This is the Word I know and love, rendered both more poetic and clearer.
I have to admit to a little cynicism about the MEV being yet another new translation and whether or not it was just going to be about revenue. But publisher Passio and the translators clearly have worked hard on this, and they are clearly worth their wage. I don't begrudge them their hard-won revenue.
Far beyond all that, though, is this Work. Much like Harry Connick Jr. said about his favorite kinds of Steinways, I enjoy a book that's unafraid to "fight me" a little.
The MEV translation, in the short time I have spent with it, reached out and slapped me around. Romans, in particular, was unlike I'd ever read it. Paul is infamous among followers of Christ for his tangled rhetoric at times, and I've heard it said by more than one Christian that they understood Paul's intent not because of his writing but rather in spite of it and with heavy empowerment by the Holy Spirit. I'm telling you, if you're looking for a new way to understand what Paul meant, you need to read the Modern English Version. It's staggeringly good.
This is a translation wherein words are on full display for their deep meanings, without apology, and the translators haven't shied away from the rich ones. I had mistakenly assumed their use of the word "Modern" was going to mean we would be burdened with yet another NIV: tepid stale milquetoast. The MEV is nothing like it. It's punchy. It will wake you up and make you pay attention, especially in those certain favorite passages where you think you know what's coming.
And it's not just the translators' word choices that set the MEV apart. It's how those words come together at the sentence, even at the paragraph level. All in all, the effect is provocative because it makes one stop and consider everything anew.
I highly recommend to you this translation, this approach to the Word of God. And I look forward very much indeed to spending more time with it, more time in it, soaking in the richness, the goodness, the meaning. This is, as pastor Trevor says, "good grazing."
Chris White is an award-winning author and editor and co-author of the Airel Saga with Aaron Patterson. Chris also writes historical literary fiction under the pen name Austen John, and has also penned some short stories as C.P. White.
For the original article, visit Cpwhitemedia.com.
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