Work on the 'The Holy Bible in Modern English' began in 1853 by a London businessman named Ferrar Fenton (1832–1920). The complete Bible was first published in 1903, though some individual bible 'books' were published as separate volumes during the preceding 11 years.
Fenton is well known for a rearranging of the books of the Bible into what the author believed was the correct chronological order. In the Old Testament, this order follows that of the Hebrew Bible. The name of God was translated throughout the Old Testament as "The Ever-Living".
Fenton is an exciting translation that shows respect and gives clarity in many areas where other translations fall short. This Bible is described as being "translated into English direct from the original Hebrew, Chaldee, and Greek languages."
Henrik Borgström assisted Fenton with his translation of the Book of Job, which first appeared in 1898. The book of Job was "rendered into the same metre as the original Hebrew, word by word and line by line". His translation of the New Testament is based on the Greek text of Westcott and Hort. The ordering novelty in the New Testament is that it places the Gospel of John and the First Epistle of John at the beginning before the Gospel of Matthew, thus placing the Acts of the Apostles immediately after the Gospel of Luke.
Notable as well, is Ferrar Fenton's restoration of the Psalms into the musical verse form as close to the original as he could get. The Psalms were, quite literally, songs, complete with instructions for the "choirmaster" as well as descriptions of the proper musical instruments to be used. Today Psalm 48, Psalm 137, and Psalm 23 are still sung in churches, albeit to tunes not the original.
This bible is named the "Revised Fenton" because it puts things back into chronological order. In many cases, whether in error or not, Ferrar moved some parts of the scriptures down to the footnote section. These re-ordered verses have been returned to their chronological order as they are currently found in the King James Version. There was no alteration of the wording or intended meaning of what was originally intended by Mr. Fenton."
Welcome to the new blog section. Join us in this exciting effort to display the works of Ferrar Fenton! The Holy Bible in Modern English is now fully digitized and can be seen for it's creative and artistic beauty as well as for the spiritual edification that we all need through the daily study of the scriptures.
This project actually began in 2012 when the conversion of scanned images, using OCR software, revived a very beautiful but tangled digital version of Ferrar Fenton's work. The major part of the editing, including verse alignment, OCR errors and chapter breaks took over one year. Still, as we go there are minor fixes to punctuation and a few odd necessary edits.
In its very raw form, 'The Holy Bible in Modern English' went online with a free but very undependable web hosting service in 2014, where it has been ever since.
With thanks to the generosity of others, just recently, the site has been moved to its current home. This hosting service is by far superior to the previous but costs are high so we are maintaining an ad service to help offset the costs.
|RF MAT 14:1||
The Murder of John the Baptizer.
|RF MAT 14:2||and said to his companions, "This is John the Baptizer; he must have risen from the dead, and therefore the powers energize him!"|
|RF MAT 14:3||For Herod had arrested John, put him in chains, and sent him to prison, on account of Herodia, the wife of his own brother Philip;|
|RF MAT 14:4||because John had told him, "It is not legal for you to have her."|
|RF MAT 14:5||And although wishing to murder him, he was afraid of the people, because all honored him as a prophet.|
|RF MAT 14:6||At Herod's birthday feast, however, the daughter of Herodia danced before the guests, and delighted Herod.|
|RF MAT 14:7||He thereupon promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.|
|RF MAT 14:8||And she, having been previously instigated by her mother, said, "Give me here upon a dish the head of John the Baptizer!"|
|RF MAT 14:9||The king was horrified; but because of his oaths, and those who reclined with him, he ordered it to be given to her.|
|RF MAT 14:10||And sending, he beheaded John in the prison.|
|RF MAT 14:11||And his head was brought upon a dish, and handed to the girl; and she carried it to her mother!|
|RF MAT 14:12||His disciples then came forward, took the body, and buried it; and went to report it to Jesus.|
|RF MAT 14:13|| The Feeding of Five Thousand.
And Jesus hearing it, went away privately in a boat to a desert place; but the people having become aware of it, they followed Him by land from the towns.
|RF MAT 14:14||When Jesus came out, He saw a great crowd, and pitied them; and restored the sick to health.|
|RF MAT 14:15||But when the evening came, His disciples approached Him, saying, "This place is a desert, and the hour now late; dismiss the crowd, so that, going into the villages, they may buy food for themselves."|
|RF MAT 14:16||"They have no need to go away," remarked Jesus in reply; "give them victuals yourselves."|
|RF MAT 14:17||"We have nothing here," they responded, "except five loaves and two fishes."|
|RF MAT 14:18||"Bring those to Me," He said.|
|RF MAT 14:19||And He ordered the crowd to recline up upon the grassy places. And taking the five loaves and the two fishes, looking up to heaven, He blessed; and then breaking, He distributed the loaves to His disciples, and the disciples among the crowd.|
|RF MAT 14:20||And they all partook and were satisfied; and of the broken pieces remaining, they picked up twelve full bags.|
|RF MAT 14:21||Now those who had eaten numbered about live thousand, besides women and children.|
|RF MAT 14:22||He then immediately instructed His disciples to embark in the boat, and to precede Him to the other side, until He could dismiss the crowd.|
|RF MAT 14:23||When He had sent the crowd away, He went up the hill privately, to pray. And during the evening He was there alone;|
|RF MAT 14:24||while the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was against them.|
|RF MAT 14:25||But about three o'clock in the morning He came towards them, walking upon the sea.|
|RF MAT 14:26||And His disciples, seeing Him walking upon the water, were terrified, exclaiming, "It is a phantom!" and called out for fear|
|RF MAT 14:27||Jesus, however, at once spoke to them, saying, "Take courage! I live; be not afraid."|
|RF MAT 14:28||Peter in reply to Him said, "Master, if You live, order me to come to You upon the waters."|
|RF MAT 14:29||"Come!" said He. Peter accordingly got out of the boat, and walked upon the water towards Jesus.|
|RF MAT 14:30||But seeing the strength of the wind, he became afraid; and beginning to sink, he exclaimed, "Master, use me!"|
|RF MAT 14:31||Jesus at once holding out His hand, lifted him up, and said to him, "Faint heart! Why did you hesitate?"|
|RF MAT 14:32||And when they had entered the vessel, He lulled the wind.|
|RF MAT 14:33||Then those in the vessel coming to Him, paid homage, saying, "You most assuredly are a Son of God!"|
|RF MAT 14:34||And having crossed, they arrived in the land of Gennesaret.|
|RF MAT 14:35||And the people of that place recognizing Him, sent round the whole of the neighborhood, and brought to Him all those who suffered from sickness;|
|RF MAT 14:36||and begged that they might only be allowed to touch the hem of His cloak. And as many as touched Him were restored to health.|