The Common English Bible is written in contemporary idiom at the same reading level as the newspaper USA TODAY — using language that’s comfortable and accessible for today’s English readers. More than half-a-million copies of the Bible are in print…

The new Common English Bible (CommonEnglishBible.com) is #7 in unit sales and #10 in dollar sales on the CBA Bible Translation Best Seller list for the month of April (cbaonline.org/nm/documents/BSLs/Bible_Translations.pdf). This marks the fourth month the Common English Bible (Twitter @CommonEngBible — twitter.com/CommonEngBible) has been on the Unit Sales list (moving up from #10) and the first month it’s appeared on the Dollar Sales list since its release last fall.

“The broad acceptance of the Common English Bible by scholars, consumers, and book sellers is gratifying,” says Paul Franklyn, PhD, associate publisher. “It confirms our decision to create an academically rigorous yet naturally understandable translation for 21st century English readers; a translation from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that’s built on common ground from the bottom up.”

The Common English Bible’s popularity has soared since it was first released last September. In addition to being a repeat best seller,

• it was named one of the top 10 religion stories of 2011 by leading journalists of the Religion Newswriters Association
• people are printing its verses in calligraphy when they LIKE the Facebook page facebook.com/LiveTheBible

• a Lenten PowerPoint® presentation of nature scenes in vivid color photography combined with scripture verses from the Common English Bible has been viewed, downloaded, and embedded more than 10,000 times (CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/LentDownloads and slideshare.net/CommonEnglishBible)
• 200 bloggers are participating in the “Common English Bible Change Your Heart and Life” blog tour (CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/blogtour) through Pentecost Sunday in May (Twitter hashtag #CEBtour — twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/%23CEBTour).
• the Common English Bible’s video “Who Does God Love” (vimeo.com/34617547) has registered more than 1,000 views and blog embeds
• the Common English Bible text, including the Apocrypha, is available to search for free online at Bible Gateway (www.biblegateway.com/versions/Common-English-Bible-CEB), YouVersion.com, and the translation’s website
• more than 6,000 people subscribe to the email Common English Bible “Verse of the Day” delivered daily to personal email inboxes from Bible Gateway (www.biblegateway.com/newsletters)
• and churches are using the translation to read through the Bible in a year (e.g. www.fourthchurch.org/bibleyear.html).

The Common English Bible is a collaboration of 120 Bible scholars and editors, 77 reading group leaders, and more than 500 average readers from around the world. The translators — from 24 denominations in American, African, Asian, European, and Latino communities — represent such academic institutions as Asbury Theological Seminary, Azusa Pacific University, Bethel Seminary, Denver Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary, Seattle Pacific University, Wheaton College, Yale University, and many others.

The Common English Bible is written in contemporary idiom at the same reading level as the newspaper USA TODAY — using language that’s comfortable and accessible for today’s English readers. More than half-a-million copies of the Bible are in print, including an edition with the Apocrypha. The Common English Bible is available online and in 20 digital formats. A Reference Bible edition and a Daily Companion devotional edition are now also available. Additionally, Church/Pew Bibles, Gift and Award Bibles, Large Print Bibles, and Children’s Bible editions will be in stores soon, joining the existing Thinline Bibles, Compact Thin Bibles, and Pocket-Size Bibles, bringing the total variety of Common English Bible stock-keeping units (SKUs) to more than 40.

Visit CommonEnglishBible.com to see comparison translations, learn about the translators, get free downloads, and more.

The Common English Bible is sponsored by the Common English Bible Committee, an alliance of five publishers that serve the general market, as well as the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) (Chalice Press), Presbyterian Church (USA) (Westminster John Knox Press), Episcopal Church (Church Publishing, Inc.), United Church of Christ (The Pilgrim Press), and The United Methodist Church (Abingdon Press).

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[Editor’s note: Some of the original URLs (links) referenced in this article are no longer valid, so the links have been removed.]