Many of us who long to get closer to God are apt to jot down our thoughts,
questions, prayers, poems, or insights as we read the Bible. Almost any
wide-margin Bible gives us room to do that as our written words interact with the
written Word of God.
If we want to read the Bible straight through, as we would any
book or family saga, we might choose a conversational translation or a paraphrase,
but for journaling, an excellent choice is a word-for-word translation as our
words respond to what God has to say.
Consider, for example, a message from a friend. Would you prefer
to receive word from the bearer of news or would you rather hear directly
from your friends themselves before responding? The translators of the English Standard Version of the Bible (ESV) aimed in that direction.
In the Preface of the ESV Single Column Journaling Bible,
which Crossway kindly sent me to review, the “Translation Philosophy” states:
“The ESV is an ‘essentially
literal’ translation that seeks as far as possible to reproduce the precise
wording of the original text and the personal style of each Bible writer. As
such, its emphasis is on ‘word-for-word' correspondence, at the same time taking
full account of differences in grammar, syntax, and idiom between current
literary English and the original languages. Thus it seeks to be transparent to
the original text, letting the reader see as directly as possible the structure
and exact force of the original.”
When we hear directly from our friends, we can catch their voice
inflections, listen to what they actually have to say, and respond
appropriately.
Not only does the ESV Single Column Journaling Bible
give you that opportunity, this edition comes in a variety of patterns. Inside those cloth-over-board covers, the cream-colored Smyth-sewn pages have lines awaiting a word from you.
©2021, Mary Harwell Sayler
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