The Risk of Reader’s Bibles
Last week, I spoke with a Vice President of major Bible publisher, who informed me that some reader’s Bibles have not yet provided an adequate return on the investment required to publish them. I do not know if this situation is widespread across many publishers, or many versions of reader’s Bibles. But I was deeply saddened to hear that even one of my favorite reader’s Bibles has not yet proven “worth it” to its publisher.
So please indulge me with a brief commercial, advertising my favorite reader’s Bibles. Though I list them here in the order of how much I like them, every one of these reader’s Bibles would be worth your investment.
- NIV Sola Scriptura (4 volumes)
- ESV six-volume (without chapter and verse numbers)
- ESV one-volume
- CSB one-volume
- ESV gospels
I have little doubt the CSB five-volume would also be worth your investment; I just have not yet acquired it for myself. There is even a way to introduce your children to the concept of a reader’s Bible. Publishers have taken great risks to present God’s word to us in these non-traditional ways, and they ought to win medals for having done so. I believe a reader’s Bible is the best prescription I can give for increasing your delight in God’s word.
I don’t think I can overstate the value of clearing out the clutter that has accumulated over centuries in presenting God’s word in printed form. Though a reader’s Bible may appear novel and jarring—on the page, it really does not look like the sort of Bible you are accustomed to reading—we must remember that even our “traditional” Bible presentations are nothing like the original manuscripts would have appeared to the original readers. The New Testament was written with all capital letters, no punctuation or spaces, and certainly no headings, verse numbers, or cross-references. Modern versions of the Bible have drifted far from the original look and feel. So why not continue finding new ways to present the Scripture in ways that increase the reader’s joy in this glorious literature?
Introducing Exodus: A Novella
With that purpose in mind, I am thrilled to introduce you to a passion project I’ve been working on for some time. With the help of a professional book layout designer, I have developed a version of the book of Exodus designed to look in every way like a modern novella. Exodus is one of the greatest narratives in the history of the world, but the drama of it can be lost amid the standard double-column format, distracting verse and chapter numbers, and myriad footnotes or study notes.
But what if we could read this glorious narrative the same way we read our favorite novels? What if the book was presented in a way that visually presents the gripping plot arcs, follows the highs and lows of the action, and encourages you to keep turning the pages to read? And read. And read. What if the visual design encouraged you to spend an entire afternoon in this divinely inspired, deeply engaging story of redemption? And yes, I’m including all the laws and tabernacle details when I use such adjectives as “greatest,” “glorious,” “gripping,” and “engaging.”
I present to you Exodus: A Novella. Exodus is one of the best, true stories you could ever read, and here it is presented in a format that underscores why the world has been so captivated by it. You won’t find any verse numbers or footnotes, though a few names are translated in brackets to reveal wordplays. There are chapter numbers, but not the traditional ones. Instead of 40 “chapters,” somewhat arbitrarily determined, the Novella has 7 chapters, following the narrative’s natural literary divisions. It has page numbers, part titles, and page headers, just like the average novel you might pick up today. But unlike the average novel today, this spirit-inspired text is guaranteed to change your life again and again.
My biggest regret is that I was unable to secure permission from a Bible publisher to use a popular translation. So you’ll have to live with my own translation of Exodus, which has been a work in progress for nearly 20 years. In no way do I insinuate that my translation is any “better” than the ones you are used to; it is simply a fact that copyright laws prevent me from using most of the translations you might be familiar with. I didn’t want to delay the project any further by pursuing permission from every Bible publisher out there, so I moved forward with my own text. But if you are a Bible publisher and would be interested in permitting me to use your translation for this purpose, please feel free to contact me to work out the details.
While I’m on the topic of copyright, I’ll mention that I’m licensing Exodus: A Novella under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. This means that you are free to print, copy, adapt, and distribute this work in any way you like, as long as you credit the work to the original creator and distribute it under an identical license. So, no need to request permission if you’d like to print it out, give it away, or do something else with it.
Here is a preview of the Table of Contents and prologue (what you might know as Exodus chapter 1).
If you’d like to download and read the complete novella, click the button and enjoy!
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