Editing Phillips New Testament in Modern English

The '''Phillips New Testament in Modern English (Phi)''' is an [[English language|English]] [[Bible translation|translation]] of the [[New Testament]] of the [[Bible]] translated by [[Anglican]] clergyman [[John Bertram Phillips|J. B. Phillips]].  While the translation is not well known it has many ardent fans including [[Os Guinness]], [[Chuck Swindoll]], and the late  [[Ray Stedman]].  [[Corrie ten Boom]] considered it her favorite in English.  The songwriter [[Michael Card]] often used Phillips' wording.

Phillips began by rewording the [[New Testament]] [[epistles]] for his church's youth group in [[modern English]], which group met during [[World War II]] in [[bomb shelter]]s.  These he published in 1947 under the title ''Letters to Young Churches''.  In 1952 he added the [[Gospel]]s.  In 1955 he added [[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]] and titled it ''The Young Church in Action''.  In 1957 he added ''The [[Book of Revelation]]''.  Later he finished the whole of the New Testament, first publishing it in 1958, revising it and republishing it in 1961 and 1972.  Phillips worked entirely from the [[New Testament|Greek Testament]].

While Phillips' translation gives the reader new and unusual insights into the New Testament, it has the drawback that many editions were printed without verse numbers and for those that do contain verse numbers, the rephrasing makes some verse numbers not applicable.  The early editions are also very [[United Kingdom|British]] in their use of English. The tone of his transaltion is illustrated in his translatin of John 3:16 as seen in the quote box above. The most famous passage from this translation is a portion of Romans 12:2, "Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould."

He also published in 1963 a volume titled ''Four Prophets'', a rendering of Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah.

==External links==
* [http://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/JBPNT.htm Complete text online]

==See also== 
{{BibleHistory}}

[[Category:1958 books]]
[[Category:Bible versions and translations]]

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