed inferior to those scriptures currently in the Bible

Chronology of the "Major" Translations

VERSION	YEAR(S) REGISTERED	OWNER
The Vulgate Bible in Latin	Translated in 400 AD	N/A
KJV King James Version	Translated in 1611	God
RV Revised Version	1881	N/A
ASV American Standard Version	1901	N/A
RSV Revised Standard Version	1946, 1952, 1971, 1973	NCCCA***
NASV New American Standard	1960, 1977	Lockman Foundations
TJB The Jerusalem Bible	1968	Darton, Longman, & Todd, Ltd.
TLB The Living Bible	1971	Tyndale House Publishing
NIV New International Version	1973, 1974, 1984	International Bible Society
NKJV The New KJV	1979, 1980, 1982, 1992	Thomas-Nelson Publishing
TEV Today's English Version aka Good News Bible	1976	American Bible Society
NCV New Century Version	1987, 1988, 1991	World Publishing, Dallas,TX
NRSV The New RSV	1989	NCCCA***
MSG The Message	1993	NavPress Pub. Group

^*** National Council of Churches of Christ in America

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