Here I focus on the motivation for different Bibles.
The discussion on literal, word-for-word, figurative, dynamic equivalence, formal equivalence, paraphrase, simplified, bibles obscures the fact that the theology can be quite different between bibles. And the theological differences are much more a problem than the language itself. The schism in the Episcopal Church in 1970, which caused many Bishops and congregations to leave the ECUSA was due primarily to the change in Bible and Prayer book use, because the newer books had changed the theology in a way totally unacceptable to many of the Priest and Laity.
A similar thing is happening today with the Episcopal Church ( I am sure something similar is happening in other religious groups ) where traditional liturgy is being changed without the approval of the laity. In recent years the Bible has been changed, and the prayer book revised. People are hanging onto their traditional texts, and prayer books, and whole communities are moving to new locations so they can keep using their traditional books.
The Anglican Communion worldwide is very troubled by what is happening to the Episcopal Church in America. And they blame it on the changes made to the doctrine in America. ECUSA has written new bibles and new prayer books to suit the new doctrine.
My Church ACC, which is independent of the Anglican Communion, nevertheless agrees with the 70 million Anglican Communion worldwide and uses the 1769 King James Version (AV) in most of the liturgy.
All modern bibles come from one of four ancient bibles. There were four religious regions, and each region was its own biblical authority. The regions were: Rome, Antioch, Alexandria and Syria.
The Church of England has chosen to base their modern KJV bible on the Greek gospels from the Church of Antioch.
The RC Church has chosen to base their modern bible on the Greek gospels from the Church in Rome.
The Protestant Mainstream churches have chosen to base their modern bibles on the Greek gospels from the Church of Alexandria.
The Syrian Catholic Church have chosen to base their modern bible on on the Syrian gospels from the Church of Syria.
Each biblical tradition has passages and books that don’t appear in the others.
Every group of translators has a specific agenda, given by their Church, to slant the translation towards a doctrine taught by that Church. That’s why the Protestant Bibles are different from the catholic bibles, the Anglican Bibles, and the Orthodox Bibles. There are even bible versions aimed at specific religious groups. In fact, these days, people can find a Bible for their specific Church ideology - the Pastor will recommend it.
The reason publishers offer literal, word-for-word, figurative, dynamic equivalence, formal equivalence, paraphrase, and simplified, bibles is not to make it easier to understand - some in fact really muddy up the theology, but to obscure the fact that the theology has been altered from the tradition in order to suit the aims of the church. [Prosperity theology cannot be supported from the KJV or the DRV.]
My preliminary advice is to use the Bible your Pastor recommends - at least you will be hearing the same theology and can discuss it. In the discussion you will be inspired - as we always are when hearing the word of God - and you will experience God.
If you are a scholar, and want to understand Jesus, then find the traditional bibles that have stood the test of time. If the language seems hard, the meaning, when you get it, will be as close as you can get to what Jesus taught.
There are some very poor translations, done by people who had no classical Greek learning - only NT Greek. You need to look for translators who are experts on ancient Greek and Hebrew. If the frontispiece doesn't list the translators, and the book doesn't have a pedigree, then go look for something that does.
An Anglican