When preparing to teach my weekly adult Bible study class at my church, I read several translations: English Standard Version (ESV), Christian Standard Bible (CSB), New International Version (NIV), New American Standard (NASB), and New King James Version (NKJV). The one I usually carry with me to church is the ESV, so it's fair to say that translation is the one I drift toward the most, although there is value in being familiar with several when studying God's word. The ESV is what my current and previous church read in worship, so it's nice to read along from my Bible without any difference in what I hear and what I read in front of me.
Of course, the original texts of Scripture were written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, so it isn't wise to claim only one particular English translation as acceptable when the Bible wasn't written in English. I study Greek a few minutes a day, six days a week, and have done so for the past eight years (long after what I learned in college and seminary language courses escaped my memory). I read the passages we're studying in class from the Greek beforehand, but I'm no expert. I rely on language resources to translate the passages and provide word definitions. I'll never be like my dear friend and former Bible study teacher at a previous church, Richard Aylor, who always brought his Greek New Testament to class and could whip it out and read and translate it when needed. He taught classical languages for over 50 years as a teacher, so he knew the language well. I'll never know it like that.
What about you? Which Bible translation do you prefer and why?
NIV