Jots & Tittles 23: An Error in Psalm 10:13 (MEV)

 

JTR

WM 201: Review: Bob Faulkner, Speak My Language!

 

JTR

Book Review posted: Modern English Version (MEV)

My review of the Modern English Version (MEV) appears in the latest issue of the Midwestern Journal of Theology, Vol. 18 No. 1 (Spring 2019): 129-135.

I have posted a pdf of the review to my academia.edu page (read it here).

I also posted a spoken word version of the review to sermonaudio.com (listen here).

I had also discussed the MEV in WM 108.

JTR

WM 108: Review Modern English Version (MEV) Bible

I have posted WM 108: Review: Modern English Version Bible (MEV) (listen to the audio here).

In this episode I share a draft of a written review of the Modern English Version (MEV):

Here is the opening to the review, the headings, and the concluding observations:

James F. Linzey, Ed., The Holy Bible, Modern English Version (Lake Mary, Florida: Charisma Media/Charisma House Book Group, 2014): 625 pp.

The Modern English Version (MEV) is yet another contemporary English translation of the Bible. This version is distinct, however, for several reasons. First, and most importantly, it is a translation based on the traditional original language texts of the Christian Scriptures (the Hebrew Masoretic text of the Old Testament and the Greek Textus Receptus of the New Testament), rather than the modern critical texts, which form the basis for most modern vernacular translations. Second, it also aims to be an “updating” of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, the venerable English translation that was based on these same traditional original language texts.

The history and perspective of the MEV

MEV layout, design, and formatting

The MEV and the text of Scripture

The MEV and the translation of Scripture

Concluding observations:

Though the MEV is “yet another contemporary English translation of the Bible,” its differences from other modern translations are significant. This is the first widely available modern translation since the New King James Version (completed 1982) which aims to follow the traditional original language texts and emulate the translation style and wording of the KJV. It is, in fact, similar in many ways to the NKJV and thus shares in some of its strengths and weaknesses.

The MEV, no doubt, reflects the ongoing popularity of the KJV in the English-speaking world and the respect it continues to enjoy among evangelical Christians despite decades of the marketing of “new and improved” translations based on the modern critical text.   The MEV could easily be read and used in the pew in churches that ordinarily use the KJV or NKJV. It might even enhance and further the appreciation of the Tyndale/King James Version tradition. For these reasons it is a distinctive and even refreshing addition to a crowded Bible market.

JTR