Another translation which saw new editions released this year is the New Living Translation (NLT), produced by Tyndale House Publishers. The NLT is now available in The One Year Bible format, a popular series also available in other translations. This volume breaks down the biblical text into readings for each day, each reading including some portion of the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. It is an excellent tool for devotional study, and the NLT One-Year Bible is also available on CD-ROM, which will help those who might like to do their devotional reading at a desk or on their laptop. (See www.newlivingtranslation.com)

The NLT is also the translation used in The Promise Bible, which features notes alongside the biblical text (printed in blue) containing promises. The Bible also contains a front section listing biblical promises by topic. If you're planning to preach a sermon series on the promises of God, here's the Bible for you! (This would also make a nice gift for graduates, newly marrieds, etc.)

There is another new translation I've just learned about, and it will be of great interest to those who use technology in their ministry. The NET Bible (New English Translation) is a completely new translation of the Bible, being completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who are working directly from the original language texts. As the preface points out, "The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD-Rom. Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others." (I found it at www.bible.org)

One of the most outstanding features of the NET Bible is its extensive notes with the translation, which appear as a frame on your screen when you are reading on-line. These notes operate on a technical level for pastors, teachers, and students of Greek and Hebrew who are interested in the grammatical, syntactical, and text-critical details of the translation, and at a more popular level (comparable to current study Bibles) for lay readers. As their web site observes, "In electronic format the length of these notes, a considerable problem with conventional printed Bibles, is no longer a major limitation."

The notes offer translators an opportunity to explain and defend the translation given for a particular verse or passage, to show major interpretive options and/or textual options for difficult or disputed passages, and to give a translation that is formally equivalent, while placing a somewhat more dynamically equivalent translation in the text itself to promote better readability and understandability. And the use of electronic media gives the translators and editors the opportunity to continually update and improve the translation and notes.