John E. Walsh, Who Distilled the Bible, Dies at 87; New York Times, 4/8/15

Sam Roberts, New York Times; John E. Walsh, Who Distilled the Bible, Dies at 87:

"The abridged Reader’s Digest version, supervised by the Rev. Bruce M. Metzger, professor of New Testament language and literature at Princeton, did not skimp on any of the Ten Commandments and considered favorites like the 23rd Psalm and the Lord’s Prayer to be sacrosanct. But in the end, it boiled down the Old Testament by 50 percent and the New Testament by 25 percent. None of Jesus’ words were changed, but about 10 percent were deleted.

Mr. Walsh said he was initially appalled by the notion of tinkering with Scripture, where the Book of Revelation warned against changing “the words of the book of this prophecy.” But Mr. Metzger concluded that the warning really amounted to “an ancient copyright notice.”"