A study compared translations of biblical passages into different languages in Papua New Guinea. The study looked for evidence of balance between literal and free interpretation in translation style in the gospel of Mark, which is narrative and didactic material, in 12 languages, and the mainly hortatory genre in translations of 4 epistles: Galatians (12 languages); Ephesians (10); Hebrews (10); and 1 John (10). In all, 25 languages are represented. Literal and free English translations were used for comparison. For each language, a number of verses were labeled as literal, modified literal, idiomatic, or free and compared with like verses in other languages. Sample classifications showing the range of translation types are given, and comparative analyses are presented in both tabular and narrative form. Results indicate that most of the translations were only idiomatic and free or predominantly idiomatic. Some had a proportion of both modified literal and idiomatic translation. Some languages had one type of translation predominant for one text type and another translation type for another text type. It is concluded that free translation or any concentrating largely on idiomatic translation must be justified, and that balanced translation begins with literal and moves toward free translation as needed. (MSE)