The Revised English Bible

WITH THE APOCRYPHA

Thought-Sight Consulting Inc.'s release of the Revised English Bible for e-Sword. This Revised English Bible (REB) module was created under license from the Syndicate of the Press of the University of Cambridge.  The Revised English Bible © 1989 by Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. Used by permission.

• This REB for e-Sword module is the only version of the REB that is available for MS Windows

• The module is available for both the older e-Sword version 8 application, as well as for e-Sword version 9 (the purchaser may download either, or both)

• This Premium version has the REB Bible & Commentary included.

• The REB is not related to the New English Translation.

The Revised English Bible is a 1989 update of the New English Bible of 1970. Like the NEB, the REB is a British translation, sponsored by all the main British churches. It was designed for public reading, uses gender-inclusive language where the texts permit, and has an elegant literary style.

PREFACE TO THE REVISED ENGLISH BIBLE

THE second half of the twentieth century has produced many new versions of the Bible. One of the pioneers was The New English Bible, which was distinctive inasmuch as it was a new translation from the ancient texts and was officially commissioned by the majority of the British Churches.

The translators themselves were chosen for their ability as scholars, without regard to Church affiliation. Literary advisers read and criticized the translators’ drafts.

The translation of the New Testament appeared in 1961. The Old Testament and the Apocrypha were published with a limited revision of the New Testament in 1970; The New English Bible was then complete. Two years later a new impression appeared with some very minor corrections, and The New English Bible has remained substantially as it was first produced until the present day. It has proved to be of great value throughout the English-speaking world and is very widely used.

The debt of the Churches to those who served on the various committees and panels is very considerable and has been gladly acknowledged on many occasions. One name that will always be associated with The New English Bible is that of Dr C. H. Dodd, who as Director from start to finish brought to the enterprise outstanding leadership, sensitivity, and scholarship. It is fitting also to recall with gratitude the roles of Professor Sir Godfrey Driver, Joint Director from 1965, and Professor W. D. McHardy, Deputy Director from 1968.

It was right that The New English Bible in its original form, like any other version, should be subject to critical examination and discussion, and especially the Old Testament, which had not had the advantage of even a limited general revision. From the beginning helpful suggestions and criticisms had come in from many quarters. Moreover, the widespread enthusiasm for The New English Bible had resulted in its being frequently used for reading aloud in public worship, the implications of which had not been fully anticipated by the translators. As a result it became desirable to review the translation, and in 1974 the Joint Committee of the Churches decided to set in train what was to become a major revision of the text.

New translators’ panels were constituted under the chairmanship of Professor W. D. McHardy, who was appointed Director of Revision. The result of their work is The Revised English Bible, a translation standing firmly in the tradition established by The New English Bible. This substantial revision expresses the mind and conviction of biblical scholars and translators of the 1980s, as The New English Bible expressed the mind of a previous generation of such specialists, and it is fortunate that some distinguished scholars have been able to give their services throughout the entire process. To them we owe a great deal, and to none more than to Professor McHardy, who has served with great devotion throughout and made this a large part of his life’s work.

The original initiative for making the New English Bible translation had come from the Church of Scotland in 1946, and a number of other Churches later joined them and formed a committee which was to plan and direct a new translation in contemporary language. The Joint Committee comprised representatives of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland, the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, the Congregational Church of England and Wales, the Council of Churches for Wales, the Irish Council of Churches, the London Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, the Methodist Church of Great Britain, and the Presbyterian Church of England, as well as of the British and Foreign Bible Society and the National Bible Society of Scotland. Roman Catholic representatives later attended as observers.

After publication of the complete translation, there were changes in the composition of the Joint Committee. The Roman Catholic Church entered into full membership, with representatives from the hierarchies of England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Following the union of the Presbyterian Church of England with the Congregational Church as the United Reformed Church, the united church was represented on the Committee. After the review began, the Committee was joined by representatives of the Salvation Army and the Moravian Church.

The progress of the work of the revisers has been regularly reported to meetings of the Joint Committee, taking place once and sometimes twice a year in the Jerusalem Chamber, Westminster Abbey. The Committee has much appreciated the courtesy of the Dean and Chapter in making the Chamber available for these meetings. That historic room has witnessed the labours of those who produced the Authorized (King James) Version of 1611 and the Revised Version of 1881–5.

Members of the Joint Committee have given guidance and support to the Director of Revision throughout, and have had the opportunity of inspecting drafts as the work on each book approached its final stage, in many cases making detailed comments and criticisms for the consideration of the Director and revisers.

Care has been taken to ensure that the style of English used is fluent and of appropriate dignity for liturgical use, while maintaining intelligibility for worshippers of a wide range of ages and backgrounds. The revisers have sought to avoid complex or technical terms where possible, and to provide sentence structure and word order, especially in the Psalms, which will facilitate congregational reading but will not misrepresent the meaning of the original texts. As the ‘you’-form of address to God is now commonly used, the ‘thou’-form which was preserved in the language of prayer in The New English Bible has been abandoned. The use of male-oriented language, in passages of traditional versions of the Bible which evidently apply to both genders, has become a sensitive issue in recent years; the revisers have preferred more inclusive gender reference where that has been possible without compromising scholarly integrity or English style.

The revision is characterized by a somewhat more extensive use than in The New English Bible of textual subheadings printed in bold type. These headings are used, for example, to mark broad structural divisions in the writing or substantial changes of direction or theme. They should not be regarded in any way as part of the biblical text. The headings in the Psalms are a special case; these have been translated from those prefixed in ancient times to the Hebrew Psalms.

The traditional verse numbering of the Authorized (King James) Version is retained in The Revised English Bible for ease of reference. Where the Authorized Version contains passages which are found in the manuscripts on which that version rests, but which are absent from those followed by The Revised English Bible, these passages are reproduced in footnotes, in order to explain gaps in the verse numbering.

A table of measures, weights, and values will be found below. The ancient terms usually appear in the text, but modern equivalents have been used when it seemed appropriate to do so.

The Joint Committee commends The Revised English Bible to the Churches and to the English-speaking world with due humility, but with confidence that God has yet new light and truth to break forth from his word. The Committee prays that the new version will prove to be a means to that end.

DONALD COGGAN
Chairman of the Joint Committee

Differences From The Printed Edition

While this e-Sword REB package was created from the same electronic files used to typeset the printed edition of the REB, the e-Sword application's presentation of the Bible differs from a printed edition and those differences have necessitated that some compromises be made in the presentation of the REB text and its footnotes. These differences are as follows:

Front Matter—the printed edition typesets a preface before each of the Old Testament, Apocrypha, and New Testament sections. This front matter material is available within e-Sword's Bible Information panel (on the "Bible" menu, with the REB bible table selected, choose "Information…"). Note that the REB Table of Contents has not been reproduced within the e-Sword edition (e-Sword provides its own table of contents mechanism).

Verses vs. Paragraphs—the printed edition has grouped verses into paragraphs; whereas e-Sword displays each verse as a standalone entity. This REB module has inserted a paragraph character ("¶") wherever the printed REB text ends a paragraph. Note insertion of the paragraph character has been omitted from some of the Bible's poetic books (for example, Psalms). Note: the markers are not completely reliable as they appear within the remaining poetic text.

Verse Ranges—where the REB has grouped verses together and has marked a particular section with a verse range, this e-Sword edition displays that text in the verse marked by the start of the range, and inserts verse numbers showing the range; for example, Genesis 7:8–9:

Gen 7:8 ^8–9And to him on board…

Footnote Ranges—where the printed edition ties a footnote to a range of verses, this e-Sword edition inserts the footnote into the first verse of the range, and shows the range at the start of the footnote text; for example:

Gen 1:1 [1–2]In . . . earth was: or When God began to…

Footnote Markers—the printed edition of the REB does not provide footnote markers within the REB text. This was a conscious choice of the REB's editorial committee: they did not want to draw undue attention to the footnotes. This e-Sword edition does provide footnote markers (a dagger, "†"); since, unlike the printed edition, the footnotes are not plainly visible at the bottom of each page, this is a simple mechanism that indicates their presence to the reader.

Placement of Apocrypha—the printed edition groups the Apocryphal text into a separate section of the Bible; whereas the e-Sword application presents the Apocrypha as part of the Old Testament text. See below for some further notes about the REB Apocrypha as presented in e-Sword.

Typographic Presentation—the printed REB uses vertical spacing and horizontal indentation of the text as part of how it communicates the organisation of the Bible text. This e-Sword edition does not attempt to reproduce all of that vertical and horizontal spacing.

Notes on the Apocrypha

As noted above, there are differences in how the REB Joint Committee chose to present the Apocrypha and how e-Sword displays that text. There are three primary differences: (1) the names of the apocryphal books; (2) the placement of the Apocrypha; (3) and, the specific selection of text for inclusion (the e-Sword application makes room for the broadest set of apocryphal books; which is a broader set than the REB Joint Committee chose to include in the REB). These three differences are detailed in the table that follows:

Sample Text

Version 9 and above

Premium Commentary Sample Text

Version 9 and above

Sample Text

Version 8 and below

Premium Commentary Sample Text

Version 8 and below