The Message: The Old Testament Books of Moses

by Eugene H. Peterson (Editor)

Peterson invites reader to view history up close and understand the trials and tribulations of mankind through biblical stories.

Genres: Christian

350 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2001

About the author

Eugene H. Peterson was a pastor, scholar, author, and poet. For many years he was James M. Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. He also served as founding pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. He had written over thirty books, including Gold Medallion Book Award winner The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language a contemporary translation of the Bible. After retiring from full-time teaching, Eugene and his wife Jan lived in the Big Sky Country of rural Montana. He died in October 2018.

Reviews

[Alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

For as tedious as some of these books are (genealogies, anyone?) Peterson does a pretty good job of making it interesting. Just a paraphrase, I know, but still nice to get out of the common translations and look at some of these old, familiar stories from a different language perspective.

[John]

I finished this section of the Bible while I was traveling, using a paperback New King James Version. It actually was a nice change from The Message, which almost seems to be too much in the vernacular at times. On the other hand, Peterson makes the Books of Moses -- which, let's face it, can be a hard slog in places -- readable throughout. And I really appreciate his introductions to the books.

[Skipr · Rating 5 out of 5]

With Eugene Peterson's translation/paraphrase I was finally able to make it straight through the first five books of the Bible. Genesis has always been pretty easy - but, I gotta say, Leviticus and Numbers are pretty tough going. It's such a different world. But, thanks to Peterson, I was able, for the first time, to get a glimpse of the bigger picture of what was evolving over those first thousand years or so of God creating a people starting with a Semitic nomad couple.

[Julie Graves]

Since I read through the Bible every year I try to choose a different version each year. This year I have chosen to read a paraphrase. A paraphrase is not for studying the Word, but it does add clarity to some passages.

[Linda Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first contemporary language paraphrase I have completed of the Old Testament. I learned a lot!