Exile and Restoration

The five books in the series A Twenty-First-Century Bible recognise that the Bible is not the easiest book to read. As a consequence, they use the complete text of the Bible and rearrange the narrative into historical order, with two or more versions of the same story merged together. They deal with some of the anomalies in the original text and reinstate cultural aspects which have been lost in modern translations. The text is presented in two types: a translation of the original languages in normal print; and additions-to help the flow of the narrative and to enlighten the reader to some of the cultural background and meaning-in italics. The fourth volume Exile and Restoration takes the reader from the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem to the restoration of Israel. The psalms (where they can be historically identified) have been included in the Narrative section of the book, while the other psalms of the period have been arranged at the back in thematic order.