Updated American Standard Version update

Back in 2010, I first heard about a project to update the American Standard Version. Today, I heard (thanks, NS) that some progress has been made. It is called the Updated American Standard Version. It is the work of Christian Publishing House. You can read about it and samples of it at their website.

Graphic "Bibles"

I don't consider "picture Bibles" to be actual Bibles. They are illustrations of Bible stories. Some are more complete than others. But staying home sick today, I got to looking for these works online. I've posted in the past so a few of these may be repeats. But I found some new ones today. I am just listing the ones that have samples or free downloads. Many of these reflect the theology of the writer or illustrator. Some also contain offensive content. I do not agree will all that is written in these. By providing these links I am not endorsing any of these works. These are in no particular order.

• Good and Evil, Michael Pearl, read online or download full PDF
• Earnest Graham, Earnest Illustrations, samples in PDF
• ICI Theological College Australia, four Bible comics in PDF
• Patricia Loranger, many free cartoon Bible stories in PDF
• Jehovah's Witnesses, 10 free Bible stories in PDF
• JesusComic.Net, read online or download
• LDS church, Look for Scripture Stories, OT & NT PDF
• My Little House, two story samples in PDF
• Zondervan, ZGraphicNovels, Manga, 2 samples in PDF
• The Illustrated Bible, several samples in PDF
• Green Egg Media, The Power Bible, 1 sample in PDF
• The Brick Testament, Brendan Smith, read online
• Gospel Comics, read online or download
• The Action Bible, read samples online or download (click share)

The Drought: 3 Retold Bible Stories

I was unable to discover much about The Drought: 3 Retold Bible Stories by Shell Isenhoff. There is a short preview of it on Barnes and Noble's website. The sample shows a story told from the perspective of Nathan, one of King Ahab's guards. Other than that I was unable to find more information on this book. It was apparently a self-published work that is no longer available.

New English Translation of the Septuagint corrected

The New English Translation of the Septuagint was corrected and emended in 2014. A list of the changes for both the 2009 and 2014 update is available on the website.

1611 Modern English Translation

I'm not sure what the exact title of this one should be. It is found in a Facebook Group. Visit the files section for downloads of the work that is done so far. It is the work of Jeff Macy. He gives a description of his work here. He describes it as " the only word for word translation from original languages that I know of." While it is called a translation, it is described as "this 1611 kjv modern English translation." It also uses a cross ✝ instead of the "t," numbers (12) instead of the words (twelve), "&" instead of "and," gives bold face to God & Jesus' words, capitalizes only the name of "good" people and places and italicizes Holy Spirit.

Texas Bible Chrome App

Last year, I wrote about the website created by John Dyer. In addition to being a good Bible reading/study site, it allows you to change the way second person plural pronoun is displayed. "You" plural becomes "Y'all" or "You all," etc. He has also created an app for Google Chrome (thanks to DH for this link) which allows you to make the same changes on popular Bible reading websites such as Youversion and Bible Gateway.

To access the settings for the app (in Google Chrome), click on the menu button (it looks like three horizontal bars on the upper right hand side of the screen. Then click on settings, then in the settings menu click on "Extensions." Scroll down till you find "Texas Bible." Click on "Options" to bring up the Texas Bible settings screen. There you can click the circle next to the second person plural style you wish to use. You can also choose to display God's name as "Yahweh." When finished click "save" and close the settings tabs.

Bible Gateway currently has 50 different English Bibles available. Multiply this by the number of options in Dyer's app (8 including the original version). That makes 400 versions just with his app on Bible Gateway!

The New Covenant by R. B. Banfield

The New Covenant by R. B. Banfield bears the copyright date of 2013. There is a reference edition, with standard chapter and verse numbering. There is also a non-reference edition in paragraph only format. Both are available in print or in Kindle format. Here is the description from Amazon:

The purpose of this translation is to show the New Testament of the Bible in a clear and easy to follow English that remains as close as possible to the original style of each author, while achieving a strong continuity with each word. Translating ancient Kione Greek into readable modern English is neither a difficult nor mysterious process. The question arises, therefore, as to why an accurate version, free from bias, religiosity and embellishment, is seldom produced. The older translations tend to be dry in their transliterating, while the modern can be overly paraphrased. All translations must have some paraphrasing, but in an effort to appeal to modern readers, sometimes the original text is glossed over, causing a loss in the original meaning and allowing opportunity for misunderstanding. Another blight on the majority of translations, both modern and old, is a fondness of the editors to include unnecessary paragraph headings, which can be distracting. Not only were the original books of the Bible not divided into paragraphs, there were also no chapters or verses, or even punctuation. For example, Matthew 5 was not headed by the words “Beatitudes”, and Matthew 28 was not called “The Great Commission”. These are modern additions that serve no real purpose, and neither they nor anything like them are included in this translation. The same applies for words they today carry strong religious meaning. An example of this is “church” (ekklesia), which did not carry the meaning it does today. Ekklesia meant any kind of group meeting together for a common purpose. This translation renders the word “assembly” throughout. This is regardless of the word indicating the meeting of believers, or a secular meeting, or a quote from the Old Testament, since it is always the same word in the Greek.

Analytical Literal Translation of the Old Testament

Gary F. Zeolla first published his Analytical Literal Translation of the New Testament in 2001. It is now in its third edition. He has been working on the ALT Old Testament. The first four of five volumes are finished. You can view information about his work at his website.

Thank you, BK, for this notice!

The Lamad New Testament

The Lamad New Testament was translated by Andrew R. Hardy in 2008. The only parts done are the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and John. His work is about 2/3 way down the page under the section "Mastering Your Bible."

New International Reader's Version updated

The New International Reader's Version was updated in 2014. It was revised to include changes from the New International Version (2011). A friend noticed that in 2 Timothy 3:16 the old NIrV read "man of God" while the new reads "servant of God." In the back of the Bible I purchased, it has a section titled "A Word About This Edition" which says:

This edition of the New International Reader's Version has been revised to include the changes of the New International Version. Over the years, many helpful changes have been made to the New International Version. Those changes were made because our understanding of the original writings is better. Those changes also include changes that have taken place in the English language. We wanted the New International Reader's Version to include those helpful changes as well. We wanted the New International Reader's Version to be as clear and correct as possible.

We want to thank the people who helped us prepare this new edition. They are Jeannine Brown from Bethel Seminary St. Paul, Yvonne Van Ee from Calvin College, Michael Williams from Calvin Theological Seminary, and Ron Youngblood from Bethel Seminary San Diego. We also want to thank the people at Biblica who encouraged and supported this work.

DJ, thank you for the notice of this version!

Finding/Buying Bibles

This isn't meant to be comprehensive post about all the Bible stores. But today I noticed that Amazon has a Bible Store. There are selections for the translation; the format (paperback, hardback, etc); the features such as tabs, red lettering, zipper, or snaps; the color; the audience (children, adults); and the purpose (study, daily pew).

Of course, the well known ChristianBook.com has hundreds of Bibles as well. I've found some Bibles cheaper there, especially when they have sales or "seconds" for sale. The have extra help for those searching for Bibles on their Choosing a Bible page. The Bibles page allows refining your search by age, audience, binding, color, format, helps & features, language, media type, references, series, text color, text layout, text size, DRM, author/artist, publisher, top rated, and discount!

New Tyndale Translation

The New Tyndale Translation is found in The Leadership Bible produced by the United States Military Chaplains Bible Society (USMCBS). This is a translation of the New Testament made entirely by military chaplains. There is a sample available on the Products page. Inexpensive copies ($8.68 USD) can be ordered directly from the site. The site clearly states their purpose:

The U.S. Military Chaplains Bible Society (USMCBS) was established to provide Bibles for the Troops.

Thank you, JH, for notice about this version!