Day 1 - a new start, a new bible and fresh eyes

This is my 4th time doing the 90 days, each with a different bible.

The first time, I used the NIV with the daily sections clearly marked off. The second time, I changed translation to the New Living Translation, and had a complication colour scheme with which I marked up the whole bible from start to finish. Two weeks after we finished, that bible was among our bags which were stolen and I never saw it again. Last year, I used a different NLT, but this time I am using a Bible I picked up from the Bible Society at Spring Harvest called "the poverty and justice bible," in the Contemporary English Version.

Why change versions? For someone lazy like me, if I change the translation the temptation to skip passages because they are too familiar will hopefully be diminished. I also wanted an excuse to look at this bible, with its various notes and "2000+ verses highlighted to wake us up to issues of poverty and justice".

Early impressions are that this is indeed a very different translation. A couple of times I have had to check with an NIV or NLT to see what the version with which I am familiar is. One example is in Gen 10:13, where the CEV says "Egypt was the ancestor of Ludim ...", whereas every other version I have seen has this rendered as Mizraim. I recall from passover meals when growing up that Mizraim was Egypt or Egyptians, but there was no footnote in the CEV.

My initial impression is that this is a very readable version, but it has a very distinct editorial policy that risks diluting the impact of the passage or changing the meaning. Two examples - Gen 1:26 says "God said, "Now we will make humans, and they will be like us." The NIV has "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness." This is close enough to be capable of conveying the same meaning. Gen 2:24 in the CEV says "That's why a man will leave his own father and mother. He marries a woman, and the two of them become like one person." The NIV on the other hand says, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." This reference to one flesh is referred to in their teaching by both Jesus (Matt 19:5, Mk 10:8) and Paul (1 Cor 6:16 and Eph 5:31), and I wonder whether how much depth is lost to that treatment.

I also wonder how Gen 6:2 got through the editorial committee, and I would love to know how they arrived at their preferred solution. The NIV says "When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose." The CEV says, "more and more people were born, until finally they spread all over the earth. Some of their daughters were so beautiful that supernatural beings came down and married the ones they wanted."!!!!! This was a question raised by Jane McBride last time.

In its defence, the CEV does give an excellent translation of chapter 16, which really conveys the bitterness of the recriminations in Abram's household. Miriam and I listened to an excellent podcast on this part over Christmas, which you can get hold of here.