I am still sticking to my New Year's resolution of reading the entire Bible. It's very tough at times since I have the attention span of a 3-year-old boy with severe ADD. Sometimes the Bible reminds me of a 4 hour movie that should have been 2 (including previews and credits). Or the person in your business meeting who clearly made his point the first time he spoke, yet feels the need to say the same thing 42 different ways just to make SURE everyone knows what he is trying to say.
Regardless, I'm really enjoying it. I tend to stick to the NIV version but sometimes like to mix things up. Have you ever read The Message version by Eugene Peterson? I believe it is for my generation and can be a little bizarre--at times it is borderline Ebonics. I may not fill my vocab with 4 and 5 syllable words, but slang and the Bible are an odd mix. They DO, however, provide massive amounts of entertainment.
For instance, here are a few verses from NIV:
They will say, Get up, let us go back to our own people and our native lands, away from the sword of the oppressor. There they will exclaim, Pharaoh king of Egypt is only a loud noise; he has missed his opportunity.'
Same verses but interpreted by The Message:
Let's get out of here while we still can. Let's head for home and save our skins.' When they get home they'll nickname Pharaoh "Big-Talk-Bad-Luck.'"
Perhaps my imagination is sub-par, but picturing anyone calling Pharoah, "Big-Talk-Bad-Luck" just cracks me up.
My favorite, however, is the following:
NIV version: Why do you boast of your valleys, boast of your valleys so fruitful? O unfaithful daughter, you trust in your riches and say, 'Who will attack me?' "I will bring terror on you from all those around you," declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty. "Every one of you will be driven away, and no one will gather the fugitives."
Aaaand The Message: Why do you brag of your once-famous strength? You're a broken-down has-been, a castoff!
A broken-down has-been. YES! I actually laughed out loud. I DO love how he managed to write the same thing in 1/3 of the words. Eugene Peterson, I think we could be friends.
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4 comments:
I do believe you have found your blogging "groove." This post, as with the one before last was outstanding :-)
You ought to read it in the old Aramaic and Hebrew versions. I thought I would laugh till I cried. Just reading right to left made me smile. ;) Actually I still prefer the King James version. I guess because I grew up on that one. And how do you improve on the Psalms of the KJV.
Love,
DAD :)
Good for you! Now I feel incredibly guilty for falling so far behind. There's always next year, right??
I'm proud and impressed that you're going to finish the bible in 2008. I only made it halfway...through the first week of the year. :(
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