Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Mark 1:1-8:

This is the Best News Ever,
       and it’s about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

It began, just as God had announced
       in the book by the prophet Isaiah:

              I’m sending my messenger
                     to prepare the way for you.
              Listen to the voice shouting in the desert,
                     “Make a straight path for the Coming One’.”

So John Dipper showed up in the desert,
shouting for everyone to hear: “It’s turn around time!
       Do this and be baptized, if you hope to be forgiven!”

From Jerusalem and all over Judea,

       multitudes swarmed around John like flies —
they openly confessed their sins,
       and he baptized them in the River Jordan.

John Dipper wore garments of camel hair
with a leather strap around his waist —
       his food was locusts and honey from the fields.

His message: “Someone more powerful will come,
       and I’m not worthy to be his lowest slave.
My baptism is merely with water —
       his baptism is with the Holy Spirit!”