The first book of the PEV Mini-Bible has been submitted for typesetting

Excerpts from Matthew

Before the Plain English Version (PEV) Mini-Bible is published, it will be typeset (formatted) by a typesetter. Our typesetter wanted a book to start formatting as a sample of how the Mini-Bible will look. So we finalised the text and illustrations for Matthew and have sent it off. It's actually just the parts of Matthew that are not in the other Gospels, so it's probably about half, but it's still scary to submit it. In some ways I would like to spend more time making sure every sentence is clear, but there will always be room for improvement and we do want to publish the Mini-Bible one day!

Give thanks that the Mini-Bible is progressing and pray with me for wisdom and efficiency as we spend time checking the other books.

Follow the right track

Below is Matthew 7:13-14 in the NIV. How would you rephrase it in simple English? No big words and no complicated sentences. See how it's translated in the Plain English Version at the bottom of this post. (Note that some of the terms are not Standard English.)

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

You have to follow the right track

From the good news about Jesus that Matthew wrote Chapter 7, verses 13 and 14

Then Jesus told them this picture story about how to live. He said, “It is like there are 2 tracks in life, and each one has its own gate. One gate is big and wide, but the other is a narrow little gate. It is hard to get through that little gate, and only a few people get through it. Listen, you have to go through that little gate. If you want to live with God for ever, then you have to pick that little gate and go through it, and you have to follow its track. Its track is a narrow little track, and it is hard to walk on. But if you go that way, then you will live with God for ever. The other gate is wide and easy to go through, and its track is wide and easy to walk on. A lot of people go that way. They go through that wide gate and walk along that easy track. But that track goes to the wrong place, and God will finish up those people.”