This version, compiled by Joseph Gaer, was undertaken in the conviction that,with most of the impediments removed, the Bible would be read with ease and enjoyment by manywho have turned away from it because of its obstacles, and that they would find in it thespiritual sustenance it has given generation after generation.

In this version, every chapter is accounted for. Yet, it is considerablyshorter than any of the standard versions because all duplications, specifications, detaileddescriptions of rituals, and genealogies have been relegated to summarized notes at the end ofthe book. The principal laws are given separately in a summary, alphabetically arranged. Allobvious redundancies are omitted altogether.

The language approximates the Authorized King JamesVersion more closely than any other version in English. The Hebrew Scriptures were comparedword for word and sentence for sentence with the Authorized Version. All obscurities andarchaisms were eliminated.

Each book of the Bible is divided into logical parts and identified bydescriptive titles to guide the reader. Each group of books, as well as each book, is precededby a brief introduction in which the historical background of the section is given, and thespecific problems of the book are discussed.

It contains 1 Macabees from The Apocrypha. A brief digest of the books of theApocrypha appear in the Appendix.

Thomas Yoseloff (1957)

[Tyndale House, Cambridge, UnitedKingdom]