The New Testament for Everyone, Third Edition, Leathersoft, Brown: A Fresh Translation

I got mine today, I was worried like previous reviewers mentioned that they were missing significant amounts of pages due to an error from the publisher. They must have fixed this because I have all of my pages! Fantastic work from N.T. Wright, the paper is really nice and font is easily readable. I also like that there is enough room in the margins for writing notes.

I really love the new translation , it is indeed marvelous. I am a little disappointed, because 20odd pages (281 to 296) are missing, that is the beginning of Romans including the whole of chapter 8. This is especially sad, because Wright is such an expert on Romans…

I like the Zondervan brown leathersoft cover, similar feel to the Zondervan Greek NT Readers edition. It just feels nice to hold in your hand, lays open without work. The internals are all gorgeous, maps, introductions, typeface, cool features like perpendicular printing of the reference in the outer margins. This is a unique product, I'm glad I have it. The translation itself is fresh, a little British in the NT Wright idiom just because I'm used to his voice and his Greek translation on youtube. I would highly recommend this to anyone - it's going to be well understood by anyone.

N.T. Wright is amongst the premier New Testament scholars. He can be controversial at times but none the less, he deserves his place in New Testament scholarship. His translation may not be for every one, but for me personally it was a very refreshing translation. Probably best for those that do not have a good understanding of new testament theology. It is very readable.I'm sorry to say that after reading several more books I have to change my review from 5 stars to 1 star. Reason: the translation almost makes no sense. It is very disjointed and just hiccups along to a very confusing read. The translation just makes no sense. If you have read any of the mainstream translations: KJV, NASB, ESV, ESV, etc., even the poorly reviewed Message bible makes more sense than this translation.Wright wanted a more modern readable version, he did not achieve it.

I like to read the Bible in multiple translations, so I often establish my expectations in advance by researching the translation philosophy of each translation. I want to know if I should expect something that leans toward accuracy or leans toward readability - am I reading a translation or a paraphrase? I'm willing read either, as long as I understand the translator's objectives. I want to know why they made the decisions that they made.In the preface, Wright makes it clear that the NTFE is "a translation, not a paraphrase." Yet, I frequently found myself questioning certain translation decisions.For instance, in James 1:13-14 he uses "test" instead of "tempt." While this is within the scope of the Greek word, it renders James 1:13 as; "Nobody being tested should say, 'It's God that's testing me,' for God cannot be tested by evil, and he himself tests nobody." This leads the reader to believe that God will not test them (as opposed to saying that God will not "tempt" them). This seems incompatible with passages where God does test (but does not tempt) people (Gen 22:1, Ex 16:4, Jn 6:6, etc).Wright translates 1 Pe 1:13 as; "So fasten your belts - the belts of your minds!" whereas the NASB, ESV and others translate it as "prepare your minds for action." In this case, it seems that Wright has chosen to paraphrase, not translate.Wright also uses the word "Bible" instead of "scripture" in many places. So, instead of saying "the scriptures say...," Wright will translate it as "The Bible says..." This is obviously anachronistic and seems unnecessarily confusing to the modern concept of the Bible.Finally, while Wright capitalizes titles like "Lord," "God," "Father," and "Messiah," he usually does not capitalize "holy spirit." I don't totally understand why you would capitalize some titles of deity and not all.I did not read this entire New Testament, but I read several of the epistles. I often found myself having to stop and compare it with other translations (that's not necessarily bad). Over time I found that I would usually have my guard up, which is not the approach that I want to take to scripture. I want to be so confident in the quality of the translation that I'm not constantly second-guessing what I'm reading.In my reading, I did not find any issues that would cause me to question any central doctrines. I do not think this translation is heretical or un-useful. But I would say that Wright took a few reasonable liberties that I didn't think were necessary. As a result, I'll use this as a 4th or 5th translation to consult, but not a primary translation.