For my birthday, my lovely wife gave me The Message. It’s a translation of the Bible into today’s language. I absolutely love it. Here’s a comparison:
Psalms 23 (NIV)
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Psalms 23 (The Message)
God, my shepherd!
I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
you find me quiet pools to drink from.True to your word,
you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.Even when the way goes through
Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
makes me feel secure.You serve me a six-course dinner
right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
my cup brims with blessing.Your beauty and love chase after me
every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
for the rest of my life.
I highly recommend The Message for anyone that has read the Bible and gave up because it was hard to read. I also like it because it takes the poetic passages and translates them poetically.
5 Comments
It’s more readable, but it looses a lot from the original hebrew.
this psalm is actually one of the standard psalms song on the sabbath by many jews, so lots of tunes have been written for the hebrew.
Yo, yo, yo! God your my homie…
I’m with Shaya. If I find the JPS awkward, I fall back on the BHS.
That’s "today’s language"? Sounds more like a below-average babelfish translation to me…
I think even though it was written for the Hebrew, for those who aren’t it helps make it more understandable. However, I would not suggest the Message for those who are first getting into the Bible. The NIV or the NASB can be just as well be understood for the most part and the Message used as kind of a guide for the parts that are a little more confusing. I enjoy the message because it reads more like a book and can be less of a turn off for those who want to read the Bible but can’t understand other versions. But for studying or memorizing I would personally go to a NIV or a NASB for the fact that it is more true to the way it was originally written.