Revising for Reading Level

For the future; an interesting concept is the reading level of the Bible. The RSV and KJV bibles are approximately Grade 12, as given by biblegateway.com and listed for convenience below:

  • Mounce — 12+ (ages 17+)
  • KJV — 12+ (ages 17+)
  • RSV — 12+ (ages 17+)
  • Geneva — 12+ (ages 17+)
  • WEB — 12+ (ages 17+)
  • NRSV — 11+ (ages 16+)
  • NASB — 11+ (ages 16+)
  • Amplified — 11+ (ages 16+)
  • MEV — 11+ (ages 16+)
  • LEB — 11+ (ages 16+)
  • ESV — 10+ (ages 15+)
  • J.B. Phillips NT — 10+ (ages 15+)
  • NABRE — 9+ (ages 14+)
  • NIV — 7+ (ages 12+)
  • CEB — 7+ (ages 12+)
  • NET — 7+ (ages 12+)
  • GNT — 7+ (ages 12+)
  • ISV — 7+ (ages 12+)
  • NKJV — 7+ (ages 12+)
  • HCSB — 7+ (ages 12+)
  • The Voice — 6+ (ages 11+)
  • NLT — 6+ (ages 11+)
  • CEV — 5+ (ages 10+)
  • GW — 5+ (ages 10+)
  • The Message — 4+ (ages 9+)
  • Living — 4+ (ages 9+)
  • ERV — 4+ (ages 9+)
  • NCV — 3+ (ages 7+)
  • ICB — 3+ (ages 7+)
  • NIrV — 3+ (ages 7+)

A good question would be which of these bibles is a) public domain and b) of a relatively lower reading level. Unfortunately out of the list above, all of the bibles grade 7 and under are copyrighted.

However, a comparison of these bibles against the NSV may still be of use at a later date to understand the direction in which these translations have taken the text, in order to smooth out the reading, while still maintaining theological accuracy. This is going to be an ongoing goal and performed near the end of the translation. An interesting idea nonetheless!

 

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