A few years ago, BroadStreet Publishing kindly sent me a boxed set of several books in The Passion Translation (TPT) to review, but this year I’ve been wanting a single volume of the New Testament with Psalms to reread, hopefully forever!
Searching online, I found even more than I dreamed in The Passion Translation: NT with Psalms, Proverbs, and Song of Songs, and
so I ordered a copy in reddish-brown faux leather. (If I’d seen the large print edition in violet, I probably would have ordered it!)
Besides laying open flat, as a genuine leather Bible would do,
this slender edition of TPT, is as attractive as any Christmas gift should be.
But what attracts us far more is the highly readable text and exceptional
footnotes that even someone with many, many translations of the Bible will
welcome.
For example, have you ever thought of Psalm 15 as King David’s “Sermon
on the Mount”? I had not, but the TLP footnotes make that comparison.
To give you a better idea of what to expect in this unique Bible,
I’ll use 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 as an example. Why? When I previously reviewed the TPT, a reader asked about the word choices in those verses of the “love
chapter.” The TPT footnotes will explain, but first, let’s look at the text.
[If you’d like to compare it with the King
James Version (KJV), click here for the same passage as shown on the
Bible Gateway website.]
“4. Love is large and
incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to
be jealousa when blessing comes to someone else. Love
does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance. 5. Love
does not traffic in shame and disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honor.
Love is not easily irritatedb or quick to take offensec. 6.
Love joyfully celebrates honestyd and finds no delight in what is
wronge. 7. Love is a safe place of shelterf, for it never
stops believing the best for othersg. Love never takes failure as
defeat, for it never gives up. 8a. Love never stops lovingh.”
[Note: The italicized words indicate what’s implied by the context
of the passage.]
The footnotes aligned with those verses add insight into
the above word choices for the TPT translation:
a 13:4 Or “boil with jealousy.”
b 13:5 Or “overly sensitive” [having sharp edges].
c 13:5 Or “resentful” or “does not keep score.” The Aramaic can be
translated “Love does not stare at evil.” Love will overlook offenses and
remain focuses on what is good, refusing to hold resentment in our hearts.
d 13:6 Or “reality” (for “truth”).
e 13:6 Or “injustice” or “unrightousness.”
f 13:7 Or “Love bears all things.” Although commonly understood to
mean that love can bear hardships of any kind, the nominalized form of the verb
(stego) is actually the word for “roof”
found in Mark 2:4. Paul is saying that love covers all things, like a roof
covers the house. See 1 Peter 4:8. Love does not focus on what is wrong but will
bear with the shortcomings of others. And like a roof protects and shields, you
could say that love springs no leak. It is a safe place that offers shelter,
not exposure.
g 13:7 “Or “it never loses faith.”
h 13:8 “Or “love never, not even once, fails [lapses]” or “Love
never falls down” [it keeps going higher].
There’s much more to say, but the TLP needs to be read - cover to cover - by all
lovers of God and His word.
Reviewed by poet-writer Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2020
If you'd like to order a copy for yourself or someone else, click on your preference:
The Passion Translation: New Testament with Psalms, Proverbs, and Song of Songs, covered in reddish-brown faux leather
The Passion
Translation: New Testament with Psalms, Proverbs, and Song of Songs in large print, covered in
violet-purple faux leather