A Hand Written Bible

This is hitting the news lately: A man named Phillip Patterson has written out the entire Bible by hand. I know there are others who write out Scriptures by hand, but this is the first I've heard of a completed Bible. Starting in 2009, he wrote as many as 14 hours a day. You can read more about him in the article at the New York Daily News.

Aleph-Tav Bibles

Recently, I stumbled onto two different Bibles with a similar premise. In the Old Testament, there is a word consisting of two Hebrew letters, Alepha Tav, that are not translated. The assertion of these two different projects is that this corresponds to Jesus' description of Himself as the Alpha and the Omega. These Bibles insert those Hebrew characters back into the text. The first, by Gregory T. Riether, is the Aleph-Tav Old Testament. It is available on Amazon. The second one is the Messianic Aleph Tav Scriptures, the work of William H. Sanford. I don't have the background to properly explain the Aleph-Tav, so please visit the author's websites for more information.

The Holy Apostolic New Testament

I stumbled across The Holy Apostolic New Testament today. The description on Amazon states "This is the first modern Bible to use the Eusebian Quotation in the Great Commission, a restoration of the original text." Work is also underway on the Old Testament. Visit www.one-lord.org for more information.

The Mirror Bible

In the Encyclopedia of English Language Bible Versions I included The Mirror Translation by Francis du Toit in the appendix "Unfinished Bible Versions" (UBV-0032). It is now available in print. I am not sure if it should be moved to the main listings yet or not... Some of the reviews on Amazon make it sound like it is not the complete New Testament. Also, a list of changes on the website is dated 2013-05, so it is probably still being translated. I will try to contact the translator and update when I know more.

New LDS Translation - Update

This one took a while to get an update! I first posted about this in June of 2008. This is a New Testament translation and commentary being produced by Brigham Young University. There is now a website dedicated to this translation. It is primarily a commentary with a new translation. The book of Revelation is expected out as an e-book in the summer of 2013.

The Passion Translation - Update

Back in June of 2011 I posted about The Passion Translation. Work continues on this version. You can now order the Song Of Solomon, Psalms, Luke and Paul's letters. The New Testament is expected to be finished by 2017.

International English Bible

The International English Bible was recently brought to my attention by a reader (JH). Thanks!

After contacting the translator, Dr. Andrew Jackson, via e-mail, I ended up talking on the phone with him for about half an hour. It was a very interesting talk! He is very involved in mission work in Turkey. Dr. Jackson first started this translation as a base English translation for further translation there. He finished the book of John which is now being translated into Turkish. Then, he saw that this version could benefit other readers and finished the entire New Testament. He is working on the Old Testament now.

The translation was read by a retired junior high school teacher who focused on clarity of meaning. I think that is an interesting choice - it sounds like a great way to be sure it is appropriate for that reading level.

A couple interesting points about his version are: geographical clarifications are included in the text. For instance, in Acts 19:1 we read "Paul took the road through Anatolia (modern day Turkey)." Old Testament references are also included in the text, such as "the words of the Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 9:1."

The current version has verses grouped by paragraphs. Dr. Jackson is currently preparing a version with each verse numbered for easier referencing.

He is not attempting to make profit from his work. It is available to read for free online, for $0.99 on Amazon.com or for free on iTunes. Of course, if you prefer Paper copies you can order those as well.

I may be using this for my next devotional reading so there may be another post on that experience.

TLV Psalms with Commentary

In my book, The Encyclopedia of English Language Bible Versions, I listed the Tree of Life Bible: The New Covenant (#9575). It was published in 2011. The Old Testament was anticipated for release this year. Work continues on the OT translation. The TLV Psalms with Commentary: Hope and Healing in the Hebrew Scriptures was released early this year. You may read more about the project on the Tree of Life Bible website.

A New New Testament

Recently the translator of the Open Bible sent me information about a new project using his work as a basis. It is called A New New Testament: A Bible for the 21st Century Combining Traditional and Newly Discovered Texts. Allen wrote "The author and his translation team have combined a carefully edited version of the Open English Bible New Testament (including a retranslation of at least one book) with new translations of select non-canonical early Christian documents."

EELBV in the Library of Congress

The Library of Congress now has a physical copy of the Encyclopedia of English Language Bible Versions on hand!

The Alpha Bible

Have you ever had trouble finding a book of the Bible? Fumbled while trying to quickly locate that reference while listening to the sermon? If so, perhaps The Alpha Bible is for you. It is the King James Version of the Bible arranged by book name in alphabetical order. Thus, Acts is first, then Amos all the way through to the end - Zephaniah. You can view samples at their website (click under News Room, Media Center) or order a copy through Amazon.com. Thanks to MV for sending this information!

Simplified King James New Testament

A comment left on a post from last September about the Simplified King James New Testament deserved its own post, so here it is:

I own the copyright to a version called SKJV Simplified King James Version. It has been in print since 2010. Anyone wishing to make enquiries about it may contact me by the information provided on the copyright page of the following pdf. http://truthiswhatmatters.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/skjv_johnsgospel_ts.pdf