THE CEPHER BIBLE: A Blog by Lynn Litzinger and David Jantunen (http://hiddenhouse.org)
Has anyone else heard about this bible? I thought at first when I saw an advertisement, "Oh, not another translation!" as if we didn't have enough. But...I clicked on the advertisement and to my pleasant surprise it seems to have everything a true disciple of Mashiach would need! It is called, "The את Cepher Bible.
It has, in addition to the "canonized" texts the apocryphal and pseudepigrypha (pardon spelling if incorrect) books, the explanation of the importance of the "stand alone" Aleph Taw which is the same in Hebrew as the "Alpha and the Omega" - "I am the First and the Last (From everlasting to everlasting thou art Elohiym). If you only read the King James you are missing out on a lot, as there is this two-letter "word" (the "eth") את which when used without a "maqef" (the grammatical indicator that precedes and refers to the direct object that is referenced by it) that has a cryptic meaning for most. This two-letter word (eth) את is used WITHOUT the maqef in many areas in the Bible, and whenever it is used this way it is always speaking of the Alpha and Omega (our Messiah) or the Aleph Taw in the Hebrew language. The original scribes probably knew about this or they would have used the Aleph Taw with a maqef. It apparently wasn't until after Judaism became a predominant mainstream monothestic religion that it became largely ignored. While many of us know about this mysterious and cryptic use of the Aleph Taw, the majority of evangelicals do not, as most of them are readers of English texts only.
The Cepher Bible also gets into into an extra chapter of the book of Acts that was omitted in the current King James - it was included in the original King James Bible and is restored here in this Cepher Bible. This raises the question for some: "why do we need extra-canonical books?", and KJVonlyists (among others) even become a little paranoid and suspicious about using them and wonder whether or not they are divinely inspired. My rule for determining if a text is inspired is twofold. 1) a writer refers to it in a "canonized" book; and 2) it aligns scripturally with what we already agree is divinely inspired and is in the 66 books of the Bible we now use. The sad thing about rejection of the extra-canonical books is that there is so much information included in these books that "flesh out" the skeletal narrative that is in our commonly used bible. This is why so much of it is misunderstood. Coupled with the apocryphal books (that first-century believers read on a widespread basis as the divinely inspired Word of God [Elohiyim]) we get a far more detailed explanation of what really place, for what reason, and some of the culture and idioms that were commonly understood at the time of the writings. It is what the Amplified Bible attempted to do with limited information available to the translators and was slightely short of an epic fail. It basically only added additional synonyms to heighten the reader's understanding of the text.
I am excited about the Cepher Bible, and despite it's larger price tag, I wish to have it in my collection as a regularly used bible. It like that all "canonical" and super-canonical books are included with a reference to the את or "eth" which is called a "stand-alone Aleph Taw" and adds to what was already considered "canon" in the time of the early disciples and believers to the tune of 13 additional books that were believed to be divinely inspired and historically accurate. What I perhaps like just as much is that is is written in chronological order, which is very important, because if we did not know a proper time frame in which certain events took place (save for doing the work ourselves) we would not know when these events took place in relation to others and this bible helps us to understand which prophetical writings have taken place or are yet to be and those that are considered both - that which has an immediate or soon-to-be eminent fulfillment as well as an "overarching" prophecy that includes the immediate and the ultimate fulfillment.
Don't take my word for it - in fact, as I said, I have not bought it yet, but I would be willing to wager it is going to be one of the most handy bibles ever!
Here is the url for the site that reviewed it which I believe has a place to directly order it. For those who already have it or know about it, I would appreciate your comments both pro and con, although I can't imagine too much that would be negative about it. Aside from the HalleluYAH Scriptures, I believe it will be my most used bible.
http://superstore.wnd.com/Welcome/CEPHER-2nd-Edition-Hardcover
http://www.cepher.net/
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