It seems that every religion has a different idea of how to interpret the bible. Most people have a certain preference of bible simply because they grew up with a certain edition. I, having never read the bible in any edition prior to the seven versions I read for this analysis, have chosen the Everett Fox translation as my preference. On a literary note, the Everett Fox version seems to have the most power to its words. This version keeps an accurate, yet poetic feel to it, and still accomplishes the impression the bible should have.
In the seven versions I sampled, I found there to be three that had distinctive characteristics. The Everett Fox seemed to be the most accurate, the JPS seemed to be the most comprehendible, and the Contemporary English Version seemed to be the simplest, yet it lacks accuracy.
Everett Fox uses names that are true to the original Hebrew language such as "Yaakov" for Jacob, and Yitzhak for Isaac. His punctuation and syntax hold the poetic value that was intended in the original Hebrew: "God called the light: Day! And the darkness he called: Night! / There was setting, there was dawning: one day." (FOX, GEN 1:5). While his translation may be hard for most people to grasp, I think that it has the most literary value.
The JPS translation seems to be the most easily understood translation, while still holding accuracy to the stories in the bible, yet the poetic flow is lost in many places. While the Fox version is set up like a poem, this version is in paragraph form. In this sample, the material is still present, but the emphasis imperative to poetic flow is omitted: "God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day." (JPS, GEN 1:5). The names in this edition are translated into English, which makes them lose some of there meaning, but it fits with the translation and they are more recognized by traditional bible readers.
