Berkeley Version
| Berkeley Version | |
|---|---|
| Full name | The Berkeley Version in Modern English |
| Abbreviation | BV |
| Language | English |
| Complete Bible published | 1959 |
| Copyright | Copyright by Zondervan Publishing House |
|
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness lay upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. God said: Let there be light, and there was light. For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. | |
The Berkeley Version of the New Testament is an English translation published by Zondervan in 1945. This "New Berkeley Version in Modern English" was later expanded to include the entire Bible, published in 1959 as the Modern Language Bible.
The stated aim of this version was to achieve plain, up-to-date expression which reflects as directly as possible the meaning of the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. This revision was very extensive, while not being a retranslation. Explanatory notes were revised as well as added. Topical headings were rephrased.
According to editor-in-chief Gerrit Verkuyl: "The conviction that God wants His truth conveyed to His offspring in the language in which they think and live led me to produce the Berkeley Version (BV) of the New Testament. For I grew increasingly aware that the King James Version (AV) is only, in part, the language of our people today."
