Wayne Leman has recently posted a very helpful guide for comparing Bible versions in English.  See here for the lastest information: Evaluating standard English in Bible versions: Part 2.  The goal of his study was to determine the degree to which different translations use “standard English.” So far he has compared 100 verses in 14 different versions.  You can download the spreadsheet in Adobe format here.  He also compared NIV and TNIV.

It’s important to note that this study is only evaluating “standard English.” No comment is made about translation accuracy.

Our family’s Bible version of choice, the CEV, is the top-ranking version.  94% of the verses analysed were found to use “standard English.”  This shouldn’t be surprising since the goal of the CEV is to sound good when read aloud.  Only one other version scored above 90%: The New Living Translation (NLT).  The NLT is another very readable Bible version.

CEV is freely available at Bible Gateway and also as a podcast.  If you’d like to read or listen to the CEV, click on one of the links in the column to the right under “Lingamish recommends the CEV Bible.”