The Books of the Bible
International Bible Society has produced a very progressive Bible. To do so they had to produce a very old-school Bible. From their own description:
Chapter and verse numbers are removed from the text. (A chapter-and-verse range is at the bottom of each page.)
Individual books are presented with the literary divisions that their authors have indicated.
Footnotes, section headings, and other supplementary materials have been removed from the text. (Translators’ notes are available at the back of each book.)
The books of the Bible have been placed in an order that provides more help in understanding, based on literary genre, historical circumstance, and theological tradition.
Single books that later translations or tradition divided into two or more books are made whole again (e.g.: Luke-Acts).
Single-column setting clearly and naturally presents the literary forms of the Bible’s books.
While it may be almost impossible to read the Bible in English as it was presented to its readers long ago, The Books of the Bible, using Today’s New International Version, attempts to come close. (Chapter and verse markings were added to the Bible many hundreds of years after it was originally written.) It is a welcome perspective and a great addition to projects with similar philosophies such as Eugene Peterson’s The Message and Zondervan’s The Story which also uses the TNIV text. Tyndale House originally published The Book — using the text of the New Living Translation, first edition — nearly a decade ago, but its main distinguishing feature was merely a single-column layout. The Book still had chapter and verse markings.
Ironically, since its debut, The Message has actually added chapter and verse numbers to certain editions in what one can only see as an attempt to “legitimize” the translation.
“Serious study Bibles have chapters! They have verses! And they certainly don’t use contemporary language!”
I’m proud of IBS for sticking to their guns and going textually “commando” save for the verse ranges at the bottom of each page. It would be great to see them go all the way and not have one vestige underneath!
