The Voice: New Testament Book Review

I recently received a copy of The Voice: New Testament which is Tommy Nelson's newest translation of the Bible. Initially, I was excited to receive it because I do like reading other translations of the Bible. However, I was slightly disappointed with this version and would give it a 3 out of 5.

Pros:

• It reads like a playscript; when someone talks it lets you know who is talking:
  Jesus:One of you will betray me
  Judas: Is it I, Lord?
• There is lots of “added” information within the text, which helps bring clarity to the story.
  Unlike the amplified Bible which uses lots of parentheses to denote added information this version uses italics to let you know the text is not part of the original manuscript. This helps it flow and not seem so choppy and distracting.

Con:
I would describe The Voice as a written sermon. There is so much “added” information to explain what is happening in the text that I feel you are getting whoever wrote that section of text personal interpretation of the text. I personally would only use this Bible as casual Bible reading time and wouldn't use it for Bible study or as my daily reading either.


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If you want to hear more, here is my longer version review. Tommy Nelson only wants a 200 word review and even though I think I write consciously even 200 words is hard for me to do!

Here is a sample passage that I liked. During the genealogy of Jesus it explained who some of the people were:

Matthew 1: 3

Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah
(and Perez and Zerah's mother was Tamar,
who was Judah's widowed daughter-in-law;
she dressed up like a prostitute and
seduced her father-in-law,
all so she could keep the family line alive).

I think this added text is helpful for people who are not familiar with the whole Bible. They are able to get added information all in one spot without having to search through the whole Bible for it.

Here is John 3:16-17 since that is familiar to most people:
For God expressed His love for the world in this way:
He gave His only Son so that whoever believes
in Him will not face everlasting destruction,
but will have everlasting life. Here's the point.
God didn't send His Son into the world to judge it;
instead, He is here to rescue a
world headed toward certain destruction.

Here is Luke 3:9 (remember the italics is added text):
Face the facts people! God is fed up with religious talk.
God wants you to bear fruit! If you don't produce good fruit,
then you'll be chopped down like a fruitless tree and made
into firewood. God's ax is taking aim and ready to swing.

So that should give you a little glimpse as to how it reads. It was enjoyable at first, but after awhile I personally got tired of the amount of italicized text.

I received this book through Book Sneeze, a company associated with Thomas Nelson Publishing. I was not paid for my opinion and all views expressed are mine and mine alone.