Reading the Bible through

[Haruo]

Dave Roberts posted on Facebook recently about having finished his annual reading of the entire Bible. I have decided to try this in 2020. In fact, I'm going to try to do it twice. My hope (don't want to jinx myself by saying "resolution") is to read the whole Moffatt translation AND the Londona Biblio (as far as I know the only complete version of the 66-book canon in Esperanto). I haven't spent much time with Moffatt since high school, partly because I haven't had a copy for most of that time. So I just ordered a "used nearly new" copy from a seller on Amazon. I'm hopeful that Dave will soon post, either here or on FB, the schedule he follows in this discipline.

I'd also be interested to hear any opinions or experiences involving the Moffatt translation. It was one of my dad's favorites, and I inherited his copy. I was intrigued when I was first learning Esperanto, to find that the Londona version translates the tetragrammaton (יהוה - "the LORD" in KJV) as "la Eternulo" ("the Eternal One"), which I was familiar with because Moffatt translates it "the Eternal."

[Haruo]

One thing I think I recall about the Moffatt version is that a fair number of books' contents are more or less significantly reordered.

[Rvaughn]

[Haruo]

Thanks, Robert, that's helpful. I think I will try the BlueLetter 1-Year Plan. But I think I will attempt to read ahead of schedule on the theory that there are likely to be times when I need to do less than it calls for.

[Sandy]

The Moffatt translation was only briefly mentioned and touched on when I was a student in seminary, once in a course on Biblical backgrounds where Moffatt's rendering of portions of the text in different typeface based on his beliefs about the Documentary Hypothesis were brought up and once in the general New Testament survey course where his ordering of chapters was discussed based on his belief regarding the way they were written. I never heard any criticism of it, it was just briefly referenced as one of several examples. I never actually picked one up.

Since then I have seen it referenced, lumped in with other "modern versions", by the KJVO fundamentalists who believe that somehow only the KJV, among English translations, has "preserved" the accuracy of the Biblical text. I think reading other English translations besides your preferred one is an experience from which you can only benefit and improve your knowledge of scripture. Enjoy the experience.

I don't have a particular recommendation regarding how to go about it. When I lived in Houston, I had a 45 minute commute each way from home to work, so I got a set of CD's with two different translations recorded on them are just played them, New Testament in the morning on the way to work, Old Testament coming home. The CD made it easy to start where I'd left off. As I recall, at that pace, it took less than a year to go through the whole set. For several years, I participated with a group who set up a PA system on the plaza in front of the Harris County court center and read through the Bible continuously, starting the Thursday before Easter, timed to finish at 7:00 a.m. Easter Sunday. That was always fun, and all kinds of people would come and join in with us.

[Dave Roberts]

My reading process is by no means either scientific or particularly systematic. I began using the chart from the old MasterLife materials where you marked each chapter off and could date when you finished each book. I still check off each book (and when I finish early in a year have read the Apocrapha a couple of times. I have used devotional guides, and have often followed the d365 materials from Passport. My usual pattern is to read 3 to 4 chapters per day. Being an early riser, I do this in the morning usually after walking the dog and before breakfast. I sometimes read devotional materials and sometimes write journal entries. My pattern varies, though my most common is to start with the Psalms, then go to the Gospel of John. I will read the books of Samuel and Kings and try to tie in the prophets to their contemporary situations. I usually read Paul's epistles and end my New Testament with Luke and Acts. Nothing sacred in any pattern. Most years, I will go to a translation I have not used in a while. I was thinking about beginning with the New English Bible since I have not used it in ten years or so. Sorry it has been a busy Sunday and it took me until now to reply.

[Rvaughn]

[Haruo]

The New English Bible New Testament was the one my dad took with him through the USSR, so it was the one he used to verify that V I Lenin was the Beast of the Apocalypse. Not sure when the complete NEB came out, I think it postdated Daddy's death.

[Haruo]

Today's the day I start! Anybody else?

[Haruo]

I started. And I gave up after less than half of one day's worth. Gave up the "through it in a year in two languages simultaneously" bit, anyhow. But I've acquired a new life goal: to produce a new Esperanto version colored by Moffatt. As far as I know there is only one complete Bible version in Esperanto; there are other versions of portions and of some whole books, and of the whole Pauline epistles, but no other complete Bible in Esperanto. I'm not competent to do one, either, from scratch. But I think I can revise the main one (called the "Londona Biblio" because for three quarters of a century it was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society) in the light of Moffatt's insights and stylistic approaches.