New Testament in the Language of Today

Known commonly by the name of its translator, Beck's An American Translation is a significant Lutheran Bible in modern English, prepared as a fresh rendering of the complete Bible from the original-language Hebrew and Greek texts rather than as a revision of an existing version. Its guiding philosophy was the use of natural modern English, in keeping with the broader twentieth-century movement toward readable, contemporary-language Scripture for church and home use. The work holds a particular place in the history of English Bible translation as a historical precursor to the organization that later produced GOD'S WORD. Among its distinctive points is the fact that the later GOD'S WORD team ultimately set Beck's text aside and retranslated afresh, so that the connection between the two is one of institutional lineage rather than direct textual descent.