Just for those who may be interested in the English translations of the Bible I would recommend, here they are—
New Revised Standard Version
Revised Standard Version
New Jerusalem Bible (not to be confused with the Jerusalem Bible; the latter is an English translation of a French Bible)
Lexham English Bible (NT only)
1985 Jewish Publications Society Tanakh (OT only . . . obviously!)
Some people I know recommend the New American Standard Bible and the English Standard Version. They are good English translations, though they do have their own translation biases (e.g. Rom 4:17 being mistranslated to teach creation out of nothing [edit: though this is something shared by even the NRSV])—caveat lector.
The NET Bible is a good translation and it has excellent notes.
The NET Bible is a good translation and it has excellent notes.
There are translations which I would recommend one to avoid:
New World Translation
New International Version
Any paraphrases (e.g. the Living Bible)
As an aside, I cannot recommend enough having access to good Bible software; my personal preference is Bibleworks, which I use on a daily basis (it is incredibly useful for Greek and Hebrew word searches and studies).
