Why do people have more than one Bible?
Q: Why do people have more than one Bible?
A: Different Bibles help us understand Scripture better. Some are word for word translations and some are thought for thought. Only using the better most reliable versions among those is important. Some bad ones were translated not by a solid language team but one guy and his opinion of what he thinks it should say; stay away from those. Among these good ones are also ones made to use English language based on someone's education level. Some are 4th grade, 6th grade, 8th grade, the rest are for litterate educated adults high school level and above.
Some like the poetry old English of KJV. Some like solid versions like NASB95 or LSB21, weaker English people might use ESV or NLT until they gain better understanding, then graduate to one of the other two noted or NKJV w modern English and updates.
Some used NIV 84 and when the publishers went wokish and started changing gender languages folk moved away from that version in the later 90s. That publisher (unlike other Bible publications in the past) yanked all 84 versions off the internet so you can't even find it at Biblegateway.com or anywhere, as they're pushing their changed version on people hoping they use it and have mind changes towards their views. Avoid NIV.
Here is why I have varied versions...
I grew up in 70s and our church as like most only had KJV. It was very hard to understand for young people in a modern world. By the time I was in 4th grade our Sunday school material had NIV84 in it alongside the KJV in the quarterly booklet we got & went through in class. I learned you can compare versions to help you understand what you read. However I was gifted a KJV in 8th grade by my grandparents as that was still a typically used version in worship services in the late 80s-early 90s. It was so hard to read so I didn't. My grandparents church, where I went all my life till late teens (when we moved) finally changed to NIV84, the new church I ended up at was using that version too by then. It was slowly replacing kjv. Note: Protestants used Geneva Bible when they came to America 1500s-1700s (you can look up why catholicish kjv overtook it). Today the new Geneva Bible is available, but we have better translations now in the 2 main ones noted above.
It wasn't until after the military (in far places) that in my mid 20s that I got access to a NIV84, but by then the church I went to used NASB, but I had a NKJV, and noticed as I followed along it basically said ghe same thing. And a newer NASB version came out in 95, a better one. So I had later got that but in a Study Bible version. It was full of over 50 years of a solid Pastors teaching in it explaining the verses very well, it had maps, illustrations and additional helps in the back. After that NASB2020 came out and it was called "a step back", there was no need for it. So a respectable translation team worked on LSB21 and made sure to include Yahweh in the Bible where it should be rendered with God's name rightly.
I am waiting on that version in the mail as a Study Bible. You can currently get one free here
As you can see there are many reasons people have varied versions. I love using the BibleGateway.com 📖 tool that let's you see 5 versions at a time. You can sample it here
Also since I traveled in the Military, I started collecting, back then, foreign language versions of the Bible. I knew some of the language, or had a desire to learn some snd reading Scripture in languages you learn blesses you as you read along to keep up your knowledge of the language
Other reasons are the size or preciousness. I have the NIV84 I gave my unsaved grandma after she passed. I have an older Bible of both my Christian grandparents, but my aunt got his Bible from recent years with all his notes. My pastor had a Bible he wrote in for all his Seminary notes esp with Hebrew Greek. Some of us have eye sight problems and had got large Bible at home, esp prior to most using internet in 2015 or when more tools like Biblegateway or internet Bibles became avail/ popular in 2018. Others of us carry a smaller Bible to church that we won't be devastated if it is lost. And I also have a compact Bible for out witnessing; using the same one helps you know where to jump to when lookingbup frequent passages.
Here is a great resource to help you get the most out of the Bible. It also shows various kinds of Bibles, such as wide margin so you can have room for notes, and ones with cross references, etc.
God bless
