The Voice is an all new Bible Translation, but it is really unique and relevant to TODAY. Reading is really refreshing I must say. I went straight and skipped all the introduction and read Matthew, Luke and Revelation and I must say, I am loving it. The translation sticks true to the original text, it is not a paraphrase. However, within the text, there are snippets of commentaries, devotional thoughts, concordance etc. I find this particularly useful as many times while reading the Bible, I may get confused which Mary is this, or is this part prophesied in the earlier Old Testament, stuffs like that. Reading The Voice is quite a breeze as every prophesy is quoted and referred back to the OT text without having me to search in a concordance for it. It certainly is more eye opening and easily understood.
Another plus point, The Voice is not the work of one person. It was the work of bible scholars, experts of the original language, and hear this, musicians and poets. Now that is interesting. Musicians and Poets were involved to make the English language beautiful and readable. Even Matthew 1 which is the genealogy of Jesus became appealingly easy to read.
Second plus point, I think the whole of The Voice can be read as a screenplay and acted out as it was already written like that with conversations between Jesus and His apostles seemingly taking place right in front of you. This will be seriously useful for Creative Arts teams in the church. I think I will grab the physical copy when the OT version comes out in April 2012. Meanwhile, you can do a comparison of The Voice with all other Bible versions here www.hearthevoice.com/compare-translation and see for yourself what I mean.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.