Which Bible translation should I use?

UPDATE NOTE: It was brought to my attention by commenter Alan in the comments below that the ESV and the HCSB had been updated since their first releases, which I knew. I just did not check whether Bible Gateway—which I used for the comparisons—had the updated text of these two translations. The thing is, I do have the ESV Study Bible with the updated text and the HCSB Study Bible with the updated text. I just assumed Bible Gateway had the updated texts. I should have checked more closely! Below, I will update the Bible text with the new text, and simply strike through the old. New comments will be in in bold-italic. However, after rechecking the texts, I only had to change one verse and comment, leaving me at my original conclusion. So, now you may start reading this post.

It definitely is not easy to choose which Bible translation to implement for personal use. Around 1980 I started using the KJV, and at about 1983 I changed to the NIV, while using the KJV as a backup. In 1985 I started Bible school. In my second year we started with Greek, and in that year we covered Greek I, II and III. My average for these 3 Greek modules was 96%. That is not to brag, just to state a fact. Since then I haven’t really kept it up, and so my knowledge of Greek isn’t like it was back then. (I have recently started working through Bill Mounce’s Basics of Biblical Greek.) During that year, one of our modules was 1 Corinthians, and the lecturer for that used the NASB. I bought myself a copy of the NASB and started studying through major New Testament parts, and by 1987 I switched over to the NASB as my main study translation. That remained the status quo until the ESV was released.

Like many in the Reformed camp, I jumped on the band wagon and switched to the ESV soon after its release in 2003, because of all the recommendations by great Bible scholars and teachers from the Reformed camp. John Piper, for instance, moved from the NASB to the ESV. Piper is a great Greek scholar and would know what to check for. Other scholars and teachers that recommend the ESV are Dr. Darrell Bock, Jerry Bridges, Francis Chan, Kevin DeYoung, Mark Driscoll, Dr. Albert Mohler Jr., Dr. Thomas Schreiner, Dr. R.C. Sproul, Daniel B. Wallace, Dr. John Walvoord, Dr. Ravi Zacharias, and many more. So, as you can see, the list is quite intimidating and formidable.

Recently, the HCSB was recommended to me by a blog writer and pastor. I decided to check it out against the ESV, NASB and NIV. I spent a whole weekend to compare and check, and my results are as follows: