Top Five Sellers at Abbott ePublishing, April & May, 2012

It's been a great Spring at Abbott ePublishing! 

Check out these Top Five Sellers at Abbott ePublishing for the months of April and May, 2012:

1. Forty Ways to Make a Fortune with MicroBusinesses
2. Unsent Memos: Short Letters to Myself
3. Secret Religions & Obscure Faiths
4. The AeP Tyndale21 Version of the Gospels
5. Short Journeys: Flash Fiction by Stephen Abbott

These and MORE great eBooks for LESS at Abbott ePublishing!

A selection from the Abbott ePublishing Tyndale21 Version of the Gospels (John 15:12-17)

"This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you. No man has greater love than this: that a man give his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.From now on I will not call you servants, because the servant does not know what his master does. But I have called you friends, because all things that I have heard from my Father I have opened to you. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, so you would go and produce fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so whatever you ask from the Father in my name, he would give it you. These things I command you, that you love one another."

John 15:12-17 from the Abbott ePublishing Tyndale21 Version of the Gospels (more here)

The Beatitudes in the Abbott ePublishing Tyndale21 Version of the Gospels

The Abbott ePublishing Tyndale 21 Version of the Gospels is a revision of the 1536 translation of the New Testament Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) done by William Tyndale, who was a pioneer in the translation of the Christian scriptures into the English language.

Much of his turns of phrases and word creations (like the word "beautiful") have come into our language as a result of his translation - an effort that cost him his life, by burning at the stake, in 1536, because he dared to put the scriptures into the hands of the people, and in their own language.

Below is a well-known and popular section of the Gospel of Matthew, the Beatitudes. Tyndale, using the original Greek manuscripts known to him at the time, and previous English attempts at translation such as the Wycliffe version of the 1400s, puts his own stamp on this beautiful scene.

Much of what he wrote was used word-for-word by the compilers of the King James Version in 1611, 80 years later:

When he saw the people, he went up onto a hill. And when he was seated, his disciples came to him.

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying,

Blessed are the poor in spirit, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, because they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, because they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, because they will obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God.

Blessed are the maintainers of peace, because they will be called the children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you, when men insult you, and pursue you, and say all kinds of evil things against you falsely, for my sake.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, and this is the way they persecuted the prophets before your time.

(Matthew 5:1-12 in the Abbott ePublishing Tyndale21 Version of the New Testament Gospels. Available exclusively at Abbott ePublishing Click for details.)

Abbott ePublishing Tyndale21 Version of the Gospels Published

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Abbott ePublishing Tyndale21 Version of the Gospels Published

Abbott ePublishing announces the publication of the Abbott ePublishing Tyndale21 Version of the New Testament Gospels, an updated, modern English version of the first printed English Gospels translated by William Tyndale in 1526.

Also known as the Abbott ePublishing Version, this is the first stage of a proposed full New Testament revision of the New Testament translation made by William Tyndale in1526.

The electronic book is being sold for $2.99 on the company’s website,www.abbottepub.com/tyndale21gospels.html in Adobe Portable Document format (.pdf.) The eBook contains the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

General editor and Abbott ePublishing principal Stephen Abbott says the new version is not a "translation," but rather an update of the 16^th Century text that Tyndale produced.

"It was a remarkable and important text in the history of translations,” said Abbott. “It was the first New Testament printed in English, it laid the foundations and gave much of the familiar wording to the King James Version of 1611, and was the first English Bible to be translated directly from the Greek language.”

All the English Bibles up until that time had been translations from the Latin Vulgate, but Tyndale's New Testament was taken from the compilation of all Greek manuscripts known at that time.

The scholars who created the King James Version of the Bible in 1611 relied heavily on Tyndale's translation. Some estimate that nearly 83 percent of the King James Version New Testament contains Tyndale’s wording.

“His renderings are unique and sometimes more starkly beautiful than many, many that have come after, as will be readily seen in this translation,” said Abbott ePublishing

Tyndale’s early 16^th Century language is updated in this edition for 21^st Century ears.

"The thought, ‘What if William Tyndale’s 1526 version was the only one Christians had used for the last 400 years, and it now needed to be updated into more modern English?’ was constantly considered,” said Abbott. “It was, in fact, the theoretical basis for this revision. Words and phrases that have clearly changed meaning were updated to 21^st Century English.

The Abbott ePublishing Tyndale21 Version is not a word-for-word update of Tyndale’s translation, and discretion was used when called for, he said.

"This is neither a ‘thought-for-thought’ nor ‘word-for-word’ rendering of the Gospels from ancient Greek texts,” he said. “It is instead an adaptation of an earlier English translation. Phrases are not deliberately put into over-casual speech. The majesty, dignity and grace of the English of Tyndale’s era remain.”

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For whoever asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks it will be opened. Is there any man among you who, if his son asks him for bread, would offer him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he gives him a snake?" Matt. 7:7-10

"And he looked around at them angrily, grieved at the blindness of their hearts. And he said to the man: Hold out your hand. And he did. And his hand was restored just as healthy as the other one." Mark 3:5

"They worship me in vain, teaching doctrines that are nothing but the precepts of men. Because you lay aside the commands of God and instead observe the traditions of men - like baptizing pitchers and cups, and many other kinds of things you do." Mark 7:7-8

"Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together and running over, will men put into your lap. For the same measurement with which you are measuring, that same will be used to measure you." Luke 6:38

"And he said to them, Give, then, to Caesar the things which belong to Caesar, and to God the things that which pertain to God." Luke 20:25

"For God so loved the world, that he has given his only Son, that none who believes in him would die, but would have eternal life." John 3:16

Abbott ePublishing was launched in 2009 as a New England-based publisher of original, affordable electronic books. They can be found online at abbottepub.com.

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