book review: the voice of psalms

The Voice of Psalms is a daily reading Bible written in literary style. In essence, I saw it as a paraphrase with a bit more attention to staying true to Biblical text. It took me several months after receiving the book to put up this review -- on one hand because of circumstances going on in my life, and on the other so that I could give the Voice of Psalms several reads in order to be a bit more objective and give it an accurate review.

The Voice translation was a bit distracting for me, honestly. In order to stay true to the original (an effort that I applaud and appreciate), the words they have added to enrich the literary and poetic aspects of the Psalms are italicized. It took me several chapters to get used to that, and while I understand the reason for italicizing I can't say I especially enjoyed it. I'm guessing since this is the book of Psalms, it probably isn't so heavily italicized in other books.

There are also devotionals and commentaries every couple of pages. They are great tools, although aesthetically I normally prefer to have devos at the beginning or end of the book -- I don't mind flipping pages if my text isn't interrupted!

As far as other qualities of the Bible, this particular edition is a paperback, so it was easy to toss in a bag when I flew to Delaware and equally easy to cart to babysitting jobs. The print is friendly, fresh and crisp, and I did enjoy the overall styling of the book.

My recommendation is to check this edition out. In no way would I use it to replace my regular edition of the Bible, but it does make a nice addition to the collection--pull it out when you just need a beautiful read. :)

Disclosure of Material Connection:

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com (click the button above) book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”