It is in the spirit of this "soiled ordinariness" that Eugene Peterson translates John 1:14 (NIV: "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us") to "The word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood." Likewise, in Romans 8:3 where the NIV renders "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering," The Message reads, "God went for the jugular when he sent his own son.... In his son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all." Peterson offers no pretense of elevated language or intellectualism, only the insistence that God is relevant in 20th-century work-week and weekend lives.

This kind of translation is not a new enterprise, however. Tyndale--the man singularly responsible for our English translations of the Bible--is purported to have said in a dispute with opposing clergy, "If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures than thou dost." We're simply glad someone of our own generation chose to do the same. --Benjamin Gebhardt

Product Description
ntroducing an all-new large-print version of one of today's most popular translations, The Message. After carefully reviewing consumer feedback, this large-print version was created using a comfortable font that reads well and satisfies a wide range of customer tastes. Designed for those who prefer a larger type for easier reading, this edition of The Message allows you to reach more customers than ever before. Specifications: 1. Size - 6 13/16 x 9 3/16 2. Font size - 12.5 (larger than many standard large-print Bibles) 3. Pages - 2,048 4. Binding options: a. Hardback b. Leather-look 5. Contains the same charts and maps as the full-size numbered edition 6. Ribbon marker