‘The October Testament:’ New Testament Gently Updated
A small Canadian publisher, Baruch House of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, has published William Tyndale’s 1535 New Testament as it was contained in the Matthew Bible, including original commentaries, all gently updated by Ruth Magnusson Davis.
The Matthew Bible is a little known Reformation Bible, first published in 1537, which contains Tyndale’s New Testament. Few realize that the Matthew Bible was the first authorized English bible and that it formed the basis of the King James Version; computer studies have shown that the KJV New Testament is 83% Tyndale. Therefore readers will find much that is familiar in The October Testament, and the poetic beauty of the old English is retained. What is new is the clarity of sense that Ruth has achieved.
Ruth is a retired lawyer with an undergraduate degree in languages, and an evangelical, traditional, conservative Anglican. She has worked for seven years full time from a genuine rag paper edition of the Matthew Bible, and has become a scholar of early modern English language and grammar. Next she plans to update the Old Testament, and the full work will be called the New Matthew Bible, or NMB for short.
Readers’ comments:
The October Testament is beyond my expectations! What a wonderful gift from God!—Jeff Baker
You’ve done an amazing job, Ruth. I knew after reading the first few books that the NMB would be my favourite—Michael Hendrix
There is a fluidity and a clarity to the NMB that I have not encountered in other Bible translations. When you read the scripture, whether it is silently or out loud, it is truly a thing of great beauty, and the meaning becomes incredibly clear—Susanne Reed
Website: octobertestament.com
(Source: Christian Newswire)
