Bibles

I have endeavored to read through the entire Bible more times than I care to count; a few times making it as far as Deuteronomy before fizzling out. Breaking the Bible up into digestible chunks with a mixture of old and New Testament and a chapter from Psalms or Proverbs thrown in to keep things fresh is definitely the way to go! This version does that for you! And having it in an audio format makes it easy to stick with.

I have been a fan of The Message Bible since the first time I read the first verse in it. What you do need to be aware of is that this is a paraphrase, not a literal word for word translation. Peterson has taken the entire Bible and translated thought for thought based on his interpretation of the underlying meaning. What this means is that you do need to take it with a grain of salt and be prepared to compare to a literal translation if something doesn't sound right to you. Many traditionalists criticize paraphrasing the Scripture, but do these same traditionalists not do the same thing every time they preach a verse from their literal translation? They read their text, and then proceed to expound upon it and help you know how to interpret it specific to your life. You should take Peterson in that same context. He is expounding upon God's Word and giving you a practical interpretation that you can apply to your life. Is this format infallible? Of course not! But that doesn't mean God is not at work in this. Even the beloved King James Version needs to be viewed in the light of historical context from when it was translated and compared to the original text.

My one complaint is that I wish the individual daily readings were broke out into individual chapters rather than lumping several per chapter. It really makes it hard if you want to review that days' reading again. Finding your place is nearly impossible because when you skip back you won't even know what chapter you're listening to.