Which Bible translation should I use?

A good translation is one that is mostly literal but still has some room for cultural interpretation. There are too sides of the spectrum: word for word and thought for thought. It's good to pick a version that's somewhere in the middle but preferably closer to the word for word translation. Two good translations are ESV and NASB. Both are mainly word for word
and still retain some instances of thought for thought to help us understand more clearly. If we are fluent in Hebrew and Greek, and have studied the culture, we could read a full word for word translation. For most of us though, we will need to find a happy medium.