Common English Bible

The Common English Bible (CEB) is an English translation of the Bible whose language is intended to be at a comfortable reading level for the majority of English readers. The translation, sponsored by an alliance of mainline Protestant denomination publishers, was begun in late 2008 and was finished in 2011. It uses gender-inclusive language and some editions sold include the books of the Apocrypha which are used by the Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, and in some Anglican congregations. History The Common English Bible is sponsored by an alliance of several denominational publishers in the United States operating under an umbrella group called the Christian Resources Development Corporation (CRDC), incorporated in 2009 and based in Nashville, Tennessee. The publishing houses participating are Chalice Press (Disciples of Christ), Westminster John Knox Press (Presbyterian Church U.S.A.), Church Publishing Inc (Episcopal Church), Pilgrim Press (United Church of Christ), and Abingdon Press (United Methodist Church). According to the CEB's preface, the motivation for producing a new translation was that "it has proved difficult to combine concern for accuracy and accessibility in one translation that the typical reader or worshipper would be able to understand." One hundred twenty scholars from twenty-four different denominations worked on the translation. Textual basis The CEB New Testament was translated from the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament (27th Edition), a standard edition of the Greek used in many versions of the Christian scriptures. For the Old Testament various editions of the traditional Masoretic text were used: the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (4th edition), Biblia Hebraica Quinta (5th edition), and in some cases the Hebrew University Bible Project. However, as with many modern Bibles, the Old Testament was occasionally emended using readings from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the ancient Septuagint Greek translation, and other sources. For the apocrypha, the currently unfinished Göttingen Septuagint was used as the basis. Books that were not available in the Göttingen project were translated from the latest revision of Rahlfs' Septuagint (2006). Surviving Hebrew manuscripts of some Septuagint books were consulted as well.