Rotherham Emphasized Bible: A Literal Translation

Rating:
Summary: Needs new typesetting
Review: As far as I can tell, this is the best Bible translation I own. A sentence's meaning can change depending on which word is emphasized - and this book makes it clear what the point of the writer or speaker is. (This saves me from making a poor guess and deriving below-average theology from a passage...) By way of example, a sign at a motel in a nearby town with different emphases reads -
TRY restin' at the Creston (I'll bet you can't)
Try RESTIN' at the Creston (as opposed to being tense there)
etc., etc.

The heavy-duty paper used is both a pro and a con. I'd really like to take this Bible to church to reference during sermons, but at 4 pounds and 2 1/4 inches thick it's a bit bulky to lug around discreetly.

Perhaps OCR technology can help out someday with the major shortcoming of this book which is worn-out typsetting. Sometimes a letter doesn't appear in its entirety - for instance, part of the lower curve on an "s" might be missing. A second drawback is having Roman numerals in the page headings for the chapter references.

But for someone like me who hasn't been trained in Hebrew or Greek, it's an unbeatable at-home reference Bible. And the indentations used make it a little easier to read than other literal-type translations (such as NASB), so it could be used as an everyday Bible too.

Rating:
Summary: My political neck
Review: I bought The Emphasized Bible, by Joseph Rotherham, around 1980 when handling a bill dealing with the teaching of evolution and creationism in the public schools. I could not afford to trust just any source for my information. My political neck was on the line. I have never been caught short when quoting this book.
Mike Fair, Oklahoma State Senator

Rating:
Summary: Scholarly but Difficult
Review: I ordered this Bible because I wanted a more literal translation without a lot of the bias which exists in most modern translations. However, I returned it.

Undoubtedly, it is a very good translation and I could see a lot of value in it if used as a research tool. However, it was difficult reading due to the use of old English such as "Thee" and "Thou" and due to the textual format. Therefore, I found reading it more work than I wanted to expend at this point in time.