Common English Bible

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Common English Bible
Full nameCommon English Bible
AbbreviationCEB
OT  published2011
NT  published2010
Complete Bible
published		2011
Textual basis NT: Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament (27th edition).

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (4th edition), Biblia Hebraica Quinta (5th edition)

Contents

Deuterocanon/Apoc.: Göttingen Septuagint (in progress), Rahlfs-Hanhart's Septuagint (2005)
Translation type Mediating
Reading level7.0 [1]
Publisher Christian Resources Development Corporation
CopyrightCopyright 2010 Common English Bible Committee
Genesis 1:1–3
When God began to create the heavens and the earth -- the earth was without shape or form, it was dark over the deep sea, and God's wind swept over the waters -- God said, "Let there be light." And so light appeared.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him won't perish but will have eternal life.

The Common English Bible (CEB) is an English translation of the Bible whose language is intended to be at a comfortable reading level for the majority of English readers. [2] The translation, sponsored by an alliance of American mainline Protestant denomination publishers, was begun in late 2008 and was finished in 2011. [3] It uses gender-inclusive language and some editions sold include the books of the Apocrypha which are used by the Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, and in some Anglican congregations. [4]

History

The Common English Bible is sponsored by an alliance of several denominational publishers in the United States operating under an umbrella group called the Christian Resources Development Corporation (CRDC), incorporated in 2009 and based in Nashville, Tennessee. [5] The publishing houses participating are Chalice Press (Disciples of Christ), Westminster John Knox Press (Presbyterian Church U.S.A.), Church Publishing Inc (Episcopal Church), Pilgrim Press (United Church of Christ), and Abingdon Press (United Methodist Church). According to the CEB's preface, the motivation for producing a new translation was that "it has proved difficult to combine concern for accuracy and accessibility in one translation that the typical reader or worshipper would be able to understand." [6] One hundred twenty scholars from twenty-four different denominations worked on the translation. [7]

Textual basis

The CEB New Testament was translated from the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament (27th Edition), a standard edition of the Greek used in many versions of the Christian scriptures. For the Old Testament various editions of the traditional Masoretic text were used: the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (4th edition), Biblia Hebraica Quinta (5th edition), and in some cases the Hebrew University Bible Project. However, as with many modern Bibles, the Old Testament was occasionally emended using readings from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the ancient Septuagint Greek translation, and other sources.

For the apocrypha, the currently unfinished Göttingen Septuagint was used as the basis. Books that were not available in the Göttingen project were translated from the latest revision of Rahlfs' Septuagint (2006). Surviving Hebrew manuscripts of some Septuagint books were consulted as well. [8]

Translation methodology

The CEB uses a balance of dynamic equivalence and formal equivalence translation principles. Ease of comprehension was measured using the standard Dale-Chall Readability Formula so a seventh grade reading level could be attained. [9] The translators' goal is to produce a rendering of the Bible at the same reading level as the USA Today newspaper. [10]

Portions of scripture were assigned to each of the 120 translators. Each produced a draft translation which was then reviewed and modified by a co-translator. The resulting text was then sent to one of 77 "reading groups", teams of five to ten non-specialists that read it out loud and noted awkward translations. The rendering, along with suggestions for improvement, was then sent to a readability editor to check style and grammar, followed by a complete review by the editor for that section of the Bible. The text was then put before the entire editorial board which resolved any lingering controversies and ensured consistency throughout the entire Bible translation. [11]

The translators include Tremper Longman, Luke Timothy Johnson, David L. Petersen, Joel B. Green, Brent A. Strawn, Beverly Gaventa, Gail O'Day, Cynthia Westfall, and Emerson B. Powery. [12] Protestant, Catholic, Seventh-day Adventist and Reform Judaism were represented among the translators and reviewers . [13]

Features

The CEB attempts to substitute more natural wording for traditional biblical terminology. Notably, where most Bibles use the term "son of man" in the Old Testament (e.g. Ezekiel 2:8), the CEB translates this as "human one". In the New Testament where Jesus uses the Greek version of this term of himself—probably with messianic overtones—the CEB renders it as "the Human One". [14]

Contractions are used more frequently in the Common English Bible than in more Formal Equivalent translations. For example, the New Revised Standard Version renders Luke 12:7 as, "But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows." The CEB has, "Even the hairs on your head are all counted. Don't be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows." [15]

The maps of biblical lands in the Common English Bible are produced by the National Geographic Society. [16]

The full Common English Bible, both Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha, can be accessed for passage lookup online at the CEB website. [17]

Circulation

The CEB was finished in 2011 and a marketing campaign was begun in late 2009. As part of the campaign, free copies of the Gospels of Luke, Matthew, the Book of Genesis and the Book of Psalms are being offered for download in .pdf format. [18] Short audio recordings of various scriptures have also been posted. Until July 31, 2010 a free printed copy of the entire New Testament was also being offered by mail. Today, a free sampler of the Gospel of Mark (full) is offered in PDF. [19]

In April 2011 Fuller Theological Seminary, an evangelical school catering to many denominations, [20] selected the CEB as one of two approved Bible translations for Biblical studies courses, replacing the discontinued Today's New International Version. [21]

The Common English Bible is one of the versions authorized for use in services of The Episcopal Church. [22]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apocrypha</span> Works of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin

Apocrypha are biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of Scripture. While some might be of doubtful authorship or authenticity, in Christianity, the word apocryphal (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were to be read privately rather than in the public context of church services. Apocrypha were edifying Christian works that were not considered canonical scripture. It was not until well after the Protestant Reformation that the word apocrypha was used by some ecclesiastics to mean "false," "spurious," "bad," or "heretical."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bible</span> Collection of religious texts

The Bible is a collection of religious texts or scriptures, some, all, or a variant of which, are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, Islam, the Baha'i Faith, and many other Abrahamic religions. The Bible is an anthology, a compilation of texts of a variety of forms, originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. These texts include instructions, stories, poetry, and prophecies, and other genres. The collection of materials that are accepted as part of the Bible by a particular religious tradition or community is called a biblical canon. Believers in the Bible generally consider it to be a product of divine inspiration, but the way they understand what that means and interpret the text varies.

The deuterocanonical books are books and passages considered by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and/or the Assyrian Church of the East to be canonical books of the Old Testament, but which Jews and Protestants regard as apocrypha. They date from 300 BC to 100 AD, before the separation of the Christian church from Judaism. While the New Testament never directly quotes from or names these books, the apostles quoted the Septuagint, which includes them. Some say there is a correspondence of thought, and others see texts from these books being paraphrased, referred, or alluded to many times in the New Testament, depending in large measure on what is counted as a reference.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King James Version</span> 1611 English translation of the Bible

The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Version Bible (KJVB) and the Authorized Version (AV) is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of King James VI and I. The 80 books of the King James Version include 39 books of the Old Testament, 14 books of Apocrypha, and the 27 books of the New Testament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New International Version</span> English translation of the Bible

The New International Version (NIV) is a translation of the Bible into contemporary English. Published by Biblica, the complete NIV was released in 1978 with a minor revision in 1984 and a major revision in 2011. The NIV relies on recently-published critical editions of the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts.

The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Israelites. The second division of Christian Bibles is the New Testament, written in Koine Greek.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Septuagint</span> Greek translation of Hebrew scriptures

The Septuagint, sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy, and often abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Hebrew. The full Greek title derives from the story recorded in the Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates that "the laws of the Jews" were translated into the Greek language at the request of Ptolemy II Philadelphus by seventy-two Hebrew translators—six from each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vulgate</span> Translation of the Bible by Jerome

The Vulgate, sometimes referred to as the Latin Vulgate, is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bible translations</span> Translations of the Bible

The Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. As of September 2023 all of the Bible has been translated into 736 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,658 languages, and smaller portions of the Bible have been translated into 1,264 other languages according to Wycliffe Global Alliance. Thus, at least some portions of the Bible have been translated into 3,658 languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douay–Rheims Bible</span> English-language Catholic Bible

The Douay–Rheims Bible, also known as the Douay–Rheims Version, Rheims–Douai Bible or Douai Bible, and abbreviated as D–R, DRB, and DRV, is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English made by members of the English College, Douai, in the service of the Catholic Church. The New Testament portion was published in Reims, France, in 1582, in one volume with extensive commentary and notes. The Old Testament portion was published in two volumes twenty-seven years later in 1609 and 1610 by the University of Douai. The first volume, covering Genesis to Job, was published in 1609; the second, covering the Book of Psalms to 2 Maccabees plus the three apocryphal books of the Vulgate appendix following the Old Testament, was published in 1610. Marginal notes took up the bulk of the volumes and offered insights on issues of translation, and on the Hebrew and Greek source texts of the Vulgate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Living Translation</span> English translation of the Bible

The New Living Translation (NLT) is a translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Published in 1996 by Tyndale House Foundation, the NLT was created "by 90 leading Bible scholars." The NLT relies on recently published critical editions of the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New American Standard Bible</span> English translation of the Bible

The New American Standard Bible is a translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Published by the Lockman Foundation, the complete NASB was released in 1971. A new revisions were published in 1995 and 2020. The NASB relies on recently published critical editions of the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. It is known for preferring a literal translation style that generally preserves the structure of the original language when possible, rather than an idiomatic style that attempts to match natural English usage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New King James Version</span> English translation of the Bible

The New King James Version (NKJV) is a translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Published by Thomas Nelson, the complete NKJV was released in 1982. With regard to its textual basis, the NKJV relies on a recently published critical edition for the Old Testament, while opting to use the Textus Receptus for the New Testament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recovery Version</span> Modern English bible translation

The Recovery Version is a modern English translation of the Bible from the original languages, published by Living Stream Ministry, ministry of Witness Lee and Watchman Nee. It is the commonly used translation of Local Churches (affiliation).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biblical apocrypha</span> Ancient books found in some editions of Bibles

The biblical apocrypha denotes the collection of apocryphal ancient books thought to have been written some time between 200 BC and AD 100. The Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches include some or all of the same texts within the body of their version of the Old Testament, with Catholics terming them deuterocanonical books. Traditional 80-book Protestant Bibles include fourteen books in an intertestamental section between the Old Testament and New Testament called the Apocrypha, deeming these useful for instruction, but non-canonical. To this date, the Apocrypha are "included in the lectionaries of Anglican and Lutheran Churches". Anabaptists use the Luther Bible, which contains the Apocrypha as intertestamental books; Amish wedding ceremonies include "the retelling of the marriage of Tobias and Sarah in the Apocrypha". Moreover, the Revised Common Lectionary, in use by most mainline Protestants including Methodists and Moravians, lists readings from the Apocrypha in the liturgical calendar, although alternate Old Testament scripture lessons are provided.

The Holy Bible: Easy-to-Read Version (ERV) is an English translation of the Bible compiled by the World Bible Translation Center. It was originally published as the English Version for the Deaf (EVD) by BakerBooks.

The Old Testament is the first section of the two-part Christian biblical canon; the second section is the New Testament. The Old Testament includes the books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) or protocanon, and in various Christian denominations also includes deuterocanonical books. Orthodox Christians, Catholics and Protestants use different canons, which differ with respect to the texts that are included in the Old Testament.

A biblical canon is a set of texts which a particular Jewish or Christian religious community regards as part of the Bible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protestant Bible</span> Christian Bible whose translation or revision was produced by Protestants

A Protestant Bible is a Christian Bible whose translation or revision was produced by Protestant Christians. Typically translated into a vernacular language, such Bibles comprise 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament, for a total of 66 books. Some Protestants use Bibles which also include 14 additional books in a section known as the Apocrypha bringing the total to 80 books. This is in contrast with the 73 books of the Catholic Bible, which includes seven deuterocanonical books as a part of the Old Testament. The division between protocanonical and deuterocanonical books is not accepted by all Protestants who simply view books as being canonical or not and therefore classify books found in the Deuterocanon, along with other books, as part of the Apocrypha. Sometimes the term "Protestant Bible" is simply used as a shorthand for a bible which contains only the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments.

The Literal English Version of Scripture (LEV) is a translation of the Bible based on the World English Bible. Formerly known as the "Shem Qadosh Version", the title was officially changed in November 2016. It is considered a Sacred Name Bible rendering the name of God using the Hebrew characters יהוה, and that of Jesus in Hebrew as ישוע. It was created by a team of volunteers across the United States with additional proofing and editing assistance by individuals in Poland and Taiwan. Footnotes and appendices were written by the General Editor, J. A. Brown.

References

  1. ↑ "CEB Comparison Chart" . Retrieved 2010-08-07.
  2. ↑ About the CEB
  3. ↑ CEB website
  4. ↑ "About the Common English Bible" (PDF). www.commonenglishbible.com. Retrieved 2023-10-08.
  5. ↑ Trademarkia page
  6. ↑ "Preface to Gospel of Luke". Archived from the original on 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2010-08-08.
  7. ↑ Translator information on CEB site
  8. ↑ Peterson, David; Green, Joel; et al. (2010). The Common English Bible New Testament . Common English Bible. p. Preface. ISBN   978-1-60926-006-4.
  9. ↑ "Comparison Chart". Common English Bible. Archived from the original on 23 August 2010.
  10. ↑ CEB bookstore staff training tutorial
  11. ↑ Info on translation methodology
  12. ↑ "Common English Bible Board of Editors". Common English Bible.
  13. ↑ http://www.commonenglishbible.com/files/uploads/CEBStudyBibleSampler.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  14. ↑ CEB blog "From Son of Man to Human One" Archived 2010-06-02 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ "Preface to the Gospel of Luke". Archived from the original on 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2010-08-08.
  16. ↑ Sample National Geographic maps
  17. ↑ CEB Passage look up page
  18. ↑ Sample downloadable books
  19. ↑ http://www.commonenglishbible.com/files/uploads/CEB-StudyBibleSampler.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  20. ↑ Fuller Seminary Purpose and Mission
  21. ↑ Article on choice of CEB by Fuller Seminary as an approved Bible translation
  22. ↑ "The Bible". The Episcopal Church. Archived from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
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