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Learning Bible-Cev (Firelight Planning Resources)

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I own a lot of Bibles, but when I saw this one, I knew I had to add it to my collection. For one thing, I didn't have another Bible with the Contemporary English Version translation. It is an easier translation to read and I agree with some of the other reviewers that it's probably not the best version for serious Bible study, but I think to disregard this Bible because of that would be a serious mistake.

I encourage you to use Amazon's wonderful "See Inside" feature to see what this Bible has to offer. It is SO colorful! The notes are in the margins rather than at the bottom of the page. The notes are categorized by icons for Geography, People & Nations, Objects, Plants and Animals, History & Culture, Ideas & Concepts, and Cross references.

What this Bible has that I've never seen anywhere is the pictures and photos that really help you understand the text! Just in the past couple of days, I've found these features helpful in my own study:

In Genesis 48, Jacob blesses Joseph's sons (remember when Isaac blessed Jacob? There are similarities). There is a large color photo of the Rembrandt painting (1656) of this event!

I was reading Hebrews 11, the Hall of Faith. This Bible has a large chart of 13 people mentioned in Hebrews 11, along with what they did, and where in the Bible you can read the whole story. On the next page, there are photos of two "stone ceiling boxes" in Norwich Cathedral in England, depicting Noah's Ark and Moses in the Bulrushes. You'll learn about how the ceiling was put on this 15th century cathedral!

In Exodus 12, there is a picture of the hyssop plant that was used by the Israelites to paint blood on their doorframes during the first passover. You'll also learn that the hyssop plant was mentioned in Psalm 51 - David asked that God wash him with hyssop (after his sin with Bethsheba) and then he will be whiter than snow.

This Bible has excellent articles about How the Bible Came to Us, What Books Belong in the Bible and why, the different kinds of literature found in the Bible, the history of Bible translation, and a great article about Biblical archeology!

I got the paperback version and it weighs 4 pounds! It is also wider than any other Bible I own, so it's a little unwieldy to have in your lap! You might consider getting the hardcover, or studying this Bible at the desk or table.

My favorite Bible for study is the NIV Study Bible, but this one will be right by my side to add visual interest and broaden my learning greatly!

Please check out my other reviews. I also have a Listmania List of favorite Bibles. I think I'll need to make a new Listmania List of some more great Bibles! May God bless you in the study of His Word!

I recommend this Bible for reading for devotion, understanding and (along with other translations) serious Bible study.

I wonder why a couple of reviewers say this version is not as good as the New International Version (NIV)? Is this because of something someone else has told you, or because you have a scholar's knowledge of Aramaic, and have done a comparison?

There is no inherent relationship between ease of reading and integrity of translations to the best available sources; being more difficult to understand does not make any version a better translation. Because of this and due to the quality of sources available to the translators of later versions, Some of those at our local seminary have chosen the CEV for its clarity and beauty of reading.

Others are less comfortable with some of the unfortunate apparent bias in the NIV in the way they have interpreted certain passages. The work of translating Scripture--as is every task of translating the Word of God--is about finding the best connections between the two languages, the originals (or those closest to the time of the originals) and the language into which the passages are being translated. There isn't much a modern Bible translator can do about the source documents--they are available to everybody who can read them.

A good translation reduces the barriers to language on the side of the modern text. Thus at least half of the opportunities to misunderstand the texts are more easily addressed. That language that is closest to that of contemporary English readers (in structure, construction, punctuation and word usage) is a better tool for Bible study than is a version that requires the reader to depart from his or her typical reading patterns in order to make sense of the passage translated.

For example, Shakespearean scholars would benefit from access to the earliest available copies of the historic scripts. They certainly would examine texts which might give hints as to the mindset of Shakespeare at the time these works were written, as well as to the mindset of the audience of Shakespeare's day--those who were standing packed against the stage as well as those with more delimited places from which to view the production. The task of better understanding the plays for who are not not fluent in the English language as it was spoken at the time the plays were written will not be served by producing explanations of Shakespeare written in the manner and with the same stylistic features as the original texts.

Yet who would turn to the 1639 version--complete with the audience packed in even to the stage and all women's parts being done by a boy whose voice has not yet changed at puberty--for appreciating the performance of a Shakespeare play?

As with experiencing the power of Shakespeare's plays, reading the Bible in a translation that is both accurate to the available manuscripts and is written to be read by someone in the late 20th and early 21st Century will provide the best seat from which we can experience the power of Scripture.

A Biblical version's accuracy is not inversely related to its readability!

In fact, later translations of scripture benefit from discoveries of new resources even closer to missing and accessible originals than those available years before. Further work by scholars researching, discussing and honing a collective understanding of the many difficult-to-understand passages of scripture makes it more likely that an understanding among the experts in the field has matured even further so that a better understanding of the meaning of the originals can guide the later translation.

And the contemporary languages--in this case American English--also change so that what something once easily understood by native readers is now bit of a puzzle. There are many examples but one that visits every traditional wedding ceremony talks about "cleaving" to one another. At one time cleaving was applied both to the taking apart of things and the securing different parts so they would not fall apart. This latter use is pretty much gone among native English speakers so that an often read bit relies on our suspending our disbelief in order to reconcile what seems to be a faulty translation, given the context.

But surely we don't want to end up in a place where our basic understanding of Scripture rests on some special exceptions that "readers in the know" have been told but which are not available to those not already aware. Given the modern usage, just what is it that the bride and groom are to do with this hatchet-like instrument designed to cut through flesh, ligament and bone so the butcher's job is made easier? If a translation requires you to know extra-textual things before you can understand a given passage, this is not a good translation. By definition.

Every committee of Biblical translators needs to begin with certain strategic decisions as they begin the task of translating. Some of the decisions are similar to those facing any translator: what passages do we mark as those relying on one ancient source but is in conflict with other sources? What cultural references in the extant oldest sources were easily understood by the original audiences but are completely foreign to a modern audience? Where will we strive to be on the literal/meaning scale?

That is, when we attempt a strict word-for-word literal translation, it will result in nonsense; different languages are structured differently, the idioms are different, (and particularly in the problem of scripture) there may be no contemporaries who natively speak the original language.

This results in a requirement that anyone who studies such a translation needs to possess a doctoral level of understanding about the contexts and cultures in which the original texts were written. The best translations do this for the reader without complicating other references, and without introducing unnecessary doubt into the mind of the modern reader. After all, of what use is a translation full of "John seems to be saying this, but Peter seems to be emphasizing this other meaning, while Paul has taken that word to mean much more than the others meant by it. . ." or of even less worth the translation that repeatedly says about the translation of a particular passage "it depends".

That is, the best translators do not simply transfer legitimate cautions about the meaning of a particular passage to the reader--who lacks any education and training in translation of any sort-- the burden of bridging the contextual and semantic gaps between the original language and that of the reader.

On the other hand, some translators will take a passage, read it in the original, and then restate the passage so that it is meaningful in the language into which the work is being translated.

The problem here, of course, is that the translator scholars are more likely to sneak in (perhaps unawares) some of their own prejudices about what particular passages mean.

This can be ameliorated somewhat by turning to a committee of translator/scholars, from a variety of Judeo/Christian traditions, but the risk cannot ever completely go away.

In the case of Biblical translation, this is all compounded by the problem that we have several existing versions of the scriptures, all of which are the result of generations of copying (and therefore, the possibility of scribal error), and no two of which exactly agree with one another.

I regularly read the NSRV (Harper Collins Study Bible), the NIV, and the CEV. Of these, I find the CEV to be a more powerful version. When we are talking about God's own written word, this is not a bad thing.

My advice (based on the reasons I have given) is to pick a translation (not a paraphrase) that most often speaks to you for regular and devotional reading. For me, this is the Contemporary English Version.

Then when it comes to serious study, read several versions side-by-side. And for truly serious study. . . learn Aramaic, ancient Hebrew, and ancient Greek! (and don't rely upon the single interpretation of your translator/teacher without independent work!)

In the end, nearly all bible translations available today are free from massive error in grammar and word choice and are thus inoculated to some degree from the portions in which we find ourselves confronted with a totally strange metaphor. And it is certainly easier now than it has been for multiple centuries to access explanations given by translators for the principles they adopted throughout their translation work.

To my ear and eye, the Contemporary English Version goes further than most in making the Holy Scriptures accessible to me. Ultimately that is of profound importance.

We have been using the CEV at our Bible studies for several years; both adults and teenagers find this translation easy to understand and relate to their lives. I ordered a copy of The Learning Bible, since we have been searching for a good study version of this translation. It is all we had hoped for and more! The format is inviting and easy to follow. The helpful notes on the side columns are clear and hard to ignore, as opposed to tiny footnotes in the usual study Bible. The introductory articles give helpful in-depth background, and the mini-articles spread throughout the book are well-written and informative. All-in-all, a Bible which invites exploration and in-depth study.

I purchased this item as a gift; however, I own one myself, and it is the first time I have been able to be diligent about doing scripture study. There are guidelines in the back of the book for reading through the Bible in 1 year, but I have set a slower pace, which allows me to read and ponder at my own pace. I would recommend it to all who are interested in doing in-depth study.

I have found this Bible great for teaching people who are just beginning to learn about Christ and His Word. I also find it easy reading for my adult students that don't speak, read and understand English very well. If you know the Scriptures well then this Bible is not for you. But if you are just beginning this is a great Bible to start with.

Wow ... the ancient biblical times come alive with color photographs, illustrations, encyclopedia-like references, and simple to read English for anyone interested in Christianity. Even an atheist or an agnostic who wants an academic and anthropological view of Judeo-Christian theology would find this an excellent learning guide.

The Bible has been translated and edited and politics has influenced it. I won't deny that nor will I refute that when the Christians aligned with the Roman empire there wasn't another influence in theology. But if you can get past all that ... and all the revisions in the Council of Nicea ... what we do have is a portal into a world whose wisdom remains valid in modern times.

Besides ... this is akin to an adult picture book bible story group and the stories come alive.

A friend gave me a list of creative ways to read the Bible: by topic, cover-to-cover or by each person. This Bible only gives a guide of reading it cover to cover. I used my own method unlike reading a subject at a time...I did a person at a time (e.g., David, Matthew). This made my Bible my readings SO MUCH FUN!

I am able to easily interpret God's word and share it more with friends and relatives of all ages. The side-bar comments and refernce data make this version even better.

Some are true to the KJV. This Contemporary English Version will be the only one for me!

The Contemporary English Version of the Bible is a modern translation (as opposed to a paraphrase). This book has extensive notes and background material. The paparback version is reasonably priced and makes a good tool for any serious student of the Bible.

I am very excited about The Learning Bible. It combines sound scholarship, attractive illustrations, with a very readable version. Tom Hinkle makes a good point about the "Thin Bread" and "Unleavened Bread", but overall the CEV is a very decent version. I especially appreciate it's interpretation of righteousness as being made acceptable to God through Christ. Bravo ABS, you've hit this one out of the park!

I purchased "The Learning Bible" to assist me in compiling information for a Jr/Sr Hi Sunday School class. It is amazing! It contains many facts, maps and even questions. It has proven to be an amazing tool to get to the heart of the Word.