What translation is that?

I start with the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) and more recently the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE). I then do some updates... 

1. When reading scripture for an audience who is listening, potentially without the text in front of them, I try to use fewer pronouns: "Jesus said," instead of "He said," so people can follow the story more easily. 

2. When possible, I'll speak to God, instead of about God. Mary's prayer in Luke 1: "You have shown strength with your arm," instead of "He has shown strength with his arm." This places us into the conversation rather than as witnesses of it; and thus has the power of greater intimacy.

3. Sometimes, I'll cut the more complicated names/words for the reader, so they feel more confident in reading.

4. Similarly, if I don't have time or intend on unpacking a particularly vexing or confusing verse, I might omit it from the reading. Prime example: Romans 8:36, during a memorial service.

5. In the Hebrew Scriptures, I change "LORD" to "The Holy One." "LORD" (in all caps or small caps) is a replacement of God's proper name (YHWH), which in Jewish tradition is too holy to be spoken. (See my note on Expansive Language.)

6. Often, I'll include the matriarch: "If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham and Sarah's offspring, heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:29)

7. Similarly, in the Christian Scriptures, I will update "Son of Man" (which few people have any understanding of what that means today) to Chosen One. (It can alternately refer to a mortal human being or, in Jesus' case it can refer to his role as the Messiah.)

8. And lastly, I update ableist language if I can. Once, I was reading a text: "Hear, O Israel..." and there was a deaf person in the sanctuary that morning. "Pay attention!" works just as good. Or the time I said: "run the race that is set before you"... and there was a woman in a wheelchair. Travel is a good substitute for walk. Blindered is a good substitute for blind. Sometimes, it helps to expand the list: "May our ears hear, our eyes see, and our hearts understand..." And sometimes, it helps to explain: "Speak to us, O God, in words we might hear, not with our ears through sound, but in our souls through love and in our loves through service."