Many people feel that the New American Standard Bible (NASB) is the most accurate translation from the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic that is available in the English language, and is often noted for a lack of fluency when reading because the translators were so accurate to the original language that the sentences in English tend to be wordy. Despite this, it is widely used among Christians and is especially useful for serious Bible studies.
All Bibles fit somewhere on a continuum of literalness where the varying versions of the Bible are plotted onto a line. The NASB is always seen on the far extreme of literal translations. The NIV is somewhere in the middle, known for its meaning-driven approach to translation, capturing the essence of the language of the original text, while still making many minute alterations for improved readability and understandability. The Message is always shown on the far right as a completely consept-driven paraphrase.
It is important to note that there are not different Bibles(assuming the Judeo-Christian Bible is the Bible to which we are referring). Different translations do not yield different Bibles. Slightly different word choices do not produce different books. In the English language, there are many ways to express the same thought. For example, if John 3:16 says in one translation (NASB), "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son…," and in another translation (NIV) says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…," without doubt, the same message is presented in both translations. The text is saying that God saw humanity's sin problem, but loved them so much that He gave His own Son's (and the Son willfully gave His) life to fix this problem. There are not doctrinal discrepancies as a result of minor translational differences.
So all translations say the same thing; the NASB is often felt to be the most accurate to the original language.
