Changes

;Text additions

;Text additions

Some minor additions to the text of the standard print form of this Harmony of the Gospel Conservative Version have been made, so that the reading is more understandable and easier to follow. For example, instead of abruptly beginning the reading of some of the epistles or some of the historical documents suddenly without any warning, an introductory statement is used, such as, "This is what he wrote to them". In some places it's enough to begin the reading of it with the simple word, "Now", followed by the reading. This is so the listener will know what's happening and be able to follow the narrative. In the same way, to make clear that the epistle or document reading is finished, a statement saying so is added before going on with the narrative, such as ending the text of a passage from the Torah with the statement, "This is the law of Moses".  

Some minor additions to the text of the standard print form of this Harmony of the Gospel Conservative Version have been made, so that the reading is more understandable and easier to follow. For example, instead of abruptly beginning the reading of some of the epistles or some of the historical documents suddenly without any warning, an introductory statement is used, such as, "Psalm 80", and, "Let us begin". In some places it's enough to begin the reading of it with the simple word, "Now", or the phrase, "It says", followed by the reading. This is so the listener will know what's happening and be able to follow the narrative. In the same way, to make clear that the epistle or document reading is finished, a statement saying so in some form is added before going on with the narrative so the listener will know that the words that follow are not part of the quoted text, such as ending the text of a passage from the Torah with the statement, "This is the law of Moses", and, "These are the words of Isaiah", or "End of the First Book".  

Some few instances of the information found in the marginal notes of the longer form of this Harmony of the Gospel are very briefly condensed and essentially summarized and inserted for the benefit of the listener. For example, a statement is added as a summary of the information from the marginal notes of the longer form, as a statement inserted in the text of Chapter Two, immediately after the quotations from the law of Moses about the vowing of persons to the service of God as dedicated whole living offerings set apart as holy to the Lord.  

Some instances of the information found in the marginal notes of the longer form of this Harmony of the Gospel are very briefly condensed and essentially summarized and inserted for the benefit of the listener, sometimes consisting of a single word as is done in a [[Dynamic equivalence]] version of a Biblical text in English. For example, a statement is added in the text as a summary of the information from the marginal notes of the longer form, such as the statement inserted in the text of Chapter Two of this Harmony of the Gospel Conservative Version immediately after the quotations from the law of Moses about the vowing of persons to the service of God as dedicated whole living offerings set apart as holy to the Lord.  

It explains why a daughter, vowed by her parents as a consecrated virgin to "know not a man", should be pledged to become a wife to a man. It says,  

It explains why a daughter, vowed by her parents as a consecrated virgin to "know not a man", should be pledged to become a wife to a man. It says,  

:"And Mary, being vowed to the Lord by her parents when she was a child, and consecrated to him by them as a perpetual virgin to not know a man, a vow she had not made, which her husband therefore could not make void; when the angel told her she would conceive in her womb and bear a son; for this reason she said, 'How can this be?' "  

:"And Mary, being vowed to the Lord by her parents when she was a child, and consecrated to him by them as a perpetual virgin to not know a man, a vow she had not made, which her husband therefore could not make void; when the angel told her she would conceive in her womb and bear a son; for this reason she said, 'How can this be?' "  

This summarizes the reading from the law of Moses that had just been given in the text. The reasoning behind this summarized reading is dealt with in detail in the marginal notes of the longer form of the ''Harmony of the Gospel''. This summarization of the marginal material is followed by a repeat of the conversation with the angel Gabriel, to pick up where the narrative left off with the quotation of texts from the Torah, and going on from there. Most questions raised by parts of the New Testament texts that are controversial are tackled by the marginal notes of the longer form. At the bottom of each page of this narrative form is a link to the longer form of this Harmony of the Gospel, so the listener can access the marginal notes for some explanation of why the text says what it does, as a way of justification for the reading.

This summarizes the reading from the law of Moses that had just been given in the text. The reasoning behind this particular summarized reading is dealt with in detail in the marginal notes of the longer form of the ''Harmony of the Gospel Conservative Version''. This summarization of the marginal material is followed by a repeat of the conversation with the angel Gabriel, to pick up where the narrative left off with the quotation of texts from the Torah, and going on from there. Most questions raised by parts of the New Testament texts that are controversial are tackled by the marginal notes of the longer form, but may be inserted as an aide to the listener for fuller understanding. The sighted reader listening to the audio narrative while following the normal print display in the parallel column may be inconvenienced or somewhat confused by hearing these expansions of the meaning of the text intended for better understanding. When this happens the sighted listener can pause the audio reading as needed for comparison, and then resume or continue with the reading. At the bottom of each page of this narrative form is a link to the longer form of this Harmony of the Gospel, so the listener can access the marginal notes for some explanation of why the text says what it does, as a form of justification for the expanded reading.

;Proclamation

;Proclamation

According to several sources, and commentaries on the Bible, the word "Gospel" is from the Greek word "evangelion", literally, "good message". Several modern Bible translations use the term "good news" in place of the word "gospel". The redacted text of this ''Harmony of the Gospel (Conservative Version)'' based on the World English Bible version (the WEB) also reads it as "good news". The Gospel is much more than that. Since "gospel" also means "proclamation", and the encyclopedic purpose of this Harmony of the Gospel is to be informative and increase understanding of the Christian New Testament, in this audio reading adaptation, the word "proclamation" is used as much as possible in place of "good news". For example, "The beginning of the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God", as the first verse from Mark chapter one.

According to several sources, and most commentaries on the Bible, the word "Gospel" is from the Greek word "evangelion", literally, "good message". Several modern Bible translations use the term "good news" in place of the word "gospel". The redacted text of this ''Harmony of the Gospel Conservative Version'' based on the World English Bible version (the W.E.B. or simply WEB) also reads "gospel" as "good news". The Gospel is much more than that. Since "gospel" also means "proclamation", and the encyclopedic purpose of this Harmony of the Gospel is to be informative and increase understanding of the Christian New Testament, in this audio reading adaptation, the word "proclamation" is used as much as possible in place of "good news". For example, "The beginning of the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God", as the first verse from Mark chapter one.

;Adapting large paragraphs

;Adapting large paragraphs

In some places of the reading of the text of this Harmony of the Gospel Conservative Version, the computer sometimes skips reading whole sections of large continuous paragraphs. For this audio narrative adaptation these paragraphs have been broken up into smaller segments on the page, to compensate for this kind of mechanical failure to process the whole of the copy. This is in order for the computer to read all of the text it otherwise mechanically fails to read in the normal printed form, without any such omissions, whole and entire, like the Genealogies, and the more extensive sections of the historical narrative from [[Josephus]].

In some places of the reading of the text of this Harmony of the Gospel Conservative Version, the computer sometimes skips reading whole sections of large continuous paragraphs. For this audio narrative adaptation these paragraphs have been broken up into smaller segments on the page, or an introductory statement in the page display of the copy is separated by a line of spacing, to compensate for this kind of mechanical failure to process the whole of the page copy. This is in order for the computer to read all of the text it otherwise mechanically fails to read in the normal printed form, without any such omissions, reading it whole and entire, like the Genealogies, and the more extensive sections of the historical narrative from [[Josephus]].

;Punctuation

;Punctuation

Visual punctuation on the page has been adapted so that the computer reading of the narrative is smoother and more natural to listen to. These odd-looking punctuations and omissions of punctuation are not errors that need to be corrected by a proofreader. They have been carefully checked for audio accuracy. What results is a narrative according to a kind of vocal "manual of style" in speech that is proper to the narration form of the text, but improper on the printed page.

Visual punctuation of the page copy has been adapted for the sake of the audio narrative so that the computer reading of the narrative is smoother and more natural to listen to. These odd-looking punctuations, omissions, additions and insertions of punctuation marks are not errors that need to be corrected by a proofreader. They have been carefully checked for audio accuracy. What results is a narrative according to a kind of vocal "manual of style" in speech that is proper to the narration form of the text, but eccentric or completely improper on the displayed printed page.

Mechanical computer reading sometimes abruptly pauses or falters over some of the standard punctuation of regular printed text. In other cases, some odd pauses in the mechanical computer reading occur when it encounters a particular word or phrase. Many commas have been removed from the display of the print copy, simply because they produce unnatural pauses in an audio computer reading. But some commas or other useful punctuation marks have been added, to provide a pause where necessary, to avoid an unintended hurried reading-through of a sentence without pause, so that the computer reading aloud of the page makes more sense to the listener.  

Mechanical computer reading sometimes abruptly pauses or falters over some of the standard punctuation of regular printed text, and sometimes even when no punctuation is encountered. In other cases, some odd pauses in the mechanical computer reading unexpectedly occur when it encounters a particular word or phrase. Many commas have been removed from the display of the print copy, simply because they produce unnatural broken pauses in an audio computer reading. But some commas or other useful punctuation marks have been added, such as quotation marks, semicolons, colons, even periods in the middle of a long sentence, to provide a pause where necessary, to avoid an unintended mechanically hurried reading of a sentence without pause, so that the computer reading aloud of the page makes more sense to the listener and can be more easily processed in hearing it read.  

A period or colon is sometimes inserted into the print copy in order to force a necessary pause in the reading where vocal emphasis is appropriate and natural, where the computer fails to provide for it; and sometimes the capitalization of a word in the middle of a sentence is used for the same reason. Some periods have been removed, because the computer actually reads them as the word "dot", yes, "dot", or the period mark has been repositioned to avoid its being pronounced.  

A period or colon is sometimes inserted into the print copy in order to force a necessary pause in the reading where vocal emphasis is appropriate and natural, where the computer fails to provide for it; and sometimes the capitalization of a word in the middle of a sentence is used for the same effect. Some periods have been removed, because the computer actually reads them as the word "dot", yes, "dot", or the period mark has been repositioned to avoid its being pronounced.  

Question marks can be inflected by the human reader as a rising tone of query, or as representing a falling tone of challenge or certainty at the end of a sentence posing a question. For this reason, here in this narrative form, question marks sometimes appear on the page following a quotation mark, instead of immediately preceding it, as a quotation-mark-and-question-mark together, the question mark being positioned after the quotation mark, to cause a normal rising tone of query, or without any quotation mark at all in order to cause a normal tone of finality in the sentence of a question, so that the peculiar placement of it on the printed page or its omission entirely is not an error, but an accommodation to the limitations of mechanical computer reading in order to cause a proper inflection of tone. With this in mind, almost all quotation marks have been removed for the most part from the page, as unnecessary for a vocal narration, but when used, appear in conjunction with the question mark. They do not appear as indicating a quotation but as a cue-mark to the automated computer reading for the intended inflection. In some instances, the question mark itself has been replaced by a period, in order to give the proper inflection of tone. A period at the end of a question in this audio adapted narrative form isn't a typo.

Question marks can be variably inflected by the human reader as a rising tone of query, or as representing a falling tone of challenge or certainty at the end of a sentence posing a question, depending on the context. For this reason, here in this narrative form, question marks sometimes appear on the page display following a quotation mark, instead of immediately preceding it, as a quotation-mark-and-question-mark together in that order, the question mark being positioned after the quotation mark, to cause a normal rising tone of query, or without any quotation mark at all in order to cause a normal tone of finality in the sentence of a question, so that the peculiar placement of it on the printed page or its omission entirely is not an error, but an accommodation to the limitations of mechanical computer reading in order to cause a proper inflection of tone. Sometimes this method does not generate the desired vocal inflection. Where a human reader might vocally emphasize, the audio computer reading fails to satisfy. With this in mind, almost all quotation marks have been removed for the from the page display copy of the text of this Harmony, as unnecessary for a vocal narration, but when used, appear in conjunction with the question mark. Moreover, where the quotation mark appears in the adapted text it never appears on the page of the audio adaptation as indicating a quotation in any way but as a cue-mark to the automated computer reading for the intended inflection. When the quotation mark is used to bracket what a person in the narrative said as a vocal inflective emphasis, it sometimes appears to the sighted reader as indicating a normal verbal statement in the text of what someone said. This is purely coincidental. Quotation marks appearing in the audio adapted text are not in fact used as normal quotation marks, but only for the purpose of vocal inflection. In some instances, the question mark itself has been replaced by a period, in order to give the proper inflection of tone. A period at the end of a question in this audio adapted narrative form isn't a typo. Where the audio adapted text lacks any punctuation at the end of a sentence it is not due to a typo omission or careless mistake. Also there are instances in the audio adapted text where a period and space is followed by a word spelled with a lower case first letter instead of the expected capital letter: this too is not a typographical error but a necessary adaptation for the audio reading.

Vocal inflection of tone can be wrong as read by the computer. It can be corrected by using hyphens with phonetic spelling. For example, in the following sentence, the computer audio reading drops the tone at the end of the sentence at the word "me".  

When vocal inflection of tone is wrong as read by the computer, it has been corrected by using hyphens with phonetic spellings. For example, in the following sentence, the computer audio reading drops the tone at the end of the sentence at the word "me".  

:They asked this because it is written, Moses said, The LORD your God will raise up to you a Prophet from among you of your brethren like me.

:They asked this because it is written, Moses said, The LORD your God will raise up to you a Prophet from among you of your brethren like me.

The more natural inflection with a proper slight vocal emphasis on "me" is provided by adapting the spelling and punctuation for audio computer reading as follows:

The more natural inflection with a proper slight vocal emphasis on "me" is provided by adapting the spelling and punctuation for audio computer reading as follows:

:They asked this because it is written, Moses said, The LORD your God will raise up to you a Prophet from among you of your brethren like "Meegh".  

:They asked this because it is written, Moses said, The LORD your God will raise up to you a Prophet from among you of your brethren like "Mee".  

In the example of the above sentence, the computer audio reading doesn't drop the tone at the end of the sentence at the word "Meegh". And here is another example, using the hyphen:

In the example of the above sentence, the computer audio reading doesn't drop the tone at the end of the sentence at the word "Mee". And here is another example, using the hyphen:

:Normal spelling: The LORD said to me, They have well said that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like you.

:Normal spelling:

:Adapted spelling: The LORD said to me, They have well said that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren "like-Yew".

:The LORD said to me, They have well said that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like you.

:Adapted spelling:

:The LORD said to me, They have well said that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren "like-Yew".

The punctuation of "dashes" in the printed text, normally intended to indicate a pause for emphasis, is totally ignored by the computer reading as if they don't exist, thus entirely omitting a necessary pause and even hurrying faster through it instead, sometimes even when the dash is disconnected or isolated in the sentence by a space before and after it. For this reason a comma or a semi-colon or colon, or even a period, is used in place of the dash in the regular text, to produce the same intended effect.

The punctuation of "dashes" in the printed text, normally intended to indicate a pause for emphasis, is totally ignored by the computer reading as if they don't exist, thus entirely omitting a necessary pause where needed and even hurrying faster through it instead, sometimes even when the dash is disconnected or isolated in the sentence by a space before and after it. For this reason a comma or a semi-colon or colon, or even a period, is used in place of the dash in the regular text, to produce the same intended audio narrative effect.

;Inverted phrases

;Inverted phrases

In some cases, phrases or single words have been rearranged from the end of a sentence to its beginning or its middle, either because the structure of the sentence as it is, is hard to follow in the narrative, or because the mechanical reading of the computer breaks up the sentence of the normal text into two or more parts, which it then reads as separate sentences, or dangling phrases, that don't make much sense as read aloud by the computer. The rearrangement doesn't change the meaning. It's just a necessary adaptation to get around the limitations of mechanical computer reading, which simply makes more sense of the text of the narrative when read that way.

In some cases, phrases or single words of the normal print text have been rearranged from the end of a sentence to its beginning or its middle, either because the structure of the sentence as it is, is hard to follow in the narrative, or because the mechanical reading of the computer breaks up the sentence of the normal text into two or more parts, which it then reads as separate sentences, or as independent dangling phrases, that don't make much sense as read aloud by the computer. The rearrangement of the existing sentence structure doesn't change the meaning. It's just a necessary adaptation to get around the limitations of mechanical computer reading, which simply makes more sense of the text of the narrative when read that way. The sighted reader following the audio narrative while reading the normal text print display can pause the audio reading to check and compare the adapted narrative form.

;Weird mispronunciations

;Weird mispronunciations

Mechanical computer reading also weirdly mispronounces some proper names of people and even some ordinary words. For example, the name Onesimus is read by the computer as "One sime us". For this reason phonetic spellings have been substituted on the visual display of the page for the sake of proper pronunciation by the Read aloud and Read out loud audio functions of the computer. In the particular case of the computer misreading the name of Onesimus the visual spelling of his name is rendered "O-nessymus". Charism is mechanically read wrongly with a soft "c h" by the computer as if it's the name of a belief in burning things called "char-ism", when it should be pronounced with the hard form of "c h" as "care-ism". The name of Decebalus in Suetonius is rendered phonetically on the page as "Desseb all us". A similar technique of phonetic adaptation is made for other names of people and places, so the computer audio reading will say it right.  

Mechanical computer reading also weirdly mispronounces some proper names of people and even some ordinary words, such as "sow" in sowing seed as the word for a female pig or bear "sow". For example, the name Onesimus is read by the computer as "One sime us". For this reason phonetic spellings have been substituted on the visual display of the page for the sake of proper pronunciation by the Read aloud and Read out loud audio functions of the computer. In the particular case of the computer misreading the name of Onesimus the visual spelling of his name is rendered "O-nessymus". Charism is mechanically read wrongly with a soft "c h" by the computer as if it's the name of a belief in burning things until they are reduced to a state of being completely charred called "char-ism", when it should be pronounced with the hard form of "c h" as "care-ism". The name of Decebalus in text drawn from Suetonius in this Harmony is rendered phonetically on the page as "Desseb all us". Spaces are used in this instance instead of hyphens, A similar technique of phonetic adaptation is made for other names of people and places, so the computer audio reading will say it right. Some purists will object to the rendering of Bible names and places in their popular forms as normally heard and used by the common person instead of according to their academically proper reading according to the original languages in Hebrew, Aramaic, Egyptian and Greek. While this encyclopedic feature is intended to be educational, it is not intended to confuse the ordinary reader unfamiliar with the linguistically proper pronunciation of them. This will seem to some to be a guilty perpetuation of an error of ignorant convention.

 

American usage is the standard here instead of the European forms. For example the word "Emmaus" is pronounced either as "Em-may-us" or as "Em-mouse": the first form is here preferred and used as the adapted phonetic form for the narrative rendering of the text. Occasionally the reader and listener will disagree with the audio adapted forms used in this Harmony of the Gospel Conservative Version narrative form. They may be right. Popular usage is not always correct but it is the more accepted form for common understanding of the meaning. The more serious student of the Bible will sooner or later encounter the accurate pronunciation of ancient biblical forms and is encouraged to adopt them.

;Useless dictionary phonetic forms

;Useless dictionary phonetic forms

Substituting the standard forms of dictionary phonetic spellings of these words with the phonetic characters of their dictionary definitions just doesn't work. Available audio computer Read aloud functions are not currently adapted for reading dictionary phonetical spellings with special phonetic characters, and they are not phonetically read right by the computer according to the sounds they are intended to represent. The same goes for any computer Read aloud of any words spelled with the [[IPA|International Phonetic Alphabet]]. It doesn't work.

Substituting the standard forms of dictionary phonetic spellings of these words with the phonetic characters of their dictionary definitions just doesn't work. At this time commonly available audio computer Read aloud functions are not currently adapted for reading dictionary phonetical spellings with special phonetic characters, and they are not phonetically read right by the computer according to the sounds they are intended to represent. The same goes for any computer Read aloud of any words spelled with the [[IPA|International Phonetic Alphabet]]. It doesn't work.

;Vocal tense

;Vocal tense

The computer often cannot distinguish the past and present tenses of some words. Sometimes it doesn't use the right inflexion or accentuation of syllables of words in the context of the reading. For example, the past tense of "read", r e a d, is sometimes given by the computer as the verb to read something as if reading right now, "to read it", but for the narrative form on the page the intended past tense of the word needs to be phonetically corrected to r e d, "red", within the context of the text, "I have red this". On the page it doesn't look right, but in the audio computer reading these odd spellings sound right. The word "live" is sometimes read as in "alive", when it should be pronounced "liv", l i v, without the misleading cue of the silent 'e' on the end of the word, which the machine mindlessly interprets as a direction to pronounce the alphabetic character, ' i ', "eye",  as a long "vowl", vowel, instead of the proper short "vowl", vowel, according to the context of the verbal tense of the setting within the sentence. The word "untie" is O.K., but the computer reads "untying" as "un-tee-ing". And the computer sometimes pronounces "present" with the accent on the second syllable as presenting something, to "pree Zent" it, and sometimes reads it with the accent on the first syllable of "present", as "Preznt" in attendance. The normal text of the Harmony of the Gospel Conservative Version has been carefully audited to determine where phonetic adaptations are needed in the narrative form.

The computer often cannot distinguish the past and present tenses of some words. Sometimes it doesn't use the right inflexion or accentuation of syllables of words in the context of the reading. For example, the past tense of "read", r e a d, is sometimes given by the computer as the verb to read something as if reading right now, "to read it", but for the narrative form on the page the intended past tense of the word needs to be phonetically corrected to r e d, "red", within the context of the text, "I have red this". On the page it doesn't look right, but in the audio computer reading these odd spellings sound right. The word "live" is sometimes read as in "alive", when it should be pronounced "liv", l i v, without the misleading cue of the silent 'e' on the end of the word, which the machine mindlessly interprets as a direction to pronounce the alphabetic character, ' i ', "eye",  as a long "vowl", vowel, instead of the proper short "vowl", vowel, according to the context of the verbal tense of the setting within the sentence. The word "untie" is O.K., but the computer reads "untying" as "un-tee-ing". And the computer sometimes pronounces "present" with the accent on the second syllable as presenting something, to "pree Zent" it, and sometimes reads it with the accent on the first syllable of "present", as "Preznt" in attendance. The normal text of the Harmony of the Gospel Conservative Version has been carefully audited to determine where phonetic adaptations are needed in the narrative form.

The computer forms of pronunciation can also change between episodes of reading the words of the same ordinary text, as when you log off and go away and come back and log on for a second reading of it again and the uncommon words are read differently from before, sometimes changing their meanings, which can be confusing for the listener who can't read print, especially for students who study class-assigned books and materials with the aid of audio readings. For this reason phonetic spellings are used in this narrative form of Harmony of the Gospel in order to produce the right pronunciation in the computer narrative of the text each time. To accommodate the sighted reader of this narrative form of Harmony of the Gospel Conservative Version, all necessary phonetic spellings on the page are bracketed by quotation marks, to show the sighted reader that they are not misspelling accidents or "typos" overlooked by tired proofreaders.

The computer forms of pronunciation can also change between episodes of reading the words of the same ordinary text, as when you log off and go away and come back and log on for a second reading of it again and the uncommon words are sometimes read differently from before, sometimes changing their meanings, which can be confusing for the listener who can't read print, especially for students who study class-assigned books and materials with the aid of audio readings. For this reason phonetic spellings are used in this narrative form of Harmony of the Gospel in order to produce the right pronunciation in the computer narrative of the text each time. To accommodate the sighted reader of this narrative form of Harmony of the Gospel Conservative Version, all necessary phonetic spellings on the page are bracketed by quotation marks, to show the sighted reader that they are not misspelling accidents or "typos" overlooked by tired proofreaders.

;An illustration

;An illustration

If you are unfamiliar with the Read out loud or Read aloud function of your device, you can access a tutorial online by doing a search for "How to use the Read aloud function". (Try simultaneous Ctrl + Shift + G or Ctrl + Shift + F.)

If you are unfamiliar with the Read out loud or Read aloud function of your device, you can access a tutorial online by doing a search for "How to use the Read aloud function". (Try simultaneous Ctrl + Shift + G or Ctrl + Shift + F.)