ICB translation: The Frost Bible
I must admit, I
liked the cover of this Bible (the 'Frost Bible') decorated with snow and sparkles and that was one of
the reasons I requested this book in order to review it. I am not an advocate of choosing a Bible
because of its cover, and am generally uncomfortable with Bibles that are aimed
towards a specific gender (mainly because of their study notes that may run
into danger of eisegesis by trying to direct the thinking into a more
egotistical interpretation of Scripture) , but this one, other than its being appealing to girls by
its cover (as I am proof of) is otherwise a fairly basic Bible.
My motives in
requesting this Bible were not wholly material in nature, I had never heard of
the International Children's Translation before and was very curious about
it. It seems to be a rather literal
translation overall. They explain in the
preface about some liberties they took in translation, such as clarifying
ancient customs, changing Rhetorical questions to statements, "showing the implied meaning, as in this
example: 'No one is equal to our God,'
instead of 'Who is equal to our God?'", editing figures of speech,
idiomatic expressions ('he rested with his fathers' is changed to, 'he
died')…etc. Some of the writing style
reminds me of the Dick and Jane books, short sentences with a lot of periods
for punctuation. But it still reads quite well.
Here's a sample from Genesis 42: 1-4:
"Jacob learned that there was grain
in Egypt. So he said to his sons, 'Why
are you just sitting here looking at one another? I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us to
eat. Then we will live and not
die.' So ten of Joseph's brothers went
down to buy grain from Egypt. But Jacob
did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with them. Jacob was afraid that something terrible
might happen to Benjamin."
The translation
appears to be quite good to me, and very understandable for kids. One of the passages I always go to in Bibles
to help give me an idea of the general literalness of the translation is Romans
9:13, and this translation doesn't try to soften it which is a good sign: "As the
Scripture says, "I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau."
Here are some other
excerpts to help give you more of an idea of how this translation reads:
Rom 8:28, 30. "We know that in everything God
works for the good of those who love him.
They are the people God called, because that was his plan…God planned
for them to be like his Son. And those
he planned to be like his Son, he also called.
And those he called, he also made right with him. And those he made right, he also
glorified."
2 Tim. 3: 14-17:
"But you should continue following the teachings that you
learned. You know that these teachings
are true. And you know you can trust
those who taught you. You have known the
Holy Scriptures since you were a child.
The Scriptures are able to make you wise. And that wisdom leads to salvation through
faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is
inspired by God and is useful for teaching and for showing people what is wrong
in their lives. It is useful for
correcting faults and teaching how to live right. Using the Scriptures, the person who serves
God will be ready and will have everything he needs to do every good
work."
The Bible has some
fancy pages (with snowflakes of course) scattered throughout with little
tidbits on topics like, "How Do I
Pray?" , "How Do I know Jesus Better?" and "Knowing Jesus Better". For the most part those sections seem okay,
though I might have an issue with some of the memory verses they suggest like
Jeremiah 29:11 which is usually taken out of context and applied specifically
to Christians when in actuality it was a promise to the physical descendants of
Jacob, not necessarily to present day Gentile Christians. I just had to mention that.
Overall, I thought
this translation was pretty good.
Amongst other places, this book may be purchased at Amazon
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