The Voice: New Testament, revised and updated

The Voice New Testament. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2011. ISBN 978-1-4185-5076-9.

I received a complimentary copy of The Voice: New Testament from Thomas Nelson publishing. Their provision of this work does not influence my review either positively or negatively.

Well over a year and half ago I first reviewed The Voice: New Testament. When a copy was made available again, I wasn't inclined to request it. There is no indication on the cover or title page that this is a revised edition. However, the copyright page now shows at date of 2011. The listing on Amazon.com says that it is "revised and updated."

I decided to check my complaints of 2010 and see if they still appplied to the newest edition. While I could determine some changes that were made, other problems were still there.

One complaint I have is the deliberate insertion of "the voice" theme. I noted that this version adds and changes words to support that theme "Before time itself was measured, the Voice was speaking. The Voice was and is God" John 1:1). I still wonder if the new translation yielded this theme or the translators changed their work to support their ideas.

Another troublesome passage was in 1 John 1:112 where it read "His own people, who have heard the voice before, rebuff this inner calling and refuse to listen." This has been changed in the 2011 edition to "Even though He came to His own people, they refused to listen and receive Him." The italics are used to indicate "that would have been obvious to the those originally addressed." However, it is obvious that the inserted words show passages where the translators ideas are inserted into the text. That is, ideas that do not come from the Greek New Testament. I certainly objected to the italicized portions, but also to the concept of "inner calling." I am pleased to see that both the italicized portions and the "inner calling" have been removed from the latest edition.

Many of the syncretistic passages have been removed from this latest edition. However, too much of the translators theology still shows through for me to be comfortable with this work.

One aspect I do like about this version is that way it was set up on the page. Conversations are arranged that way, with brown lettering indicating the speaker. It is interesting and helpful to see the New Testament presented as a script.

This remains a document of the emergent church movement, not a faithful rendering of the New Testament. I will not recommend it to anyone other than as a curiosity or an example of how theological bias clouds translation.

The Voice New Testament: Revised & Updated