Introduction

It is my goal to render into easily understandable contemporary English prose the Old Testament, a task I project to take at least ten years. Using existing translations (beginning with the English Revised Version, The New International Version, and The New Living Translation, with reference to other versions) I hope to craft  the ancient texts into a work of modern literature and to capture, through something more than a word-by-word  transcription, the true meaning of what the Biblical authors wrote so many centuries ago.  However much the King James Version is to be admired, I feel that in the poetic dignity of 17th century literary prose much meaning is sadly lost.  Recent versions of the Bible have either done little to adapt to changes of vocabulary, grammatical structure, and idiom, that is, to write modern English, or else have produced Sunday school primers of dubious merit.  I have avoided words and phrases that are vague, archaic or employed only in a religious context, eliminated what is superfluous and redundant, and, occasionally, have added a word or phrase for clarity’s sake.  I have tried not to bend the meaning in order to conform to an already held religious view, but to take the text at face value.

I have included under Notes my own questions, observations, and comments.  While I believe that most of these are in line with the reactions of the average reader, some may be controversial, even offensive to some -- and I hope that some will be insightful.  While, in my efforts to keep things entertaining, I have resorted at times to a bit of drollery, there is never the intention of  irreverence.   More than anything,  it is my aim not only to make the Old Testament readable, but to stimulate interest and reasoned thought.

Stephen Warde Anderson