“I personally like “The Living Bible” which is a paraphrase but very readable and I think it does get the meaning right.”
I gave my older sister a “Living Bible” thinking it might be easier for her. She said it was finally a Bible that she could read and understand. Between that Bible, and two women having a Bible study with her in prison once a week for a year, she became a Christian.
Several years later when she died of her alcholism it was amazing to see her attitude of how God was watching over her, and that it would be okay. Especially since most of her life had been spent wallowing in guilt and fear, and how could God love her with all the bad things she had done, etc.
Hard to read the Psalms in anything but the King James though!
The King James version is so majestic that I think that old joke about that being the version Jesus wrote might just have a hint of truth.
It can be a bit difficult to read at times but that language is basically like reading Shakespeare.