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Eternity now. Doesn’t that have a nice ring?

Recently I was given the opportunity to review a copy of the new NET Eternity Now New Testament. The legal folks at #biblegatewaypartner tell me that I need to mention that I received this Bible for free as a member of the amazing Bible Gateway Blogger Grid.

So, there’s that. And I’ll give you my honest opinion.

You may have a shelf full of Bibles in various translations. Perhaps your phone is loaded down with Bible aps. Candidly, though, what Thomas Nelson has done is offered a Bible in a format I’ve never seen, and it’s way-cool.

First, the Bible is in the New English Translation. If you aren’t familiar with this translation – and I wasn’t, because I’m primarily an NIV-kinda guy – it’s worth checking out netbible.com/net-bible-preface to see where they’re coming from. Short version is that the translators have tried to do the best possible job of straddling that line between being readable and being accurate. I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. A word for word translation can come across as stiff and awkward; a thought for thought translation might read better, but might lose just a tiny bit in accuracy. Or not. 

My thought on the translation itself: I think we’re safe with this one. When I do legit Bible study I like to refer to several translations at the same time. Here’s one more for that mix.

The crazy innovative feature of the NET Eternity Now New Testament is how it’s formatted. I can see this being of enormous help to a new believer wanting to “get into” reading their Bible. I’d even say this is a good intro to the Bible for a curious new -believer.

The Bible comes as a boxed set of five separate books. (Huh?) In the neat packaging  I’ve shown above – titled “Eternity Now,” very meta there – each little volume contains a different set of New Testament books. Here’s the breakdown:

• Grand Tour – the amazing story that changed the world. It contains Luke and Acts.
• No Going Back – a fast-paced account from the front row of history. This is Mark and First and Second Peter.
• Death to Life – beyond what happened to what it all means. This covers all of Paul’s letters. 
• The Legacy – a rich story etched with pain and promise. Here’s Matthew, Hebrews, James, and Jude.
• Now but Not Yet – the beginning was shocking, and the ending changes everything.

(Those colorful descriptions are from the cover copy of each book.)

The other novelty – which isn’t a bad thing – is how the individual books are formatted. Each book begins with a prologue, a very accessible overview of what the reader can expect from the book. It’s simply background, not intended to be scholarly, but rather gives some context.

From there, each book is broken down by the traditional chapter numbering. Note – and this might be a deal-breaker for some – there are no numbered verses. Each chapter reads like a novel with no verse breaks.

That’s to say – this isn’t a Bible for Bible study, per se. It’s more useful for devotional reading, I can see it’d be pretty cool for someone’s daily Bible reading to take one of the volumes and simply read through it at their own pace. There are no notes, no cross references, anything like that. It’s just text, biblical content.

I think there’s a place for this translation and the way it’s formatted. Here’s a shoutout to whoever chose the font used, too!  I can see someone tossing one of the little volumes in their purse or backpack. I don’t really want to consider this “leisure reading,” but I get a really accessible vibe from this. I can recommend it – again, not as a study Bible, but just as an easy and fun way to get into scripture. 

You can find it in the Bible Gateway store at https://bg4.me/3PccDVn and its Amazon page https://amazon.com/dp/078529127X/   

Your thoughts?