The other reason we have so many varying translations today is to accommodate the many different purposes for reading and studying the Bible. Some versions, such as the English Standard Version, are very literal, with a close to word-for-word correspondence to the original. Others focus on capturing the intended meaning, and attempt to convert on a phrase-by-phrase or even idea-for-idea basis. An example would be The New Living Translation.
These varying approaches to translating scriptures serve to provide us with a robust selection of methods and tools for understanding the original message