This past weekend I went out and bought a new Bible that I had read about online. I like it so much I decided that I am long past due writing about a few Bibles that are relatively new on the "translation scene" that you need to know about.
HCSB
HCSB
The first is the HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible). Although this translation has been around for almost ten years very few people know about it, and it is hands down my over translation of choice. The HCSB is a very readable and accurate translation. Some translation focus strongly on a “literal” or “word-for-word” translation from the original text -like the New American Standard Bible. So that each word is the most accurate English word from the original language. Others, like the NIV, go for a “thought-for-thought” principle since translating one language into another word-for-word can leave the end result sounding choppy at times, or like it came out of the mouth of Yoda. The HCSB basically strives to deliver both of these translation methods making it both a clear and accurate translation. One more feature that the HCSB strives for is the visual appearance of the words on each page. This makes the Bible pages actually look nice. In the end, the HCSB is a promising all around Bible.
The Voice
The next translation you should check out is called The Voice. The Voice is unique in that it strives to bring back some of the artistic and poetic elements that are often lost when translating the Bible into modern English. The Voice delivers God’s Word in a dynamic way through collaboration with scholars, screen play writers, artist, writers, and even musicians. One of the things I like the most about The Voice is that it really steers clear of “High Religious” and “Christiany” sounding language. For example, rather than using the words “Christ” or “Messiah” the Voice uses “Liberating King”, which although doesn’t mean “anointed one” (which is what the words Christ and Messiah mean) it still paints a great mental picture of who Christ is and what He came to do for us. This makes The Voice a great Bible for teaching young people, and non-Christians. In a nutshell the Voice is kind of like the HCSB meets The Message at a coffee shop playing Radiohead and Sufjan Stevens.
The Action Bible
Now the Bible I bought this weekend isn’t a translation but a kids Bible called The Action Bible. The name says it all -this is one action packed picture Bible! I make no joke as dorky as it my sound I while reading it could not put this thing down! What sets this Bible apart from all of the other children’s/tweener Bibles out there is Sergio Cariello. Sergio is a comic strip artist who’s worked for Marvel and DC comics. Each and every page is fully illustrated in a modern comic book format. The pages look awesome. And the scriptural content that is found in each of the stories is really impressive. The Action Bible has more Bible stories in it than any other picture before it. With over 700 pages, this is the largest graphic novel I’ve ever seen. Each Bible story has scriptural references to where the account comes from, making The Action Bible a great teaching tool. If you have kids and/or tweeners this is the story Bible to get them. And if you’re a Bible reading comic lover like myself, The Action Bible is simply a dream come true.
There you have it, my top three reasons to never read the King James.
