Question:  Why are there so many different versions and translations of the Bible in English?

Answer:  Ideally, there should be only one version of the Bible in any given language because there can never be such a thing as different versions of the truth that are equally trustworthy in any given language.

There are two basic reasons why so many different versions and translations of the Bible have been published in English:

First, regrettably, some versions of the Bible have been compiled to reflect the opinions, beliefs, and agendas of various individuals and religious sects.  Variants published for these reasons inevitably deviate from fully dependable truth.

Second, publishing Bibles is a huge and tremendously profitable business for many publishers. Regrettably, many publishers seem to be motivated more by money than by a genuine conscientious resolve to ensure trustworthy accuracy.  Therefore, many publishers sponsor or fabricate their own, unique, proprietary versions and translations so that they can claim "All Rights Reserved" private ownership.

More often than not, on the copyright notice of many Bibles you will see the legal warning: "No part of this book may be copied or reproduced in any form without the explicit permission of the copyright holder" ... or words to that effect.  Any version of the Bible that makes such claims of proprietary ownership should be considered suspect.

Click this link  to see a practical guide   to choosing the most trustworthy version of the Bible in English.  This guide can help you to quickly identify attributes that will distinguish and set apart the most accurate and trustworthy word-for-word translation of the Bible from interpretive paraphrases that often tend to dilute and sometimes misrepresent the truth.

The Bible is the greatest book in the history of the world.  It is, without rival, the best selling and the most widely read and studied book of all time. No other best seller has ever come close to the Bible in sales every year, year-after-year,  or in the total number of copies in print.  The complete Bible (comprised of more than 790,000 words) has been translated into more than 400 languages, and key portions have been translated into more than 2,400 languages.

It is significant that in most languages, there is only one version of the Bible.  That is as it should be, because there can never be such a thing as different valid and trustworthy versions of the truth in any one language.  Therefore, it is strange to realize that far more than 300 different versions of the Bible have been published in English.

Click this link  to view a list of more than 300 different versions of the Bible that have been published in English.