The Contemporary English Version or CEV (also known as Bible for Today's Family) is a

translation Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

of the Bible into English, published by the

American Bible Society American Bible Society is a U.S.-based Christian nonprofit headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As the American member organization of United Bible Societies, it supports global Bible translation, production, distribution, literacy, engag ...

. An anglicized version was produced by the

British and Foreign Bible Society The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world. The So ...

, which includes metric measurements for the Commonwealth market.

History

The CEV project began as a result of studies conducted by

Barclay Newman Barclay may refer to: People * Barclay (surname) * Clan Barclay Places * Barclay, Kansas * Barclay, Maryland, a town in Queen Anne's County * Barclay, Baltimore, Maryland, a neighborhood * Barclay, Nevada, a town in Lincoln County * Barclay, ...

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 The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

was released in 1995. In 1999, the

Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books The deuterocanonical books (from the Greek meaning "belonging to the second canon") are books and passages considered by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Assyrian Church of the East to b ...

were published. While the CEV is sometimes mischaracterized as a revision of the '' Good News Bible'', it is a new translation designed for a lower reading level than the GNB. The American Bible Society continues to promote both translations. Note: ''That while it is designed for a lower reading level in comparison to the GNB, this does not dilute script or convey lesser intellect for understanding CEV moreso than GNB, it is written reflecting the change of language usage over time, as per the below translation principles.''

Translation principles

The translators of the CEV followed three principles. They were that the CEV: * must be understood by people without stumbling in speech * must be understood by those with little or no comprehension of "Bible" language, and * must be understood by all. 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 , where the prohibition against committing ''

adultery Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...

'' 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 The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The ''NIV'' was created as a modern translation, by Bible scholars using the earliest a ...

: :''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 ''Ioudaios'' ( grc, Ἰουδαῖος; pl. ''Ioudaioi''). is an Ancient Greek ethnonym used in classical and biblical literature which commonly translates to " Jew" or "Judean". The choice of translation is the subject of frequent scholarly de ...

'' (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

* In the aftermath of the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, the

published a special booklet titled ''God Is Our Shelter and Strength''. The booklet contained passages from the

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

and other parts of the Bible. This booklet was also published after the

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

disaster in September 2005. * In October 2005, the

Bible Society A Bible society is a non-profit organization, usually nondenominational in makeup, devoted to translating, publishing, and distributing the Bible at affordable prices. In recent years they also are increasingly involved in advocating its credibi ...

in Australia launched a project called ''SMSBible'', which was the entire CEV in

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

text messages. News reports about the service claimed that the Bible spanned more than 30,000 text messages. * On October 25, 2005, a church in New Zealand began a project called PodBible to produce an audio version of the CEV available via

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

webcast A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, web ...

. * In 2009, through the

UCCF Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF) is a UK-based charity that was founded in 1928 as the Inter-Varsity Fellowship of Evangelical Unions. UCCF's dual aims are: #To advance the evangelical Christian faith amongst students, gr ...

'FREE Gospel Project' 400,000 copies of the book of Mark in CEV were handed out at over 150 universities in the UK.

Sources

*Sheeley, Stephen M. and Nash, Robert N. ''Choosing a Bible''. pp. 55–56. * Metzger, Bruce M. ''The Bible In Translation''. p. 171. 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.

References

External links

CEV.Bible - official websiteContemporary English Version text (UK)CEV Text (US)CEV Bible Search - powered by American Bible Society
{{Authority control 1991 books 1995 books English, Contemporary 1991 in Christianity 1995 in Christianity