The Reader's Bible

The reader's bible is a unique edition of the world's greatest book. It is a condensation of the popular Revised Standard Version, produced especially for the general reader. The editors of Reader's Digest, under the scholarly direction of the Rev. Dr. Bruce M. Metzger, have used all their experience to produce a text shortened and clarified, yet retaining all sixty- six books of the original, preserving every incident, personality and teaching of substance, and keeping the familiar language. In addition, the reader's bible contains: Introductions to both the Old and New Testaments, providing vital background information on each Testament as a unit. Separate introductions to each of the Bible's sixty-six books, including the most scholarly and up-to-date facts and opinions as to authorship, chronology, character and interrelationships. A comprehensive thirty-two page, easy-to- use index with more than two thousand separate entries providing quick access to the Bible's most famous and important people, places, incidents, parables, miracles and teachings. In his Foreword, Donald Coggan (Archbishop of Canterbury 1974-1980) writes: "The last thing that the editors of Reader's Digest or the scholars who have produced this book wish to do is to replace the full Biblical text. What they do want to do - and I share this desire with them - is to put into the hands of the general reader a book which is less daunting in its size than the whole Bible, is shorn of repetitions and such things as long genealogies, and which, just because of this, is more likely to convey the essence of what the Bible is really about. It is not meant to be an 'easy' version which eliminates the harsh or difficult passages. It is intended rather as a direct, honest, uncomplicated route straight to the spiritual heart of the greatest book mankind possesses."