The Gospel as Poetry

The advertisement for this on Lulu.com says this is "The Gospel written down as rhyme, along with the books of Acts, James, Jude, and Revelation. Kids love it, and so do the grown-ups!"

Sample:
Hear now this true tale told since days of old
Listen and learn as the truth does unfold
In the land of Judea there lived a good man
A priest who observed all the Word did command
His wife, she was barren, this made them sad
The Lord, he decided, to make Zach a dad

This was written by Keoloha Wells. It appears to be a harmonized account of the Gospels and other NT books. A free download is available at the site listed above.

The Scriptures

A "sacred name" type Bible, The Scriptures, has been made available online. It is here on the website eliyah.com. It uses the Hebrew characters for God's name and Jesus' name. It is also available in E-sword and The Sword Project through the Institute for Scripture Research.

New American Bible

Again, I am digging around looking for information on revisions of versions. The New American Bible has had several. It was published first in 1970. In 1986 the New Testament was revised. The Psalms were revised in 1991, I think making some gender changes in the language. In 2000(?) the New Testament and Psalms were revised for liturgical use. These changes will probably show up in the lectionary, though have not been included in a Bible. In 2009 a revised Old Testament is expected to be published (this last note was found here.
If you know of changes made in these various versions, please e-mail me or leave a comment here. When I find some, I will post them as well.

Today's English Version

I need to ask a favor again. I am trying to discover whether something that I read recently is true. The claim is that the first edition of the "Good News For Modern Man" that was published in 1966 had "He had a message for a virgin..." in Luke 1:27. Editions from 1968 (possibly marked "second edition") had "He had a message for a girl..."
I've got several that have the "girl" rendition but so far don't have any old enough to have the earlier version.

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UPDATE: Two people were able to come up with a 1966 TEV and it does have "virgin" in Luke 1:27, "The virgin's name was Mary." Thank you to everyone who checked on these!

New English Bible: New Testament (1961)

     I am always interested to discover differences in editions of Bible versions. As I posted just a few days ago, I recently discovered a difference in the New English "corrected edition." I didn't yet know if there were differences between the 1961 NT and the 1970 NT.
     I pulled out my copy of About the New English Bible (Geoffrey Hunt, 1970, pp. 36-38) and browsed it briefly this morning. There are some differences between the two editions of the New Testament. A few are shown here in the table below:

Verse	1961	1970
Mt 9:2b	...a paralytic lying on a bed	...a paralysed man lying on a bed
Acts 16:1b	...his father was a Greek	...his father was a gentile
Mt 6:3	You must therefore be all goodness, just as your heavenly Father is all good.	There must be no limit to your goodness as your heavenly Father's goodness knows no bounds.
Lk 1:34	'How can this be,' said Mary, 'when I have no husband?'	'How can this be?' said Mary; 'I am still a virgin.'

     This table is an example of many like it that appear in The Encyclopedia of English Bible Versions. Please don't use this table without permission.

Ee By Gum, Lord

     I don't remember how I happened onto this one - I think during a search on Amazon.com. That's where I picked up a used copy. This is the Gospels in Broad Yorkshire (1996) by Arnold Kellett. A glossary is included for those of us who don't ever get to hear this dialect spoken aloud. The author writes that this is in the dialect of the West Riding. Specifically, it is the dialect the author "knew as a boy in the Pennine village of Wibsey, just south of Bradford, on the the fringe of Wilfred Pickles territory." It isn't a much used dialect - probably even a dead one by now.
     Parts of this text were actually read by Wilfred on television. This is really just parts of the Gospels - probably a harmonized account. The author retells portions and "teaches" or adds some parts.
     Sample: 'As-ta ivver thowt abaht why it wor in t' little tahn o' Bethle'em wheeare it all started? Well, it come abaht this roooad ...

New English Bible, Corrected Edition

I've been searching for a difference in the corrected edition of the New English Bible for a while now. Today I finally found (was given) one! I read it in an excellent post on the New Epistles Blog. Rather than steal thunder from his neat post, I'll just let you read it and say the corrected edition difference is is in his second example. The example there is from the original NEB and was changed in the 1972 edition.
     The 1970 and 1972 editions appear to be identical. Other than the "corrected edition" copyright date in the front, I would have thought they were from the same printing. But this one small change is squeezed into the same space on that line.

Aramaic Jewish Bible in English

This was "translated from the Aramaic by Ya'aqub Younan-Levine,
with the Assistance of George M. Akbulut, Abraham Seif, and Michael Spira." So far Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel and Obadiah are finished. Uses "Elohim" and "MarYah" for God's name; "Yahushua" for "Jesus." The website is American Pshitta Tanakh in English.
      Sample:
In the year of the death of king Uziah, I saw MarYah seated on a high throne, and the edge of his mantle filled his temple (Isaiah 6:1).

Australian Fellowship of Seven Planes New Testament

I wasn't able to view any samples of this version. It is available through lulu.com. It is arranged in chronological order. It also removes some texts that are "known mistranslations," "known insertions," or that the editor(s) believe have been changed to reflect modern textual criticism. This may be a sacred name type version as well. The title page bears the name of the Congregation of Regeneration which is part of the Australian Fellowship of the Seven Planes. Editor in chief of the project was M. L. Allen.

Whole Scriptures Interlining...

Some days I don't look for new versions of the Bible. But it seems I can't get away from finding them anyway! So here is yesterday's find.
     It's hard to say exactly what the version's title is, so I went with the title on the web site. The bottom of the pages that are finished say "Hebrew-Greek Colored Interlinear" so perhaps that is a better title. It is a colorized interlinear with the Hebrew and Greek (yes, both of them in the OT and the NT), transliterations and a translation. Work is still underway on the colorizing process. I haven't been able to find the key to the colors yet. Uses Elohim (and the Hebrew) for God's name, Yahushua for Jesus' name, Mashiyach for Christ.

VerseryRhymes

This poetic rendition of the New Testament is being done by Dr. Reece Sherman, Sr. So far he has finished Mark; John; Galatians, Ephesians & Philippians; Colossians & James; and Revelation. He intends to finish the entire New Testament. The portions listed here are available at Lulu.com.
Sample:
This is the beginning
of the good news of God's Son
The gospel of Jesus Christ
Begins with his messenger, John.

Isaiah the prophet wrote
"Behold, one will prepare the way
A voice calling out in the desert
Here is what he had to say
Mark 1:1-2a

Wilton Translation of the New Testament

One problem with studying/collecting versions of the Bible is that there just isn't enough money and time to properly study them all. I've run across another new one, a New Testament, by Clyde C. Wilton. The information about it at Trafford Publishing doesn't even include a publish date. Here's what I know about it: Wilton, Clyde C. The Wilton Translation of the New Testament. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 1-4120-7492-4
From a message posted about it elsewhere I found a sample: Contributing to the needs of the saints, pursuing the love of strangers (Romans 12:13).