No wonder I'm confused!

It finally registered with me why I've never really warmed up to the Contemporary English Bible that is now used by the Upper Room daily devotional: It removes the familiar phrasing with its rhythms and imagery, and at least for me, doesn’t replace it with anything clearer, more meaningful or more resonant.

Here's the familiar 23rd Psalm in the Revised Standard Version:
 

The Divine Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want;
²     he makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters;^[a]
3     he restores my soul.^[b]
He leads me in paths of righteousness^[c]
    for his name’s sake.

⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,^[d]
    I fear no evil;
for thou art with me;
    thy rod and thy staff,
    they comfort me.

⁵ Thou preparest a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
thou anointest my head with oil,
    my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely^[e] goodness and mercy^[f] shall follow me
    all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    for ever.^[g]

Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

But here's how it reads in the CEB: 

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my shepherd.
    I lack nothing.
² He lets me rest in grassy meadows;
    he leads me to restful waters;
³         he keeps me ^[a] alive.
He guides me in proper paths
    for the sake of his good name.

⁴ Even when I walk through the darkest valley,
    I fear no danger because you are with me.
Your rod and your staff—
    they protect me.

⁵ You set a table for me
    right in front of my enemies.
You bathe my head in oil;
    my cup is so full it spills over!
⁶ Yes, goodness and faithful love
    will pursue me all the days of my life,
    and I will live^[b] in the Lord’s house
    as long as I live.

Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible

And I had this thought this morning: having so many different versions of the Bible isn’t conducive to committing passages to memory. 

Now it makes me think of how, for much of my career as a professional journalist, I knew the key parts of the AP Stylebook by heart. As new things were added, I learned those. 

But somewhere along the way, a couple of key things happened. One, additions started to come much more quickly, making it harder to remember them all. Two, besides adding new things, the editors seemed to be revising more guidelines, so that many of the things I had committed to memory were no longer the rules. 

(Further complicating this was my company’s own changing, often seemingly quirky and arbitrary guidelines; and a suspected decline in my capacity for remembering as I aged.)

This makes me think about how songs are one of my best memory tools, but even that is fading due to aging. And I'm aware that revisions have been made in hymnals, so that some of the familiar songs of the church are now gender neutral or changed to describe a gentler God.

Fortunately for me, I'm not afraid to adapt songs to fit my own style for grammar and expression. So music will continue to be a way for me to exercise my mind as well as my spirit and my memory.