The language used is Basic English. This version, producedby C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute, is a simple form of the Englishlanguage which, in 850 words, is able to give the sense of anything whichmay be said in English. A committee under Professor Emeritus S. H. Hooke,of the University of London, working with the Orthological Institute, hasbeen responsible for a new English form of the Bible made from the Hebrewand the Greek. When the Basic form was complete, it was gone over in detailby a committee formed by the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press.The version is designed to be used wherever the English language has takenroot.

Because of the narrow limits of the word-list, it hasbeen hard to keep the Basic completely parallel with the Hebrew and theGreek. However, there was great effort to avoid errors of sense and loosewording. There is no question of the Basic work taking the place of theAuthorized Version or coming into competition with it.

E. P. Dutton (1950)

[Bridwell Library, Perkins Schoolof Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas]