In the introduction to his 1926 edition, Moffatt wrote, "The aim I have endeavoured to keep before my mind in making this translation has been to present the books of the Old and the New Testament in effective, intelligible English.

No translation of an ancient classic can be quite intelligible, it is true, unless the reader is sufficiently acquainted with its environment to understand some of its flying allusions and characteristic metaphors.

But something may be done and I am convinced, ought to be done at the present day to offer the unlearned a transcript of the Biblical literature as it lies in the light thrown upon it by modern research.

What it is may be partly suggested by a new rendering, such as the following pages present, that is, a fresh translation[1] of the original, not a revision of any English version."

[4] His translation was used as a benchmark for accuracy by C. S. Lewis during his research for 'Reflections on the Psalms' (1958),[5] and was utilized by Martin Luther King Jr. for quotations from Philippians in 'Strength to Love' (1963).