Is the Gideons Bible a good reference for Christianity. It says its from original tongues.?
“Gideon” refers to the group which does the free distribution of the Bibles, and not to a specific translation or version of the Bible. Because they give these Bibles away free, they are normally the King James version of the Bible, because it is no longer copyrighted, and can be printed without having to have permission from anyone or pay royalties. This makes it cheaper to produce then most newer versions. All Bibles are translated from the original language. The scholars go back to the same Hebrew for Old Teastament and Greek for New Testament manuscripts when making a Bible translation. The idea you often hear, that the Bible is a translation of a translation of a translation and thus is not reliable has no basis. Scholars always go back to the original Heberew and Greek documents to get the best possible translation. You should be able to trust a Bible distributed by the Gideon Society.
