Advent Verses from the Common English Bible for Second Sunday of Advent – Luke 2:15-16 + Bible Giveaway!

Today is the beginning of Week Two of Advent and the corresponding Bible passage from the new Common English Bible translation as part of my participation in the “Thank You – Come Again – I Promise” blog tour.

Sunday – Luke 2:15-16

v Luke 2:15-16 (CEB): When the angels returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go right now to Bethlehem and see what’s happened. Let’s confirm what the Lord has revealed to us. They went quickly and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger.

More about the Common English Bible:

Known for being “built on common ground,” the Common English Bible is a collaboration of 120 academic scholars and editors, 77 reading group leaders, and more than 500 average readers from around the world who joined together to clearly translate the Bible’s original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages into 21st century English. More than half-a-million copies of the Bible are currently in print. It’s also available online and in 20 digital formats.

“When we say ‘built on common ground,’ we mean that the Common English Bible is the result of collaboration between opposites: scholars working with average readers; conservatives working with liberals; teens working with retirees; men working with women; many denominations and many ethnicities coming together around the common goal of creating a vibrant and clear translation for 21st century readers, with the ultimate objective of mutually accomplishing God’s overall work in the world; in essence, helping Bible readers live on common ground,” says Franklyn.

Combining scholarly accuracy with vivid language, the Common English Bible is the work of 120 biblical scholars from 24 denominations in American, African, Asian, European, and Latino communities, representing such academic institutions as Asbury Theological Seminary, Azusa Pacific University, Bethel Seminary, Denver Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, Seattle Pacific University, Wheaton College, Yale University, and many others.

Additionally, more than 500 readers in 77 groups field-tested the translation. Every verse was read aloud in the reading groups, where potentially confusing passages were identified. The translators considered the groups' responses and, where necessary, reworked those passages to clarify in modern English their meaning from the original languages. In total, more than 700 people worked jointly to bring the Common English Bible to fruition; and because of the Internet and today’s technology it was completed in less than four years.

As part of this blog tour, I’ve been given the opportunity to offer my readers a free copy of the softcover edition of the Common English Bible for each week of the blog tour (which runs through January 31, 2012)!

For this week, please leave a message at this blog post telling me why you’d like to have a copy. Please leave your email address also, so I can contact you to get your mailing address.

The deadline to enter for this week will be Saturday, December 10, 2011 at 11:59 pm ET. The winner will be chosen from all entries by the Random Number Generator on Sunday, December 11, 2011. All the best to you!