The Holy Bible

Contemporary English Version

Welcome to the Contemporary English Version

Languages are spoken before they are written. And far more communication is done through the spoken word than through the written word. In fact, more people hear the Bible read than read it for themselves. Traditional translations of the Bible count on the reader’s ability to understand a written text. But the Contemporary English Version differs from all other English Bibles—past and present—in that it takes into consideration the needs of the hearer, as well as those of the reader, who may not be familiar with traditional biblical language.

The Contemporary English Version has been described as a “user-friendly” and a “mission-driven” translation that can be read aloud without stumbling, heard without misunderstanding, and listened to with enjoyment and appreciation, because the language is contemporary and the style is lucid and lyrical.

The Contemporary English Version invites you to read, to hear, to understand and to share

the Word of God now

as never before!!

The Contemporary English Version

Translation it is that opens the window, to let in the light; that breaks the shell, that we may eat the kernel; that puts aside the curtain, that we may look into the most holy place; that removes the cover of the well, that we may come by the water (“The Translators to the Reader,” King James Version, 1611).

The most important document in the history of the English language is the King James Version of the Bible. To measure its spiritual impact on the English speaking world would be more impossible than counting the grains of sand along the ocean shores. Historically, many Bible translators have attempted in some measure to retain the form of the King James Version. But the translators of the Contemporary English Version of the Bible have diligently sought to capture the spirit of the King James Version by following certain principles set forth by its translators in the document “The Translators to the Reader,” which was printed in the earliest editions.

This is the Word of God, which we translate

Accuracy, beauty, clarity, and dignity—all of these can and must be achieved in the translation of the Bible. After all, as the translators of the King James Version stated, “This is the Word of God, which we translate.”

Every attempt has been made to produce a text that is faithful to the meaning of the original. In order to assure the accuracy of the Contemporary English Version, the Old Testament was translated directly from the Hebrew and Aramaic texts published by the United Bible Societies (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, fourth edition corrected). And the New Testament was translated directly from the Greek text published by the United Bible Societies (third edition corrected and compared with the fourth revised edition).

The drafts in their earliest stages were sent for review and comment to a number of biblical scholars, theologians, and educators representing a ...