Contemporary English Version

Last updated

Contemporary English Version
Contemporary English Version Bible cover.jpg
Full nameContemporary English Version
Other namesBible for Today's Family
AbbreviationCEV
OT  published1995
NT  published1991
Complete Bible
published
1995
Translation type Dynamic equivalence
Copyright American Bible Society 1991, 1992, 1995; Anglicizations British and Foreign Bible Society 1996
Website cev.bible
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was barren, with no form of life; it was under a roaring ocean covered with darkness. But the Spirit of God was moving over the water. God said, "I command light to shine!" And light started shining.
God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.

The Contemporary English Version or CEV (also known as Bible for Today's Family) is a translation of the Bible into English, published by the American Bible Society. An anglicized version was produced by the British and Foreign Bible Society, which includes metric measurements for the Commonwealth market.

Contents

History

The CEV project began as a result of studies conducted by Barclay Newman in 1985 regarding the speech patterns used in books, magazines, newspapers, and television. These studies focused on how English was read and heard. This led to a series of test volumes being published in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Among the volumes published were Luke Tells the Good News About Jesus (1987), The Good News Travels Fast – The Acts of the Apostles (1988), A Few Who Dared to Trust God (1990), and A Book About Jesus (1991). In 1991, the 175th anniversary of the American Bible Society, the CEV New Testament was released. The CEV Old Testament was released in 1995. In 1999, the Deuterocanonical books were published.

The CEV is sometimes mischaracterized as a revision of the Good News Bible , but is a new translation designed for a lower reading level than the GNB. The American Bible Society continues to promote both translations. Its lower reading level is not intended to dilute script or convey lesser intellect for understanding, it is written reflecting the change of language usage over time, under the principles of its translation.

Translation principles

The translators of the CEV followed three principles. They were that the CEV:

The CEV uses gender-neutral language for humanity, though not for God.

The translation simplifies Biblical terminology into more everyday words and phrases. An example can be found in Exodus 20:14, where the prohibition against committing adultery is rendered positively in terms of being faithful in marriage.

Moreover, the CEV often paraphrases in order to make the underlying point of a passage clear, rather than directly translating the wording. For example, compare Psalm 127:1 in the (much more literal) New International Version:

Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.

with the much shorter summary given by the CEV:

Without the help of the LORD it is useless to build a home or to guard a city.

Or verses 4 & 5 in the New International Version:

Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.

are rendered in the CEV as:

Having a lot of children to take care of you in your old age is like a warrior with a lot of arrows. The more you have, the better off you will be, because they will protect you when your enemies attack with arguments.

Here, rather than shortening the original, the CEV has introduced new material by way of explanation, such as 'to take care of you in your old age'.

The CEV translates the Greek phrase hoi Ioudaioi (literally, "the Jews") as "the Jewish leaders," especially in the Gospel of John (as in John 18:14). The CEV translators believe that the Greek phrase hoi Ioudaioi in the Gospel of John primarily refers to the Jewish leadership (as in John 6:41).

Usages

Sources

Some of the information in this article comes from an email inquiry by Wikipedian Joshua Holman to Jacquelyn Sapiie, Supervisor of Library Services at the American Bible Society on February 9, 2004.

See also

Related Research Articles

<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 Bible (KJB) 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">Lord's Prayer</span> Christian prayer taught by Jesus

The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father, is a central Christian prayer that Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew, and a shorter form in the Gospel of Luke when "one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples'". Regarding the presence of the two versions, some have suggested that both were original, the Matthean version spoken by Jesus early in his ministry in Galilee, and the Lucan version one year later, "very likely in Judea".

<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 on October 27, 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.

Antisemitism and the New Testament is the discussion of how some Christians' views of Judaism in the New Testament have contributed to discrimination against Jewish people throughout history and in the present day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Today's New International Version</span> Updated translation of the Bible

Today's New International Version (TNIV) is an English translation of the Bible which was developed by the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT). The CBT also developed the New International Version (NIV) in the 1970s. The TNIV is based on the NIV. It is explicitly Protestant like its predecessor; the deuterocanonical books are not part of this translation. The TNIV New Testament was published in March 2002. The complete Bible was published in February 2005. The rights to the text are owned by Biblica. Zondervan published the TNIV in North America. Hodder & Stoughton published the TNIV in the UK and European Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New World Translation</span> Jehovahs Witnesses Bible translation

The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures is a translation of the Bible published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society; it is used and distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses. The New Testament portion was released first, in 1950, as the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, with the complete New World Translation of the Bible released in 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World English Bible</span> Bible translation

The World English Bible (WEB) is an English translation of the Bible freely shared online. The translation work began in 1994 and was deemed complete in 2020. Created by Michael Paul Johnson with help from volunteers, the WEB is an updated revision of the American Standard Version from 1901.

More than 100 complete translations into English languages have been produced. Translations of Biblical books, especially passages read in the Liturgy can be traced back to the late 7th century, including translations into Old and Middle English.

<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.

<i>Gods Word Translation</i> English translation of the Bible translated by the Gods Word to the Nations Society

The God's Word Translation (GW) is an English translation of the Bible. God's Word to the Nations Mission Society managed and funded the translation.

<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. 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">Modern English Bible translations</span> English Bible translations published since 1800

Modern English Bible translations consists of English Bible translations developed and published throughout the late modern period to the present.

There have been various debates concerning the proper family of biblical manuscripts and translation techniques that should be used to translate the Bible into other languages. Biblical translation has been employed since the first translations were made from the Hebrew Bible into Greek and Aramaic. Until the Late Middle Ages, the Western Church used the Latin Vulgate almost entirely while the Eastern Church, centered in Constantinople, mostly used the Greek Byzantine text. Beginning in the 14th century, there have been increasing numbers of vernacular translations into various languages. With the development of modern printing techniques, these increased enormously.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tyndale Bible</span> Early Modern English translation of the Bible

The Tyndale Bible (TYN) generally refers to the body of biblical translations by William Tyndale into Early Modern English, made c. 1522–1535. Tyndale's biblical text is credited with being the first Anglophone Biblical translation to work directly from Hebrew and Greek texts, although it relied heavily upon the Latin Vulgate and Luther's German New Testament. Furthermore, it was the first English biblical translation that was mass-produced as a result of new advances in the art of printing.

Arabic translations of the Bible constitute one of the richest traditions of Bible transmission. Translations of the Bible into Arabic were produced by Arabic-speaking Jews, Christians, and Samaritans. Even though Arabic was spoken by Jews and Christians before the advent of Islam, running Arabic translations of the Bible are attested in manuscripts only from the 9th century CE onwards. So far, no evidence could be adduced that Arabic Bible translations were available at that time. Before that, quotations from the Bible were used in Arabic especially by Christians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SMS language</span> Abbreviated slang used in text messaging

Short Message Service (SMS) language, textism, or textese is the abbreviated language and slang commonly used in the late 1990s and early 2000s with mobile phone text messaging, and occasionally through Internet-based communication such as email and instant messaging.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacred Name Bible</span> Bible translations that use Hebraic forms of Gods personal name (YHWH)

Sacred Name Bibles are Bible translations that consistently use Hebraic forms of the God of Israel's personal name, instead of its English language translation, in both the Old and New Testaments. Some Bible versions, such as the Jerusalem Bible, employ the name Yahweh, a transliteration of the Hebrew tetragrammaton (YHWH), in the English text of the Old Testament, where traditional English versions have LORD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Good News Bible</span> English translation of the Bible

Good News Bible (GNB), also called the Good News Translation (GNT) in the United States, is an English translation of the Bible by the American Bible Society. It was first published as the New Testament under the name Good News for Modern Man in 1966. It was anglicised into British English by the British and Foreign Bible Society with the use of metric measurements for the Commonwealth market. It was formerly known as Today's English Version (TEV), but in 2001 was renamed the Good News Translation in the U.S., because the American Bible Society wished to improve the GNB's image as a translation where it had a public perception as a paraphrase. Despite the official terminology, it is still often referred to as the Good News Bible in the United States. It is a multi-denominational translation, with editions used by many Christian denominations. It is published by HarperCollins, a subsidiary of News Corp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bible translations into Mongolian</span>

The earliest preserved translation of the Bible into the Mongolian language dates to 1827, but there is a written record of what may perhaps have been a translation existing as early as 1305. Since 1827, numerous other translations have been made.

References

  1. Staff reporter. (November 2009). "New York City: in the wake of September 11..." United Bible Societies. Archived from the original on March 1, 2002. Retrieved July 11, 2010. Dr Eugene Habecker, President of the ABS, with copies of the special Scripture Portion God Is Our Shelter and Strength in hand, offered words of support and encouragement to rescue workers at 'Ground Zero' (above) nine days after the attack.
  2. Staff reporter. (September 8, 2005). "American Bible Society Provides Bibles and Scripture Portions to Those Affected by Hurricane Katrina". American Bible Society (Press release). Archived from the original on June 18, 2008. Retrieved June 30, 2012.
  3. "SMS Bible launched in Australia". BBC. October 7, 2005. Retrieved June 28, 2008.
  4. "Auckland church to read whole Bible on internet". The New Zealand Herald. October 14, 2005. Retrieved June 28, 2008.

Further reading