Gospel of Mark Audiobook: From The Revised Geneva Translation

"Words without thoughts never to heaven go." ~ William Shakespeare





Words matter; especially God's words; and especially if you're acting them out in front of people! You better know exactly what you're saying and why. The Revised Geneva Translation (based on Shakespeare's favorite Bible translation) was born from a need to memorize and speak Scripture out loud with the correct meanings and inflections; an ancient practice (as it turns out) dating back to Jesus' time and before.


The RGT is a 21st Century update of the 1599 Geneva Bible. It eliminates archaic and potentially distracting 16th Century words, phrases, and punctuation, while at the same time maintaining the strict attention to original intent for which that version of The Holy Bible has always been known.


In scholarly terms, it is a formal equivalency, featuring elements of both the Alexandrian and Byzantine text-types, predominantly the latter (e.g. it excludes the doxology of Matthew 6:13b, but includes Mark 16:9-20, John 7:53-8:11 and the Johannine Comma of 1John 5:7). Examples of translations which use the Alexandrian text-type include the NIV, NASB, and ESV. Examples of the Byzantine text-type include the KJV, NKJV, and the 1599 Geneva Bible. For me, the reasons for the favoring of the Byzantine text-type over the Alexandrian are best-summarized by Reese Currie in his wonderfully humble and insightful essay called "Textual Choices and Bible Versions". I highly recommend reading it in its entirety.





In addition, the RGT strives to preserve the textual cadence and poetry that is so essential to Elizabethan literature. Just as in all preceding centuries, Biblical text in the 1500’s was meant to be heard and seen, as much as read, because so many of those who received it were illiterate and needed to memorize it and speak it back to each other often in order to facilitate meditation. And so the living and active characteristic of God’s word is very much kept in mind on these recordings.