Why Are There Different Translations of the Bible?
There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning.
1 Corinthians 14:10
God chose to reveal himself to humanity through a book. Although there are over forty authors of the Old and New Testament, God is THE one divine author. God ordained the Old Testament to be written in Hebrew (with a small amount in Aramaic) and the New Testament to be written in Greek. Yet, most people cannot read these languages. Over centuries courageous Christians have lived and died to translate the Bible into modern languages so that common people can read Scripture.
Some languages have more than one translation of the Bible. This is because a translation is an interpretation, and people desire to read the Bible in different ways. For instance in English, some translations provide a paragraph-for-paragraph summary of Scripture making it the most accessible and understandable. Other translations provide a thought-for-thought interpretation making the Bible easier to read. While other translations provide a word-for-word translation that stays closest to the original Greek and Hebrew.
If we have the Bible in our language, we should rejoice in having the very words of God within our reach and be thankful for those who have done the difficult work of translating the Bible so that we can read it ourselves.
Scripture 1.16.