The Voice: A Review

It has been said that even the original manuscripts of biblical writings are themselves translations. What is meant is that the Word of God exists eternally in heaven. The Bible is just a terrestrial translation of that Word, put into the context of human history. I think that's true. And that may be why, despite the fact that it took over 1,000 years to write, that there are 66 books, and over 40 human authors, the Bible has one singular, unifying message.

Think about it: there's poetry and narrative, proverbs and parables, prophecy and correspondence, apocalyptic literature and genealogies. Different styles compose different voices. Yet, those voices do not drown out the common message of redemptive history.

That's where The Voice comes in. Normally, when a new translation of Scripture is undertaken, the task is begun by Bible-geeks, those Greek and Hebrew scholars that translate the best ancient texts into English. Then those translations are reviewed by committee after committee, revised, edited, reviewed some more and double-checked. Then those pages are given to professional writers whose job it is to smooth out the translation (linguists and Bible-dorks are not always the best writers). After the grammar-Nazis have had their say, the translation goes (yup, you guessed it) back to committee for more review. The goal is to make a translation that is faithful to the original writings, but understandable to the contemporary English-speaking world. Editors smooth out each book and decisions are made so that the style is consistent throughout the project. But, in that process, the end-result is usually a translation where the original voices have been lost.

Ecclesia Bible Society, the folks behind The Voice, started with the opposite approach. They began with professional writers, poets and artists - unique people chosen for a particular book or two. Bible scholars and ancient language experts reviewed the projects as they progressed, and several layers of review were put into place to maintain accuracy, but the result is a Bible project that maintains the different voices the original readers would have discerned.

Thomas Nelson Publishers sent me a copy of the New Testament that was released two weeks ago and I've been reading it. I must say I really like it.

Here's a comparison of John 3:16-17:

THE VOICE:
For God expressed His love for the world in this way: He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not face everlasting destruction, but will have everlasting life. Here’s the point. God didn’t send His Son into the world to judge it; instead, He is here to rescue a world headed toward certain destruction.

ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

The italics in The Voice indicate words that don't come directly from the original text. They may be implied, but the italics let the reader know that some liberty has been taken.

Another feature of The Voice is that it was written in screenplay format. This gets rid of all the "And Jesus said" and "And he answered them saying" statements that tend to get in the way of the story. Here's another comparison, this time of Matthew 4:1-4:

THE VOICE:
The Spirit then led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. After this fast, He was, as you can imagine, hungry. But He was also curiously stronger because of His fast. And so He was able to withstand the devil, the tempter, when he came to Jesus.

The Devil: If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.
Jesus (quoting Deuteronomy): It is written,“Man does not live by bread alone. Rather, he lives on every word that comes from the mouth of the Eternal One.”

TODAY'S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION: Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘People do not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

There's also commentary from the authors that adds to the story. These typically deal with details that the original readers would have understood without an explanation, but that we, who are separated from the stories by time and culture, need help to pick up.

All in all, I think The Voice is a great addition to the wealth of Bible translations we have been blessed with in the English-speaking world. I wouldn't recommend it as someone's primary New Testament for study, but it's a great reading/devotional Bible and I hope it will someday be used commonly in corporate worship. Last week, I brought my copy to the high school Bible class I teach, and the students unanimously loved The Voice (as compared to the NIV, which they use in class).

Here's a complete PDF copy of John's Gospel for you to check out.