The books of the Old Testament (the first four fifths of the Bible, about the Jewish people and prophecies of the coming of Jesus) were originally written in Hebrew, and in the third century BC also translated into Greek. The books of the New Testament (the end fifth of the Bible written after Jesus came) were originally written in either Hebrew or Greek.

It wasn't until the Reformation (a period of huge social and political upheaval) in the 14th century AD that campaigners braved the wrath of the established church to call for the Bible to be translated into ordinary, everyday languages. A man called Tyndale translated the New Testament from Greek into English and got as far as translating half of the Old Testament, before he was caught and executed for committing this crime. But then King Henry VIII spilt from Rome and the authority of the pope and decided to commission an official English Bible. This was superseded by the King James Bible, or Authorised Version in 1611.

Since that time many other translations (or versions) have been written to try to get the balance right between being faithful to the original Hebrew and Greek words, and at the same time communicate the original meaning, in a form of English which can be understood by today's reader.

So, basically, the reason there are diffferent translations of the Bible is that it was originally written in Hebrew and Greek, so needed translating, in our case, into English. And because of the different ways of structuring sentences (grammar) in different languages, and special ways of using words, it is possible to end up saying the same thing in different ways. If you've ever tried to learn another language, French for example, you will understand the difficulties!

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