Who should use this guide? Anyone who desires to pronounce the names of people and places in the Bible with confidence. Do you read passages of the Bible in public? This book is for you. In private devotions, do you skip the difficult names? This book is for you. This book was originally begun as a pronunciation guide for myself as I was recording the Douay-Rheims Audio Bible. When I was commissioned to do that work, I was surprised to find that there was apparently nothing currently in print specifically for the Douay-Rheims version that could help me to properly pronounce names of people and places. In order to expedite the narration, I began to compile a list of names and carefully researched pronunciations, and that list became the book that you now hold in your hands. Somewhere along the way, I decided to include the spellings and pronunciations of all the English translations I could find. As far as I know, every spelling of every name in every English translation of the Bible is included in this guide. Since the the genesis of this guide was for the Douay-Rheims Audio Bible, which is a Catholic Bible, names included in the Apocrypha appear here as well. Great effort has been made to include every English Bible translation's names and places in this work. If the reader would be so kind as to write to me at info@EasyBibleNamesGuide.com if the reader is aware of omissions, I will include additions in subsequent editions of this guide. It is important to note that in my research, I became aware of the fact that there are differing opinions on the correct pronunciations of many of the names contained in the Bible. Often there really is no one "correct" way to pronounce a specific name. Languages do morph over time, and pronunciations can change. This guide includes the generally accepted pronunciations in the United States in the year 2012.
About the Author: Steven K. Webb is a husband, a father and a grandfather who yielded to the call of God's love at the age of sixteen years. He readily admits to his frequent need of the cleansing power of the infinite, unfathomable grace that the sacrifice of Jesus makes available to anyone who has a personal relationship with Him. In 2004 God led Steve to start the world's first Christian podcast not based on repurposed church sermons. (LifespringMedia.com) An outgrowth of that podcast was another, on which Steve read the Bible through in a year. It was while recording the daily installments of this podcast that he began to feel the need for an easy-to-use Bible names pronunciation guide. In 2008 Steve became a professional voice-over artist. Less than a year after making this transition, he was commissioned to record the Douay-Rheims Audio Bible. (DouayRheimsAudioBible.com) Upon finding no resources to help with the pronunciation of the names found in this very old Catholic translation of the Bible (it predates the King James Version), even after consulting with Catholic scholars, he set out to create a pronunciation guide for his own use to aid him in the work of recording the Douay. Having an extensive library of Christian reference books in his home, and with the added benefit of the internet, Steve carefully researched each name to arrive at the pronunciations printed in this book. The work took two and a half years. Somewhere during this time, it occurred to Steve that there were probably many other people who could benefit from his research, so he began to include the spellings of Bible names from every English translation he could find, with an eye toward publishing his guide. It is possible that some spellings have been left out of this book, but they will be included in future editions if necessity dictates. Steve's sincere prayer is that you will find this book to be a help to you as you seek to serve God in whatever way He calls you. For more information about Steve, please visit LifespringMedia.com/about-steve-webb.