Eugene H. Peterson - Symphony of Salvation: A 60-Day Devotional Journey through the Books of the Bible

Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life.

PSALM 23:6,
THE MESSAGE

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Symphony of Salvation: A 60-Day Devotional Journey through the Books of the Bible Copyright 2021 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.

Adapted from The Invitation: A Simple Guide to the Bible copyright 2008 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. messagebible.com

Designed by Dean H. Renninger

Cover photograph of landscape copyright MATJAZ SLANIC/Getty Images. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, interior photographs are the property of their respective copyright holders from Unsplash, and all rights are reserved. Couple on couch Mattea Photography/Lightstock; boy Annie Spratt; city at night Davide Pietralunga; man with bag Ben White; apple tree Anna Kaminova; landscape Tony Reid; fire David Tovar; lights in hand Riccardo Annandale; neighborhood Joao Silas; sparkler Jamie Street; lion Jack Cain; lightbulb Zach Lucero; smoke Filip Bunkens; sleeping on train Abbie Bernet; woman in prayer Pearl/Lightstock; sand Elijah Hiett; destroyed factory Free Creative Stuff/Pixabay; worship James Barr; Point Reyes Stephen Leonardi; mountain stars Pawel Nolbert; deer Benoit Gauzere; welder Frank McKenna; cathedral Marc-Olivier Jodoin; painted hands Amauri Mejia; old woman Cristian Newman; match flame Jamie Street; fly The Nigmatic; rain on window Matteo Catanese; drowning Ian; pink clouds Kenrick Mills; sneakers Nadine Shaabana; building sign Jason Betz; kitty high five Jonas Vincent; waves Anastasia Taioglou; Jordan valley Eddie & Carolina Stigson; arms raised and water Nathan Dumlao; men silhouette /Adobe Stock; crown Jared Subia; woman crying Milada Vigerova; staircase Rawan Yasser; bridge Francois Hoang; horse Helena Lopes; cross tattoo Jon Tyson; book on windowsill John-Mark Smith; sunrise through forest Kristine Weilert; construction Guilherme Cunha; feet walking Drew Patrick Miller; desert plant and mountain highland StockSnap/Pixabay; beach sunrise Ravi Pinisetti; hands Ricardo Gomez Angel; iris flower Kyla Flanagan; star gazing Greg Rakozy; dusk Mishal Ibrahim; hand reaching Jackson David; hiking Death To Stock; road arrow Vek Labs; rainbow light Michael Heuss; forest Andrew Spencer; wheat Tina Bosse; wedding ring Vitor Pinto; hilltop Chetan Menaria; bowl Yogesh Rahamatkar; frame landscape Rawpixel.com/Freepik; ladies Vonecia Carswell; bubbles David Clode.

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A Note from the Editors

I n 1993, the world of Bible publishing was revolutionized with the publication of The Message: The New Testament in Contemporary Language, followed in 2002 by the completion of the entire Message Bible. Here was a Bible that parted from any number of conventions in order to return the Bible reading experience to its oldest, purest form: the Word of God in the language of the people.

Not just anyone could be trusted with such an undertaking, but Eugene H. Peterson was up to the task. A scholar of biblical languages, a lifelong pastor, and a demonstrated master of wordcraft, he had earned the trust of people who cherished the Bible, and when his Bible in Contemporary Language was released, it was welcomed with critical acclaim and popular praise.

In the decades since, The Message has weathered the storms of a volatile publishing industry, the critiques of Bible purists, the vicissitudes of a fickle public. Its relevance remains obvious; its resonance has only increased. In its original language, the Bible was world-weary, savvy, prophetic, and compassionate; now well into the twenty-first century, the world is itself more weary, more savvy, more desperate for compassion and prophetic challenge.

Often overlooked in peoples engagement with The Message are the introductions Eugene wrote to each book of the Bible. Many very good Bibles take a minimalist, utilitarian approach to these introductionsjust the facts, and often the facts presented in granular detail. But Eugene had a different vision.

Symphony of Salvation takes us a step back from Eugenes translation of the Bible to focus instead on his theology of the Bible. Here we see Eugene as pastor, anxious for the People of God to be rooted and established in the Word of God. The introductions that youll encounter in this book reveal the heart of the Worda God seeking a people in a world born of love but struggling to survive, a world that can hardly wait for whats coming next (Romans 8:19).

These introductions are not to be studied so much as soaked in, and so they are presented here as daily readings for your consideration. Of course you are not obligated to read them daily; you may take up Symphony of Salvation whenever you find yourself taking up a new book of the Bible, using this book to inform your reading of that book. Or you may read multiple entries in one sitting to give you a greater appreciation for the themes that overarch the sacred Scriptures, the crossing connections between books of the Bible. Or you may just find yourself with a few spare moments and want to refresh your understanding of the Bible, or even refresh your souls connection to God.

Included in each of these entries is a Verse to Remember. You may choose to commit these verses to memory as a way of letting the Scriptures follow you through your day, or you may simply enjoy the intersection of what Eugene called two language worlds: the world of the Bible and the world of Today. However you engage these sixty readings, we hope you find yourself simmering in them, immersed in the world they invite you into, met there with compassion and prophetic challenge. If the Bible is anything, it is some combination of profoundly simple and simply profound, cutting through walls like a double-edged sword, satisfying our souls like a river of life.

B ecause the Bible is so famous and revered, many assume that we need experts to explain and interpret it for usand, of course, there are some things that need to be explained. But the first men and women who listened to these words now written in our Bibles were ordinary, everyday, working-class people. One of the greatest of the early translators of the Bible into English, William Tyndale, said that he was translating so that the boy that driveth the plough would be able to read the Scriptures.