The NEW LIFE Version is the result of an idea
sparked in an igloo by a husband-and-wife missionary team, Gleason and Kathryn
Ledyard. Raised in the evangelical tradition, Gleason graduated from Fort Wayne
Bible College - now Taylor University. The Ledyards served as missionaries to
primitive Canadian Eskimos for a number of years with the Christian and
Missionary Alliance Church before working among North American Indian groups.
The idea for a readable, understandable version originated while working with
the Eskimos, but it took many years for the Ledyards to see their idea come to
fruition. The couple began the process of comparing several translations and
original texts and, after four years of diligent work, completed the New
Testament in 1969. Then, with the help of three additional people, the entire
Bible was completed in 1986.
"Those of us who worked on this limited vocabulary
NEW LIFE Version were constantly watching to keep it understandable without
sacrificing accuracy," write the Ledyards in the Bible's introduction.
"There was no thought to change God's Holy Word to today's street language. In
fact, in many places the wording and beauty of the older versions has been
retained. Paraphrasing, or man's idea of what the Bible says, was ruled out. The
careful and prayerful use of some basic words can be made to say what the
original languages said, thus assuring the reader of an accurate
text."
Over the past 40 years, Christian Literature
International (CLI), founded by the Ledyards and based in Oregon, has published
and distributed more than five million copies of the NLV for use in prisons,
while several million other copies have been used on the mission field. The
New Testament has been through over 80 printings and the entire Bible through
more than a dozen.
*Receive a free copy of the book "Eskimos" with the purchase of any of our other books.
