Gleaning from the NLT

I’ve been doing a little experiment for a little while; well, kind of an experiment. In Bible reading, I’m used to the New King James, it’s what we’ve read from as a family since each us kids learned to read. I also have a big New American Standard that I used for a couple of years. But lately I’ve been reading a little from the New Living Translation, via Bible Gateway and Blue Letter Bible, just to get a fresh look at what has become familiar. Running over the same sentence structures over and over can cause it to lost its originality. Looking Scriptures up in Strong’s dictionary via the awesome program e-sword is great, but I also want to just read the Bible simply in my native tongue!

So I’ve been gleaning a lot from the New Living Translation, especially right now, as I’m reading through the Psalms. The NLT is pretty straightforward English, very nice! It’s easy to memorize Scripture from the NKJV, because it’s got some poetic feel to it, but I did want a fresher, straightforward look, and the NLT seems really nice so far. Take Psalm 111 for instance:

Praise the Lord!

I will thank the Lord with all my heart
as I meet with his godly people.
How amazing are the deeds of the Lord!
All who delight in him should ponder them.
Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty.
His righteousness never fails.
He causes us to remember his wonderful works.
How gracious and merciful is our Lord!
He gives food to those who fear him;
he always remembers his covenant.
He has shown his great power to his people
by giving them the lands of other nations.
All he does is just and good,
and all his commandments are trustworthy.
They are forever true,
to be obeyed faithfully and with integrity.
He has paid a full ransom for his people.
He has guaranteed his covenant with them forever.
What a holy, awe-inspiring name he has!
Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom.
All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom.

Praise him forever!

Isn’t it something? I’m having so much fun I’m taking notes! Reading the Psalms helps us in a lot of things, but right now I’m gleaning in observing the character of God (something we should always be doing!) and a heart pouring itself out to Him.

Here’s a passage from Hebrews 10:

The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared… Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.

Don’t know about you, but for me it gives freshness to the familiar. It also is helpful with reading large portions, because it’s very straightforward English. I know, I keep saying that. You’ll have to just believe that I’m excited! What are your thoughts?

Oh, and also, I’m still getting to completing a video blog (angel face); I will need y’all to vote for an intro, tho… I’ve made a video with your choices already, but I will have to upload it some other time cuz I’ve just been too lazy to so far!

UPDATE: I guess this is why I liked the New Living Translation; this is part of the description of the translation from Biblegateway.com:

The goal of any Bible translation is to convey the meaning of the ancient Hebrew and Greek texts as accurately as possible to the modern reader. The New Living Translation is based on the most recent scholarship in the theory of translation. The challenge for the translators was to create a text that would make the same impact in the life of modern readers that the original text had for the original readers. In the New Living Translation, this is accomplished by translating entire thoughts (rather than just words) into natural, everyday English. The end result is a translation that is easy to read and understand and that accurately communicates the meaning of the original text.