Editing Contemporary English Version

The '''Contemporary English Version''' or '''CEV''' (also known as '''Bible for Today's Family''') is a new
[[translation]] of the [[Bible]] into [[English language|English]],
published by the [[American Bible Society]].  An anglicized version was produced by the [[British and Foreign Bible Society]], which includes metric measurements for the Commonwealth market.

== History ==
The CEV project began as a result of studies conducted by [[Barclay Newman]] in 1985 into speech patterns used in [[books]], [[magazines]], [[newspapers]], and [[television]]. These studies focused on how English was read and heard. This led to a series of test volumes being published in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Among the volumes published were ''Luke Tells the Good News About Jesus'' (1987),  ''The Good News Travels Fast - The Acts Of The Apostles'' (1988),   ''A Few Who Dared to Trust God'' (1990),  and ''A Book About Jesus'' (1991). In 1991, the 175<sup>th</sup> anniversary  of the American Bible Society, the CEV New Testament was released. The CEV [[Old Testament]] was released in 1995. In 1999, The [[Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books]] were published.

While the CEV is sometimes mischaracterized as a revision of the [[Good News Bible]], it is in fact a fresh translation, and designed for a lower reading level than the GNB. The American Bible Society continues to promote both translations.

== Translation principles and features ==
In translating the CEV, the translators followed three translation principles. They were:
* must be understood by people without stumbling in speech
* must be understood by those with little or no comprehension of "Bible" language
* must be understood by all.
The CEV uses gender-sensitive language for humanity and not for the Godhead. The translation also takes care to simplify "Bible" terms into more understandable words and phrases. An example can be found in where the word ''[[adultery]]'' is translated ''Be faithful in marriage.'' The translators have also taken great care to translate the Greek phrase ''hoi Ioudaioi'' (literally, "the Jews") as "the Jewish leaders," especially in the Gospel of John (as in John 18:14). The CEV translators believe, along with many (but not all) biblical scholars, that the Greek phrase ''hoi Ioudaioi'' in the Gospel of John primarily refers to the Jewish leadership, not to the Jewish people, as a whole. Therefore, their translation as "the Jewish leaders" is intended to increase translation accuracy. One result of this translation decision is a reduction of the perception of [[Anti-Semitism]] in the New Testament.

==Awards==
* In 1997 the British [[Plain English Campaign]] awarded the BFBS anglicized CEV a Crystal Mark award in appreciation of the clarity of its language.<sup>[]</sup><sup>[]</sup>

==Usages==
* In the aftermath of the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]], the [[American Bible Society]] published a special booklet titled ''God Is Our Shelter and Strength''.<sup>[]</sup> The booklet contained passages from the [[Psalms]] and other parts of the Bible. This booklet was also published after the [[Hurricane Katrina]] disaster in September 2005.<sup>[]</sup>

* In October 2005, the [[Bible Society]] in [[Australia]] launched a project called ''SMSBible'', which was the entire CEV in [[Short message service|SMS]] text messages. News reports about the service claimed that the Bible spanned more than 30,000 text messages.<sup>[]</sup>

* On [[October 25]] [[2005]], a church in [[New Zealand]] began a project called PodBible to produce an audio version of the CEV available via [[podcast]] or [[webcast]].<sup>[]</sup>

== Sources ==
*Sheeley, Stephen M. and Nash, Robert N. ''Choosing a Bible''. pp. 55-56.
*[[Bruce Metzger|Metzger, Bruce M.]] ''The Bible In Translation''. p. 171.

Some of the information in this article comes from an email inquiry by Wikipedian Joshua Holman  to Jacquelyn Sapiie, Supervisor of Library Services at the American Bible Society on [[February 9]], [[2004]].

== References ==

== Further reading ==
* [[D. A. Waite|Waite, D.A.]] ''Contemporary English Version (CEV)--an Antichrist Version (ACV)?''. ISBN 1-56848-006-7
* Newman, Barclay. ''Creating and Crafting the Contemporary English Version''. ISBN 1-58516-473-9

== See also ==
*[[History of the English Bible]]
*[[Bible translations]]
*Other English translations in contemporary language:
**[[Good News Bible]]
**[[New Century Version]]
**[[New Living Translation]]
**[[Revised English Bible]]
*[[American Bible Society]]

== External links ==
*[http://www.biblija.net/biblija.cgi?lang=en2 Contemporary English Version text (UK)]
*[http://www.kenanderson.net/bible/html/contemporary_english.html Ken Anderson on the CEV]
*[http://bible-researcher.com/cev.html Michael Marlowe on the CEV]
*[http://biblesociety.org/wr_325/325_ib3.htm National Award for New Bible Translation]
*[http://www.biblesociety.com.au/smsbible/index.html SMSBible]
*[http://podbible.com PodBible]
*[http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/fbns/fbns458.html Anti CEV review by David Cloud]

{{English Bible translation navbox}}

[[Category:1991 books]]
[[Category:1995 books]]
[[Category:Bible translations by language|English, Contemporary]]

{{Donate}}