Featured The Revised English Bible (REB)

I was told that the New English Bible and it's revision the Revised English Bible were good versions. I found the exact opposite to be true. It seemed so inaccurate to me I never looked at them ever again.

 

This has never been on my radar. Both the New English Bible and Revised English Bible go back quite a ways -- 1970 and 1989 respectively. Have they ever gained much traction in churches? Is the REB popular in the UK?

 

Think British tinged Dynamic version, not that good!

 

The REB vastly improved upon the NEB. Yet it still falls short of mediating versions. It has high register English which fascinates me. It's more functional than formal, but hardly any formally equivalent version has such advanced English. It has less inclusive language than the ESV.

 

Not as accurate to the text though!

 

Some REB readings:

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd: I lack for nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me to water where I may rest:
he revives my spirit;
for his name's sake he guides me in the right paths.
Even were I to walk through a valley of deepest darkness
I should fear no harm, for you are with me;
your shepherd's staff and crook afford me comfort.
You spread a table for me in the presence of my enemies;
you have richly anointed my head with oil,
and my cup brims over.
Goodness and unfailing love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
throughout the years to come.

 

Psalm 70

Make haste and save me, God;
LORD, come quickly to my help.
Let those who seek my life
be discomfited and dismayed,
let those who desire my hurt
be turned back in disgrace;
let those who cry 'Hurrah!'
withdraw in their shame.
But let all who seek you
be jubilant and rejoice in you;
and may those who long
for your saving aid forever cry,
'All glory to God!'
But I am oppressed and poor;
God come quickly to me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
LORD, do not delay.

 

Just get the Esv, and skip NRSV, and the NEB!

 

Me too, I'm not much of a fan of the NEB.

 

That was the New English bible, is that different from the REB?

 

REB is a revision/update of the NEB, although perhaps we should write NEV and REV in case Robycop is reading this.

 

Yes, the REB was a complete redo of the NEB in a more conservative fashion, especially the Old Testament.

 

Psalm 87

The city the LORD founded stands on the holy hills.
He loves the gates of Zion more than the dwellings of Jacob.
Glorious things are spoken about you, city of God.
I shall count Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me;
of Philistines, Tyrians, and Nubians it will be said,
'Such a one was born there,'
Of Zion it will be said, 'This one and that one were born there.'
The most high himself establishes her.
The LORD will record in the register of the peoples;
this one was born there.
Singers and dancers alike say,
The source of all good is in you.'

 

Psalm 93

The LORD has become king,clothed with majesty;
the LORD is robed, girded with might.
The earth is established immovably;
your throne is established from of old;
from all eternity you are God.
LORD, the great deep lifts up,
the deep lifts up its voice;
the deep lifts up its crashing waves.
Mightier than the breakers of the sea,
mighty on high is the LORD.
Your decrees stand firm,
and holiness befits your house,
LORD, throughout the ages.

 

Psalm 100

Let all the earth acclaim the LORD!
Worship the LORD in gladness;
enter his presence with joyful songs.
Acknowledge that the LORD is God;
he made us and we are his,
his own people, the flock,
which he shepherds.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name;
for the LORD is good and his love is everlasting,
his faithfulness endures to all generations.

 

Psalm 114

When Israel came out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a barbaric people,
Judah became God's sanctuary,
Israel his domain.
The sea fled at the sight;
Jordan turned back.
The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs of the flock.
What made you, the sea, flee away?
Jordan, what made you turn back?
Why did you skip like rams,
you mountains,
and lambs, you hills?
Earth, dance at the presence
of the God of Jacob,
who turned the rock into a pool of water,
the flinty cliff into a welling stream.

 

Never popular in Bible-believing churches. the NEB had something of a vogue when it first came out, but not since. I don't know of a single church that uses either of these.

 

The REB is a big improvement over the New English Bible. It does not have "ONCE UPON A TIME . . . ," Genesis 11:1. It does not have ". . . they have hacked off my hands and my feet. . . ," Psalms 22:16.

 

Wow! I didn't know that, especially the Gen. 11:1 wording.