Christian Retailing

Barbour begins Bible-publishing push Print Email
Sunday, 18 June 2006 08:00 PM America/New_York

Barbour Publishing, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, has announced it will begin publishing Bibles. While the Uhrichsville, Ohio, company has released several traditional King James Bibles over the years-including a value-priced softcover edition that sold more than 5.5 million units and a bargain Spanish Bible that sold more than half a million units-Barbour will release a trade edition of the New Life Version (NLV) in July, followed by redesigned KJV gift and award Bibles in October.

The NLV will be “appropriate for seasoned believers looking to gain new insights into scripture, as well as seekers, new believers and those for whom English is a second language,” the company said in a statement. Written at a third- to fifth-grade reading level, the NLV uses a vocabulary of only 850 words-not including proper names and places-limiting each word use to a single meaning and replacing difficult words with explanatory phrases. For example, “authority” is translated as “the right and the power,” and a “Pharisee” is a “proud religious law-keeper,” the statement said.

“Publishing God's Word has always been a desire,” said Tim Martins, president of Barbour Publishing. “For nearly 37 years, the NLV has impacted literally millions of lives around the globe, and we're delighted to add it to our growing line of Bibles. With the addition of the NLV, readers have the option of an easy-to-read version in addition to the traditional KJV-both value-priced to be affordable.”

The NLV was the idea of husband-and-wife missionary team Gleason and Kathryn Ledyard, who served in the Canadian wilderness with the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. The couple began the process of comparing several translations and original texts and, after four years, completed the New Testament in 1969. With the help of three additional people, the entire Bible was completed in 1986.

Signing the contract with Barbour was one of Gleason Ledyard's final actions before his death earlier this year, said Joyce Moore of Christian Literature International.