The Bible in Basic

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24699, 30 August 1941, Page 4

The Bible in Basic

*ke New Testament in Basic English (Cambridge University Press, ; in Association with Evans Bros.) ss. Basic English is a simplified form- oil English W; which it is claimed that it can. with a vocabulary of 850 words, express the sense of anything that can be said in English; It has been develop by C. K. Qgden, of the Orthblogical Institute at Cambridge, and is intended to open communication in English to the people of all lands This. Bible in Basic English is -a new translation from the original sources, which, making use of a slightly extended vocabulary of 1000 words, serves the twin purposes of giving Basic a wide public introduction and of making clear any obscurities which the ordinary reader may meet in the Authorised Version. A comparison of texts may'; provide the best suggestion of what Basic encompasses

Authorised Version In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. and the Word was God. The : same was in the beginning ;•", AH things were made by him; and ;: Without him was not any thing made- ! that:was made .... In: hini was life; and in life was. the light of men. , , •'" ' And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it: not.—St. John 1: 1-5. ~ ■v '■-■ One woe is past; and, behold, there come two more woes hereafter. Arid the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns iof the solder altar which is before God; ;,Saying to the sixth angel which •had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great ' river. Euphrates. : .Arid the-four angels were loosed, ■which were prepared for an - hour, arid a day, and a month, and a year : for/to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen' were ;xwo hundred thousand thousand: and J heard the nuriiber or them.—Revelation, 9: 12-16. :

The Basic Bible From the first the Word was in being, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God from the first. All things came into beiug through him; and nothing which has existence came into being without him In him was life, and that life was the light of men. And the light goes on shining in the dark; it is not overcome by the dark. The first Trouble is past: see there are still two Troubles to come. And at the sounding of the sixth angel a voice came to my ears from the horns of the gold altar which is before God. Saying to the sixth angel who had the horn. Make free the four angels who are chained at the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were made free, who were ready for the hour and day and month and year, that they might put to death a third part of men. And the number of the armies oi the horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand: trie number of them cariie to my ears..

Certain circumlocutions, as has been pointed out by critics of the BasicBible,are necessitated; Some of the richness of the speech of the Authorised Version is undoubtedly lost, and it is certain that this new version will not supplant the older in the esteem of simple men and the respect of lovers of literature. Yet this New Testament has virtues in its own right as a faithful rendition of the Scriptures, and certainly will bear comparison with most modern texts, both for clarity and dignity of expression. When its limitations of vocabulary and construction and its potential universality are remembered, it must be recognised as a work of authority and importance. J. M. '■