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reading the red

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Who else besides me enjoys reading "the red" in the Bible's Red Letter editions? Where did the red letters idea come from? Like chapter and verse numbers, center column references, and many other features we take for granted in our modern English Bibles, the red letters idea is a recent innovation. Its creator, Louis Klopsch (1852-1910), editor of British Weekly and The Christian Herald, noticed these words from Luke 22:20: “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” Impressed by the symbolism of blood, Klopsch asked a trusted publishing colleague if Christ’s words could not be printed in red. His mentor replied, “It could do no harm and it most certainly could do much good.” Since then, red-letter editions have become standard in nearly all traditional and modern translations. While other trends in Bible publishing have come and gone, the red-letter option appears to be a fixed feature, welcomed and demanded by many Bible readers the world over.