Bart Marshall

The Book of Psalms Bart Marshall

This book, The Book of Psalms: A Psalter for Seekers in Extraordinary Times, is excerpted from a larger work-in-progress, The Holy Bible: King James Reader's Version. My method in this work is to start with the King James Version of the Bible, then consult 40 other versions as I create what I believe to be the most faithful and poetic version of each verse, while retaining the lilt and rhythms of the King James Version that we have come to associate with biblical passages. Psalms were an ancient art form, combining poetry and performance. As such, we might imagine "open mic" nights around a fire, sort of a pass the guitar affair, with poets and musicians performing their favorites as young maidens danced about with timbrels. Poets would try to outdo each other with paeans of praise, and seek to see who could describe the most excruciating dark night of the soul. This book, and the complete Bible, is formatted as an epic poem, which it is, with verse numbers in a separate column so they do not interfere with flow. The result is what I believe to be the most accurate, accessible, and poetic version of the Psalms available. My target publication date for the complete Bible is late 2020.