Introduction to the Recovery Version of the Bible:

Introduction to Old and New Testament Recovery Version of the Bible (Text version) (0:15)

History of the translation of the Bible (0:18)

Translating the Bible has constantly been improving the earliest translation was during the time of

Nehemiah translating the law of the Bible from Hebrew to Armaic

Neh. 8:8 “And they read in the book, in the law of God, interpreting and giving the sense, so that they

understood the reading.”

After the completion of the Old Testament there are Jewish scribes who translated the whole Old

Testament from Hebrew to Greek named Septuaginta. After the completion of the New Testament and the

propagation of the church to different places in the Roman Empire, a need arose to translate the Bible into

different languages used within the Roman Empire. These are Syrian, Old Egyptian, Ethiopian and others.

Jerome produced the Latin version of the Bible which became the common Bible used by the western

world. With a history of 1000 years until the age of reformation, Martin Luther translated the Bible to

German that was finished in the year 1534. This started the atmosphere of translating the Bible. Moreover,

with the opening of the truths in the Bible, more and more people are translating the Bible like Darby,

Alford, Wesley, all contributed to produce a valuable English version of the Bible.

(2:01) The earliest Chinese version of the Bible was during the eight century 8th century A.D. when

missionaries came to China to produce a Bible handed down through time. During the 13th Century when

the Roman Catholic came to China, advancement to the translation of the Bible was brought in. By the

end of the 18th century as Christianity continued its move in China that produced more and more Chinese

version of the Bible.

(2:31) In the year 1919, the Chinese Union Version of the Bible was completed and was warmly

welcomed. It has already been 80 years where there have been different versions of the Chinese Bible that

was promoted for the saints in different places to be used as a reference.

(2:52) Process of the translation of the Recover Version

In the 20th century the Lord raised up two servants for His recovery. They are bro Watchman Nee and bro

Witness Lee. Both of them were saved during their youth and started loving and loved reading the Word

of the Lord. They have vastly read different books in church history and at the same time they gathered

the crystal points and footnotes of each book. They spent their whole life teaching the Word of the Lord,

truth, and the riches of life to the children of God. (3:25)

For a more accurate translation of the Bible Bro Nee did the translations by cross-referencing it with that

of the original text of the Bible.

(3:45) During a co-workers training at Kuling in 1948, bro Nee clearly stated “We need to translate at

least four versions of the Bible. If we can do this in the next few years the next generation would be able

to more clearly understand the Bible.”

(4:00) Bro Lee continued the ministry of Bro Nee in dispensing the word of the truths. And in 1974, every

year there are two trainings in the US, the summer and winter trainings, which dives into the Life Study

of the Bible.

In reading and researching the New Testament there were four brothers who are coordinated in translating

the Bible into English again. In addition, it also included footnotes, outlines and cross-references and was

called the Recovery Version of the Bible. This work was completed in the year 1985. (4:40)

During the spring of 1986, Bro Lee returned to Taipei to guide the church and at the same time with the

help of a Greek scholar they started the work of retranslating and correcting the Bible from Greek to

Chinese. Then after a year and a half, during the winter of 1987, the Chinese Recovery Version was

released. (5:05)

In 1988, bro Lee continued in guiding through the training of the Life Study of the Old Testament and led

the brothers in translating the Old Testament from the original Hebrew text into English to match the need

of the training. The translation of the Old Testament into Chinese also started at the same time.

In 1995, Bro Lee was able to complete the Life Study of the Old Testament. And the inspection and

editing of the text version of the Old Testament Bible in English was also made under his guidance.

(5:40) In the summer of 1999, the English text only version of the Old and New Testament Recovery

Version was officially released.

Bro Kerry Robichaux: “Bro Lee told us once, sometime before he went to be with the Lord. He said you

know don’t wait to put out the text of the Recovery Version. Put out the text only as soon as you can, so

that the saints have good reading Bible, to read the Bible. The saints just need to read the Bible. And then

he said after that’s out get the notes prepared for the Old Testament and put out the footnote version of the

Old Testament. But really, what we really were burdened is that every brother and sister would have a

version, a complete version of the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, that they can have with

them all the time. And I hope that every brother and sisters would remember Bro Lee’s charge to read the

Bible through once or twice a year. We should always be reading Bible.”

(6:43) During the summer of 1998, the Chinese text translation small group started doing the

improvement of the Chinese text version of the Recovery Version. This was done by following the

guidance of Bro Lee on how to translate the Bible referencing the English Recovery Version and

references. The work took five years and was released in the summer of 2003. Bro Lee also

commissioned the improvement of the English Old Testament and adding the notes and cross reference

by referencing it with the messages of the Life Study of the Bible. By the end of 2003, the complete

English Recovery Version Old and New Testament with footnotes and cross references can be released.

The Chinese will definitely follow closely.

(7:40)

The text of the Chinese Recovery Version was translated using the original Hebrew text and uses the

Chinese words closely related to the meaning of the text. At the same time the Chinese Union Version of

the Bible was also used as a reference. They tried their best to preserve the beautiful portions of the

Chinese Union Version at the same time using other version of the English Bible as reference.

Bro Lee: “In our translation of the Bible is not done in a light manner. First, we have a lot of reference

books. First, is the original text, dictionaries, commentaries, one class to another and not just from one

author but rather numerous works of different authors were brought out. After understanding, that is

when we start looking for ways on how to express it. In looking for ways to express it, we take all the

available Chinese versions of the Bible then count, the good ones, good literature, has body in its text,

text in layman’s term are taken in. We can say it like this, if our translated version relied on the grace of

the Lord, it should have the collected works of the good words from different Bible forefathers. We do

not turn a blind eye on them. These are those that went through a thorough consideration, word by word.

It is like this, therefore translating the Bible is not that easy. Now the brothers understand why in the past

ten years we, in one aspect give sermons and in another aspect understand the Bible. We say that in this

place it is according to the original text, this place is according to the original text, is the reason because

the Word of God is so mysterious since there are so many mysterious points in it. However, inside some

words includes a hidden truth is not translated. This is the reason we need to do the translation again. I

dare not say that our version is already complete. I still believe that there are still some people who can

dig out some things. But, I can say it like this, because those who read the Bible have already read the

Bible for 18 centuries already and what they’ve read is the same as what we are reading. And today it has

become a book that we read, am I right? Everyone can have a copy and read it, therefore we have not

been reading the Bible we had these past 10 years but rather we are standing on the shoulders of those

before us. We can say that we inherited the little revelation that we are trying to do, is it right?”

The Old and New Testament version text version has subjects and outlines of each book revealing the

central thought of every book becoming the structure of each book and the division of each section, thus

helping the readers to get into the reality and thought of the Spirit.

(10:40) Bro Lee: “How blessed are we, and how blessed am I that I’ve been born in this later age. I could

understand the Bible today much more than Martin Luther. Don’t you think so? And I could understand

the Bible much more than Darby. Don’t think I’m proud. I’m just telling the truth. The fact, that you have

to learn. This Word is not so simple. It was written by God and translated by scholars and it has been

interpreted by the Body of Christ for 1900 years. And now the understanding is all collected here.”

“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples;

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” John 8:31-32