Abbreviation: | MRB |
Released: | 1923 |
Contents: | Old Testament, Apocrypha, New Testament |
Source Used: | Macmillan Company (1923) |
Location: | Tyndale House, Cambridge, United Kingdom |
This translation, presented in modern literary form, was edited by Richard G. Moulton, a professor of literary theory and interpretation at the University of Chicago. It is based on the English Revised Version.
When we look into our ordinary versions, we cannot see the lyrics, epics, dramas, essays, sonnets, and treatises as in other great literatures of the world. Instead, we see a monotonous uniformity of numbered sentences, more suggestive of an itemized legal instrument than literature.
The most ancient manuscripts could not distinguish verse and prose. In prose, they make no distinctions of sentences and paragraphs. In verse, they make no distinctions of meter. In drama, they do not discriminate speeches nor suggest the names of speakers. Many do not make divisions of words. The scribes, rabbis, and medieval doctors who have intervened between the authors and us can be described as commentators. These preserved the words of Scripture, but they did not consider the literary character. The purpose of this translation is to give assistance in meeting this difficulty. The spirit of this work is bounded by the idea of literature. Within the covers of this volume, if it be adequately used, is the material of a liberal education.
The order of the books is not the same as for the King James Version. At the back are two sections, an introduction and a collection of notes, for each book.
Sample Verses
Genesis 1: 1, 2
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Wisdom of Solomon 1: 1
Love righteousness, ye that be judges of the earth,
Think ye of the Lord with a good mind,
And in singleness of heart seek ye him.
John 1: 1 – 3
IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD:
AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD:
AND THE WORD WAS GOD.
The same was in the beginning with God. All things weremade through him, and without him was not anything made.
Comparisons
The following comparative studies include this version: