The following eight passages have been chosen to give a glimpse of most of the translators at work. Though they may sometimes illustrate points that have been raised, they are not intended to prove anything. Rather, they sample different kinds of biblical passages that may prove a stimulus to further comparisons.

Few of the books which give passages of this sort are currently in print, and only one or two make an attempt to indicate similarities and differences between the different versions. The best attempt of this sort so far has been Butterworth's. He gives ten well-chosen passages, and makes the comparisons between the versions abundantly clear. The difficulty is that it is impossible to read an individual version continuously. Otherwise, the best resources are the New Testament Octapla, ed. L. A. Weigle (New York: Nelson, 1962), which presents the main versions from Tyndale to the Revised Standard Version in parallel columns, the New Testament Hexapla (London, 1841), which gives the Greek and English versions from Wyclif to the KJB, and The Hexaplar Psalter, ed. William Aldis Wright (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1911), which gives Coverdale's 1535 version and the main versions from the Great Bible to the RV.

I have avoided passages Butterworth has chosen and tried to present the passages in such a way that the individual versions can be read by themselves without difficulty by the reader who does not want to be waylaid by comparisons.