The Readable Bible - a podcast by Bruce Davis

 

Struggle with understanding the Bible no more. The Readable Bible is here and moves beyond Bibles of the past. This Bible gives you an easy to follow layout, visual aides that tie into the verses and gives you the best of the literal and thought translations so you don’t miss the depth of the intent yet delivered in today’s understandable language.

Here are the details:

WHY ANOTHER TRANSLATION?

Today’s readers struggle with the Bible. Long, complex sentences, old fashioned “holy” words, and page after page of plain paragraphs make for difficult reading. Over the past 50 years, translators have tackled the problem by developing less literal translations. These make it easy to grasp a superficial understanding of the text, but do not offer the entry into deeper understanding that a literal translation provides.

While literal translations present a higher risk that the reader may completely miss the meaning, they have a higher possible reward of showing the reader something that would not be apparent in a dynamic translation or a paraphrase. The Readable Bible translation is slightly more dynamic than the ESV and NASB, and less so than the NIV. The text is presented in modern formats to lower the risk of misunderstanding and to increase the probability of greater understanding. Readers find the text more accessible when they see it formatted as:

• Cascading text

• Agreements

• Narrative paragraphs

• Census tables

• Outlined law codes 

• Numbered steps

• Specification documents 

• Assignment tables

• Callouts

and other modern formats. This makes the text as readable as the New Living Translation and The Message. The modern look gives this reliable translation clarity and enables the Bible newcomer to understand the text. Faithfulness to the original text invites deeper engagement. 

A MAINSTREAM TRANSLATION

The Readable Bible is a mainstream translation. By this, we mean the text is translated with the context of the biblical writers in mind, not the theology of the translators or editors. It does not lean toward a particular theological camp: Reformed, Wesleyan, dispensational, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, or Eastern Orthodox. It does not emphasize any peculiar or minority belief.

To a certain extent, every Bible translation is affected by the theology of its translators. We strive to be aware of our own biases and either minimize them or acknowledge plausible alternative renderings in passages where there is legitimate scholarly debate. The Readable Bible’s theological stance is that of traditional Protestant Christianity. It treats the text as inspired by God and given to humanity to lead us to know, serve, worship, and enjoy Him.

The text is mainstream in that it does not differ significantly from the leading word-for-word or thought- for-thought translations. It is primarily a word-for-word translation, going to thought-for-thought only when the word-for-word translation would mislead a reader. The Christian Standard Bible (formerly Holman Christian Standard) uses a similar translation philosophy, calling it “optimal equivalence.” When we move to a thought-for-thought translation, we always footnote the word-for-word translation.

We have not set out to break ground in translation. However, we recognize that there is an ever- increasing understanding of the original manuscripts. Our translation recognizes the latest developments. 

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Rod Laughlin became a Christian when he was twenty-eight years old. Desiring to know more about the Bible, he earned an MDiv at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. After serving the Lord as the pastor of two churches and in many other ways for thirty-seven years, he sensed God’s call to put the Bible into modern formats. He has spent the last fourteen years leading a team to create The Readable Bible. Over one-hundred people have worked with him on this project. 

Rod’s Story- “One day in 2008, I was standing in anairport bookstore looking for a book to read. I asked myself, “Why am I looking for something to read when I have a Bible in my briefcase?” The answer came quickly: “The Bible is hard to read. It can be so frustrating, and often I don’t understand what I’m reading.” And I thought, “You’re a seminary graduate, a pastor, a Bible teacher! Why is it so hard to read?I walked over to the how-to book section and started browsing. I noticed that the books presented information in formats that made them easy to understand. On the airplane I wondered, “What would the Bible look like if God spoke to Moses, David, and Paul today?” I went through the Bible and identified over two-dozen categories of information, all presented in paragraph form. Now I had a new mission—create a translation that presents the original text and uses modern formatting to make it clear and easy to grasp.

https://www.readablebible.com/

 

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