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Title: Holy Bible: Contemporary English Version by American Bible Society ISBN: 1585160555 Publisher: American Bible Society Pub. Date: October, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.91
Rating: 5
Summary: The best of the "meaning for meaning" translations
Comment: My first impression of the CEV is that it is an excellent translation which faithfully captures the original languages. In the "meaning for meaning" category, it succeeds as it avoids the tendency among similar translations to elaborate where there is no real need to do so. The economic use of the English language is a triumph. I also appreciated the way in which the text has been set out, particularly, in poetry passages. It is simply a pleasure to read (Compare this with the poor way in which the NRSV has for the most part been set out.)
My objections to the translation have more to do with my general reservation about the type of translation than with the CEV in particular. The desire to render the Bible in modern English can result is a great deal of de-theologizing. Key theological terms like "redemption" and "justification" are rendered by such English phrases as "set free" and "put right". This type of translation has its benefits, and yet are we really doing justice to the language of the Bible if we make everything as simple as all that? The translators of the CEV have succeeded in making the Bible intelligible. Is that the translator's role? Is the Bible not very often obscure? Where it is, are we translating it if we simplify it? When I read Paul in Greek, I battle to understand what he is talking about, and not because my Greek is poor. Should our English translations not preserve difficulties where they exist in the original? Why should the Bible be intelligible to modern readers if it remained obscure to the ancients?
Another problem is the resultant English style that is imposed on all the books of the Bible. A good literal translation at least allows one to distinguish certain elements of style within a given writer. With the CEV one cannot tell any difference in style between the author of Genesis and the author of the Revelation.
At times the translation fails, such as in John 3:5 CEV "You must be born not only by water but by the spirit". Here the CEV sets birth by water against birth by the spirit and yet in Greek they can only be taken together since a single preposition governs the phrase.
Despite these few insignificant misgivings, I am pleased to have been introduced to the CEV. I have tried it out in my Sunday services and it certainly sounds good when read aloud. Take note of the brilliant translation of Deut 6.20 where the parent's language to his child is rendered in a simple - even childlike - manner. Also Luke 8 where Legion is translated as "Lot" because there are "Lots" of us.
Rating: 4
Summary: PLease consider this...
Comment: I really must write a bit regarding a previous reviewer whose understanding of language, translation, and how God MUST act in the preservation and transmission of the Bible is dubious and therefore potentialy misleading. The so-called "Majority Text" upon which the KJV is based was at the time of its' translation a collection of ancient texts, the best available at that time. But it was not one manuscript. Since then, older and more accurate writings were found. Some people would have us believe that unless a manuscript was preserved to the knowledge of Western (English?) believers somehow God's Word was lost. This is nonsense at best, arrogance at worst. The KJV is a very good translation. Regarding the CEV, it too is an admirable effort by people commited to the transmission of God's Word into English as used today from the best mansucripts available.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent Bible-especially for children
Comment: I am writing this specifically regarding the translation, since I have not spent much time looking through the entire volume.
I bought two copies, for use in Children's Church, ages 1-11. Although this is not a "children's translation" it is probably the easiest translation to understand, even easier than the Children's edition of the NIV and the Living Translation. I particularly recommend it for people with limited language ability, although it looks like it would be useful for general use too.
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Title: Holy Bible: King James Version by World Bible Publishing ISBN: 0529064634 Publisher: World Bible Pub Co Pub. Date: June, 1989 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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Title: The Learning Bible: Contemporary English Version by Howard Clark Kee, American Bible Society ISBN: 1585160253 Publisher: American Bible Society Pub. Date: May, 2000 List Price(USD): $34.99 |
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Title: Holy Bible by American Bible Society ISBN: 1585161616 Publisher: American Bible Society Pub. Date: June, 2000 List Price(USD): $11.49 |
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Title: Wisdom Hunter by Randall Arthur ISBN: 1576732304 Publisher: Multnomah Publishers Inc. Pub. Date: November, 1999 List Price(USD): $11.99 |
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Title: The Contemporary Parallel New Testament: King James Version, New American Standard Bible, New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, Contemporary English Version, by John R. Kohlenberger ISBN: 0195281365 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: January, 1998 List Price(USD): $44.99 |
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