Customer comments on this selection.
 Good Book for children
As several other reviewers have already noted, the Contemporary English Version of the Holy Bible is perfect for reading aloud to children. It's also the best version to buy if you're dyslexic, and when I say that, I'm not just kicking a daed dog. The publishers have dumbed down the prose, which was no easy task.
Many children, indeed, will be able now to read the Holy Bible for themselves; but you don't want to let your children do that, for the obvious reason that it has become entirely too easy, with publication of the CEV, for children to read and understand the holy Ghost's tales of gang-rape, sister-rape, incest, serial-killers, concubine-butchery, dismemberment, parent-slaughter, child-sacrifice, genocide, castration, providential incompetence. So, too, with those stories in the New Testament of sadistic crucifixions conducted to appease an angry and otherwise unforgiving God.
But there's also good stuff in here for your kids, such as the story of "Daniel in the Lion's Den," or "Joseph's Coat of Many Colors," or "The Good Shepherd and the Lost Lamb," or "Little Zacchaeus, the Tree-Climbing Dwarf."
Granted: when it comes to writing, the holy Ghost is no J.K. Rowling, but then, who is? The Bible may never win God a major book prize, but it actually has some pretty amazing history in it: until I came along (with Lucifer's "True History of Everything," on the Web) where else could you get true, eyewitness accounts of real talking snakes and donkeys? True biographies of men who lived to be 777, 895, and even 969 years old? True tales of happy virgins and ninety-year-old bubbelahs who gave birth to virtuous baby boys? True legends of Zamzummin giants and of the Hebrew lads who slew them? True tragedies of naughty housewives who were transformed into geological formations, or dogfood? True accounts of prophets taken up to Heaven in a tornado? True spectacles of grim domestic homicide and of genocidal slaughter? True tragedies of gang rape, bodily dismemberment, blind Sodomites, and drunken incest? - and, at no extra charge, an appendix ("New!") with easy-to-follow instructions on how to save your sorry arse from Hell?
Truly: if you purchase yourself a paperback copy of the Contemporary English Version and don't spring for one of those fancy [...] leather-bound Authorized jobs, the Holy Bible is still a good deal. Buy one. Or steal one from the bedstand drawer of your next motel room. (Trust me: it will not be missed by Mr. Gideon.)
Next, read it. All of it.
Okay, not all at once. It works best to feast on the Word of God as you would eat food in a cafeteria: Browse a little! Take what you want, don't spit on the rest! And when you get indigestion, quit for a few hours before returning for more, or you'll soon grow fat and stupid - I mean, just look at the Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jerry Falwell, or at every other Pope. I mean, no, don't look at them.
The Bible is a lot like Pray TV. You can't just sit on your bum and blame the show's producer for having wasted your time. Exercise a little discernment. Seriously, there's juicy stuff in the Bible, even for adults, if you know where to look, such as the Song of Solomon.
Are you looking as well for fully drawn characters? sublime aesthetic satisfaction? irony? suspense? tragic sensibility? a coherent sense of morality? If you want all of that when you read the Bible, well, then! - just exercise your God-given imagination!
--L
WONDERFUL
I love this bible! It is so easy to read and it has a ton of information to help everything make sense.
 easy to read Bible
The Contemporary English Version is very easy to read. This learning Bible has lots of extra information and pictures. This is a very large book. You don't want to carry it around with you. However, it is a great addition to your home library.
Holy Bible: CEV a good research tool
The Contemporary English Version of the Bible is a modern translation (as opposed to a paraphrase). This book has extensive notes and background material. The paparback version is reasonably priced and makes a good tool for any serious student of the Bible.
 Not for Catholics
I think this a great learning bible, however it is not for those of us of the Catholic religion as it leaves out about 9 chapters of our bible. I do however feel that for most other religions this is both a great teaching and study bible.
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