What Is the Living Bible?
The Living Bible was created by Kenneth Taylor and first published in 1971. A revised edition was published in 1996 as the Holy Bible: New Living Translation. The Living Bible uses paraphrase to make a "thought-for-thought" translation of the Bible, as opposed to a literal one.
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History
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Kenneth Taylor got the idea for writing the Living Bible when he realized that his own children did not understand much of the language in the King James edition. He began paraphrasing the stories for his children, and decided to produce a new Bible based on paraphrasing.
Significance
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The goal of the writers who worked on the Living Bible was to create a text that would have the same impact on the lives of its modern readers as the original scripture had on its readers.
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Benefits
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The Living Bible communicates entire thoughts--rather than just words--into natural, everyday English. This is called "thought-for-thought" translation, and it makes the Living Bible easy to read and understand by the average person. Archaic and foreign phrases were changed and difficult metaphors were clarified. The idea was to create a Bible that people could easily relate to their everyday lives.
Popularity
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In 1972 and 1973, The Living Bible was the best-selling book in America. It was especially popular among evangelists and youth groups. More than 40 million copies have been sold. The Christian Broadcasting Group sells a version of the Living Bible called "The Book."
Interesting fact
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Much of the proceeds from the sale of the New Living Bible go to support Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Tyndale House Foundation, which supports Bible translation work in many languages around the world.
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