We have blogged in the past about The Books of the Bible (TBOTB), an edition of the TNIV which formats the text without verse numbers and arranges the text more in chronological order as well as closer to the order in the Hebrew Bible.
May 9 there will be on online chat by the Bible Design Group that has been designing TBOTB and promoting de-versifying. The chat will be on Facebook at this Internet address:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=16104361781
The chat will take place between 4-5 pm Mountain Time (6-7 Eastern).
If you are not a member of Facebook, it takes only two or three minutes to become one. You are invited to join the chat and ask questions of the Bible Design team, or give them other comments and ideas which can help promote de-versified Bibles for better Bible study.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Bibles which say what they mean
David McKay blogs about Psalm 7:12, 13 where the TNIV translates more literally than the ESV:
Gontroppo's Blog: Bibles which say what they mean
Gontroppo's Blog: Bibles which say what they mean
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Mark Bertrand on Allan's TNIV
Mark Bertrand is a connoisseur of Bibles that are packaged well, good bindings, page layout, etc. He has found an edition of the TNIV that meets his high standards. Mark writes:
there is an edition of the TNIV I can recommend wholeheartedly -- and not surprisingly it comes from R. L. Allan's. The Allan's TNIV is a 4.5 x 6.5 inch hardback, about .875 inches thick, featuring a small print, double-column text. The cover is available in four styles: black highland goatskin, imperial purple highland goatskin, cardinal red goatskin, and British tan calfskin. These sell for £50. There's also a French morocco edition for £40. A tabbed closure keeps the silk-lined cover secure. According to the description at Bibles-Direct.com, these editions have two ribbon markers; mine only came with one.Mark goes into a lot more detail about this edition and then concludes:
Having said all this, the question is: would I recommend the Allan's TNIV? I would. If you're using the TNIV extensively, then you'll probably want the TNIV Reference Bible as a main edition (you can always have that bonded leather cover replaced, and the font isn't as ghastly as I make out once you're used to it). But for everyday use -- especially carry -- the Allan's TNIV is the best available. If you don't use the TNIV but would like to check it out, perhaps the thought of an Allan's edition is such an usual yet practical format will sway you.
All I know is, the next time I get an e-mail complaining there are no "nice" editions of the TNIV available, I will have to disagree. The Allan's TNIV is superb. I'll be reading a lot of more of the TNIV, I suspect -- assuming my wife doesn't confiscate this edition first!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Karen Jobes paper
The Zondervan blog has a new post about a 2007 ETS paper written by Karen Jobes, a member of the TNIV translation team. The paper is titled "Bible Translation as Bilingual Quotation" and is available as a PDF download.
For a summary of the paper, read the Zondervan blog post and a followup post by John Hobbins.
For a summary of the paper, read the Zondervan blog post and a followup post by John Hobbins.
Friday, February 8, 2008
TNIV sales rank
TNIV sales continue in the top 10 for Bibles sold each month at Christian booksellers. Here are rankings for Bibles sales last month:
FEBRUARY 2008
BIBLE TRANSLATIONS - Based on Dollar Sales
BIBLE TRANSLATIONS - Based on Unit Sales
FEBRUARY 2008
BIBLE TRANSLATIONS - Based on Dollar Sales
1 New International Version
2 King James Version
3 New King James Version
4 New Living Translation
5 New American Standard Bible update
6 Today’s New International Version
7 Holman Christian Standard Bible
8 The Message
9 English Standard Version
10 Amplified Bible
BIBLE TRANSLATIONS - Based on Unit Sales
1 New International Version
2 King James Version
3 New King James Version
4 New Living Translation
5 English Standard Version
6 Holman Christian Standard Bible
7 New American Standard Bible update
8 The Message
9 Today’s New International Version
10 Reina Valera 1960 (Spanish)
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
updated bookshelf
I have just updated our bookshelf in the margin of this blog. Blog visitors Mark and Julie let us know that a book on New Testament theology by I. Howard Marshall uses the TNIV as its Bible text. Also, some of the images of books I had previously posted were no longer available from their original Internet addresses. I think I have all the images fixed now.
If you know of other books, not on our bookshelf, which use the TNIV as their default Bible text, please let us know. You can contact us at the e-mail address listed in the margin: bible dot tniv at gmail dot com.
If you know of other books, not on our bookshelf, which use the TNIV as their default Bible text, please let us know. You can contact us at the e-mail address listed in the margin: bible dot tniv at gmail dot com.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
The Bible Experience so far . . . Part 2
Check out Rick Mansfield's review of the historical books as he listens to The Bible Experience (TBE).
Rick's been listening to chunks at a time in his commute. I've been listening to TBE while I read through the Bible. Thus Rick has listened from Genesis through Esther. I've listened to:
As I've listened, I've found some words omitted and others added. Nothing that changes any meaning. But I'm kind of nit-picky. An example of something they often do is that if a person is speaking, and then mid-stream of their dialogue the TNIV records a phrase such as the LORD said and then continues on with what the LORD said, TBE will omit the phrase the LORD said and just allow the dialogue to continue. For the theatrical element I understand them eliminating the phrase, but I'd prefer if they left it in. However, if that's the worst thing they do, then I still must admit it's the best dramatized audio Bible I've heard to date.
Rick's been listening to chunks at a time in his commute. I've been listening to TBE while I read through the Bible. Thus Rick has listened from Genesis through Esther. I've listened to:
- Genesis - Exodus 32
- Psalms 3-8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 21, 88
- Luke
- Acts 1-8
As I've listened, I've found some words omitted and others added. Nothing that changes any meaning. But I'm kind of nit-picky. An example of something they often do is that if a person is speaking, and then mid-stream of their dialogue the TNIV records a phrase such as the LORD said and then continues on with what the LORD said, TBE will omit the phrase the LORD said and just allow the dialogue to continue. For the theatrical element I understand them eliminating the phrase, but I'd prefer if they left it in. However, if that's the worst thing they do, then I still must admit it's the best dramatized audio Bible I've heard to date.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
TNIV Added to Logos Base Packages
Logos has just upgraded all Logos users who have a base package with the NIV to get a free copy of the TNIV.
From Logos employee Phil Gons' blog:
Logos just released a new round of base packages labeled ND. No, that’s not an abbreviation for anything. They serve merely to distinguish the various versions of the base packages. The previous base packages were OC, the ones before that were QB, and the ones before that were RA. You can upgrade from your current OC package to the corresponding ND package for free (you pay only for the media and shipping). They’ve added the TNIV and NIrV to all of the base packages that include the NIV (i.e., all but Christian Home and Original Languages).
From Logos employee Phil Gons' blog:
Logos just released a new round of base packages labeled ND. No, that’s not an abbreviation for anything. They serve merely to distinguish the various versions of the base packages. The previous base packages were OC, the ones before that were QB, and the ones before that were RA. You can upgrade from your current OC package to the corresponding ND package for free (you pay only for the media and shipping). They’ve added the TNIV and NIrV to all of the base packages that include the NIV (i.e., all but Christian Home and Original Languages).
This is a fairly significant move since for the longest time, Logos actually kept a disclaimer on its TNIV add-on page as if it were a dangerous pack of cigarettes. Then in March of last year, Logos suddenly did the right thing and dropped the disclaimer.
Who would have thought that less than a year later, the TNIV would be standard fare in many of the base packages! Logos, you've come a long way.
For more on the Logos upgrade that includes the TNIV, go to http://www.logos.com/upgrade.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Keeping Up with Harran
Folks often overlook one of the other new features of the TNIV--that is, the revised spelling of certain proper names. The TNIV breaks with traditional spellings--or more precisely, Anglicized spellings--for certain names leftover from the KJV and other English translations.
For instance, Evil-Merodach is now Awel-Marduk and Succoth is now Sukkoth. Such changes are welcome for the sake of accuracy, but will no doubt frustrate some who attempt to look up certain individuals and places in Bible dictionaries and other reference works, at least until Zondervan and other publishers updates their references to reflect the spellings found in the TNIV.
There is a listing of revised spellings at the back of every edition of the TNIV.
Recently, while teaching in Genesis at church, one of the new spellings caught my attention:
"Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter–in–law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there." (Gen 11:31 TNIV)
Note the geographical location, Harran, traditionally spelled with only one R. Why the change? Does the Hebrew justify the change in spelling? Well, no and yes. Technically, there is only one resh in חָרָן, however the Hebrew Haran/חָרָן is actually a Hebrew rendering of
the Akkadian harranu. More importantly, the change brings the spelling into line with the city of Harran in modern-day Turkey, which is almost universally believed to be the same city as the Haran/Harran mentioned in the Bible.
And as a consequence, now there is a slight distinction between Haran, the brother of Abraham and Harran, the city where Terah traveled with his family. Although the two names are in the same context in Genesis 11, the person and the place do not have anything to do with each other (and are spelled differently in Hebrew). In fact, Haran, the brother of Abraham and son of Terah died before the rest of his family left Ur.
No other major translation that I know of besides the TNIV has updated the spelling of the biblical Haran/Harran to match that of the known city.
However, there is one more interesting aspect to the change in spelling that caught my attention. When I looked at the maps at the back of my TNIV Reference Bible, I noted that the spelling in the maps had NOT been updated!
I'm assuming that the maps used in the back of TNIV Bibles are the same ones used in NIV Bibles, but one would think that Zondervan would want to update them to reflect the spellings of the TNIV. Leaving them the same can only cause confusion.
One final interesting tidbit about Harran. According to the Wikipedia article on Harran, legend has it that this is the location where Adam and Eve first stepped when they were first expelled from the Garden. Granted it's just legend, but isn't it fitting that it was in Harran where Abraham first heard his call from God to go to the promised land? From the point of expulsion and alienation from God, the journey began to enter into God's rest. I find this very appropriate--regardless of how one spells the location.
For instance, Evil-Merodach is now Awel-Marduk and Succoth is now Sukkoth. Such changes are welcome for the sake of accuracy, but will no doubt frustrate some who attempt to look up certain individuals and places in Bible dictionaries and other reference works, at least until Zondervan and other publishers updates their references to reflect the spellings found in the TNIV.
There is a listing of revised spellings at the back of every edition of the TNIV.
Recently, while teaching in Genesis at church, one of the new spellings caught my attention:
"Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter–in–law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there." (Gen 11:31 TNIV)
Note the geographical location, Harran, traditionally spelled with only one R. Why the change? Does the Hebrew justify the change in spelling? Well, no and yes. Technically, there is only one resh in חָרָן, however the Hebrew Haran/חָרָן is actually a Hebrew rendering of
the Akkadian harranu. More importantly, the change brings the spelling into line with the city of Harran in modern-day Turkey, which is almost universally believed to be the same city as the Haran/Harran mentioned in the Bible.
And as a consequence, now there is a slight distinction between Haran, the brother of Abraham and Harran, the city where Terah traveled with his family. Although the two names are in the same context in Genesis 11, the person and the place do not have anything to do with each other (and are spelled differently in Hebrew). In fact, Haran, the brother of Abraham and son of Terah died before the rest of his family left Ur.
No other major translation that I know of besides the TNIV has updated the spelling of the biblical Haran/Harran to match that of the known city.
However, there is one more interesting aspect to the change in spelling that caught my attention. When I looked at the maps at the back of my TNIV Reference Bible, I noted that the spelling in the maps had NOT been updated!
I'm assuming that the maps used in the back of TNIV Bibles are the same ones used in NIV Bibles, but one would think that Zondervan would want to update them to reflect the spellings of the TNIV. Leaving them the same can only cause confusion.
One final interesting tidbit about Harran. According to the Wikipedia article on Harran, legend has it that this is the location where Adam and Eve first stepped when they were first expelled from the Garden. Granted it's just legend, but isn't it fitting that it was in Harran where Abraham first heard his call from God to go to the promised land? From the point of expulsion and alienation from God, the journey began to enter into God's rest. I find this very appropriate--regardless of how one spells the location.
CORRECTION: As pointed out by Elshaddai Edwards in the comments, the Revised English Bible also includes the spelling, Harran. Upon further checking, I have also discovered the spelling Harran in the recently published New English Translation of the Septuagint, although it should be noted that the spelling of the city's name in the LXX is Χαρραν.
UPDATE: Some TNIV Bibles do have the updated spellings, specifically the TNIV Study Bible for one. Also, Zondervan has looked into the matter with the TNIV Reference Bible and will include a newer, updated set of maps in a later printing.
The Bible Experience so far
Rick Mansfield and I are both listening through the The Bible Experience - an audio dramatization of the TNIV. I've enjoyed it very much so far. Rick apparently does too. In fact, Rick has already written a review for the portion he has listened to - the Pentateuch. Check out Rick's review.
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