How to Choose a Bible Translation: KJV, NIV, ESV, NLT

The first question about translations is not "which is most accurate" but that accuracy in translation already means two different things — staying close to the original wording and structure, or staying close to what the original meant to its first hearers. You cannot maximise both.

The two ends of the spectrum

Word-for-word (formal equivalence): preserves the original's words and structure, at the cost of sentences that sometimes read oddly in English.
Thought-for-thought (dynamic equivalence): puts the modern reader's comprehension first, at the cost of the translator having made more interpretive decisions for you.

Neither end is the right one. They answer different questions.

Where the common versions sit

KJV (1611) — word-for-word, and the shared vocabulary of English-speaking Christianity for four centuries. Some words have drifted in meaning since.
NASB / ESV — modern word-for-word; the usual choice for close study.
NIV — deliberately in the middle; the common all-purpose choice.
NLT — thought-for-thought; the easiest to read straight through.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.Psalm 119:105 (KJV)

Which for what

Reading the whole Bible for the first time — thought-for-thought. Finishing matters more than precision here.
Studying a passage line by line — word-for-word. You need to see the structure the original left behind.
Memorising — whatever your church uses, so it matches in a group.
Teaching others — at least two, side by side.

A better move than picking one

The question is slightly misaimed. What actually works is reading two: one word-for-word, one thought-for-thought. The places where they diverge are usually the places the original is difficult and worth slowing down for. Differences between translations are not noise; they are signposts.

What about the underlying text

Versions also differ in which manuscripts they follow, which is why a verse or two appears in a footnote in one Bible and in the body of another. None of it touches any Christian doctrine — but it explains the numbering gaps you occasionally hit.

The BiblePro app carries 17 translations, and compare mode puts two side by side so the differences are visible without flipping back and forth. And do look for a local church, and read with the version they use.