Last week we talked about Bible memorization and how to accomplish extended memorization of entire chapters and even whole books of the Bible. This conversation on memorization forces on us the inevitable question about translations and of course we are blessed with many good English translations to choose from, but Pastor John, when setting out on a major project like this to invest hours of time memorizing whole chapters of the Bible, how important is it to settle on a specific translation you will use for years to come, maybe for the rest of your life, or is this decision really not a big one?

That's a great question. Here's my thought, a little history. Growing up I was given a King James Bible when I was small and I used it until I was 19 and I memorized a lot of scripture as a kid in those days and so to this day I have a lot of old authorized version or King James Version language in my head.

When I was 19 I made a very significant choice and this is the choice I think you're asking whether people need to make and I think the answer is they do. I made a choice to move to a more modern translation and in 1965 when I made that decision I chose the RSV and I used the RSV for my personal devotions from 1965 to the mid 90s, so 30 years or so, and I memorized from that.

I would probably be using it to this day if it hadn't gone out of print because I had so much of it in my head but it went out of print. You can't get an RSV. You can get a new RSV but that's not the same anymore. It's changed in significant ways, some of them politically correct that don't help me at all.

So I had to make a choice. Now what do I do? And that's the time in history where I really was rejoicing that Crossway Books had gotten the copyright to the RSV from the National Council of Churches and had planned to do a light revision of it to preserve the lineage because the lineage does go from King James through the American Standard Version to the new, through the Revised Standard Version to the ESV.

So when the ESV came out I looked at it I thought this is it, this is the RSV with very few changes. So I was able to make that transition and stay in the stream of King James, RSV, ESV, and so I'm happy that I made both of those changes.

Now I do suggest people make a settled change because if you're going to do significant long-term memory it will be very difficult to jump around in translations because the mind gets locked in and it needs to get locked into certain wording so that it doesn't have to be self-conscious as it's reciting the Bible and can focus on the meaning.

That's one of the great values of having it become second nature and all those synapses in the brain just clicking away automatically with the words you've used so that you can focus on meaning and the people you're talking to. So if I were to suggest I would say if you don't want to take my word for it go to the leaders of your church and ask them what are we going to be using here for the long haul?

Do you have any suggestions for me? I'm going to do significant memorization I don't want to have to be changing what would you say that we settle in on? And so I don't think you want to use a idiosyncratic translation so it'd be one of those you know one of the ones that are pretty near the center.

The NIV is going to stick around for a long time I'm sure. The New King James is probably going to be around for a long time. The NASB is a little wooden but it's going to be around and the ESV has proven for me to be most helpful in being something you can read in public something you can have kids memorize and something I can memorize.

It's a pretty sober, respectful, traditional, and yet I think modern and understandable translation. So that's a really good question and my own vote is for the ESV but boy it's just far better to be memorizing any version than to be memorizing none. Yes that is the most important takeaway.

Thank You Pastor John. From memorizing the language of the Bible to talking about the language of cussing, yes cussing, tomorrow we'll talk about swearing and this question, "Is it ever right for a Christian to cuss in order to provoke others towards a noble end?" Until then check out DesiringGod.org to find thousands of books, sermons, articles, and blog posts from John Piper.

I'm your host Tony Ranke. See you tomorrow.