Most Bible translations, with two notable exceptions, result from a group of linguistic scholars working together to understand the original languages of Hebrew and Greek (and a little Aramaic) and put them into English.

The results can be literal and more of a word-for-word translation, or they can be more interpretive and thought-for-thought. There is room for both methods, and I encourage everyone who reads the Bible to look at multiple versions when reading difficult Biblical passages. Often one will shine light onto the others by the way it is handled.

Let me encourage you to own several Bible translations like the New International Version (NIV), English Standard Version (ESV), New American Standard Version (NASB), and New King James Version (NKJV). Hard copies are easy to find, and most Bible software programs will offer at least these four as part of their standard package. They should be vital tools in your studying of scripture.

With that said, let me give you one final thought. Please be wary anytime a preacher says, “That is how that should be translated,” and you can find no English versions that handle it the way they suggest.

One example: Recently, I heard a preacher tell his congregation that in Matthew 28:19, the word “Go” can also be translated to “As you go.” No English version of the Bible translates it that way. The word is the participle “going,” but because of its placement in the sentence, it is best rendered as “Go,” as all modern Bibles do. His words are well-intentioned and repeated in numerous books, but no Greek scholar would agree.

There is a long list of verses I have heard people make claims like this, and I admit that I have said something similar a couple of times. Preachers and teachers are well-intentioned, but be skeptical anytime one of them (even me) tells you it should be translated one way and no English Bible has it that way.

Trust the scholars who pour their lives into these modern versions of the Bible. Use a few English Bibles to study and check your preacher’s work.