A few years ago I picked up a copy of The Message by Eugene Peterson. It first came out in the New Testament and then some sections of the Old Testament were added. Once complete, you could purchase the entire Bible. Many found it uncomfortable to use as they were accumstomed to verse markings; a feature added in modern times. Others found it difficult to adjust to reading familiar passages with new expressions.
The Message has been “remixed.” This time you will find verse markers. The formal title for the work is, “The Message//Remix: The Bible in Contemporary Language.” In the introduction you will find these comments,
Accurate, But Readable.
The Message was paraphrased over a period of ten years from the Bible’s original languages (Greek and Hebrew). The idea of The Message isn’t to water down the Bible, making it easier to digest. The idea is to make it readable – to put those ancient words that their users spoke and wrote every day into words that you speak and write every day. (p.10)
The key word here is paraphrase; a process of taking words and putting them in “idioms” or expressions found in conversations today. There are a variety of translations and paraphrases available. Read from them all. They help get a sense of the “original” language underlying the translation. Remember, there were translations before the King James and as long as language evolves, there will be more.