Cor blimey! The Bible in cockney?

5,000 copies have already been sold in Britain

By staff and wire reports

LONDON, England -- It is the bible as you may have never read it before.

"And so Jesus made a Jim Skinner for 5,000 geezers with just five loaves of Uncle Fred and two Lillian Gish."

Sound familiar? That's the biblical story of the miracle of the loaves and fishes -- couched in the finest Cockney rhyming slang.

Seeking to bring the Bible to those who don't usually read it, a London religious education teacher has translated some of the best-known biblical tales into the colorful language of east London for the first time. And he's got the Church of England's blessing for his endeavor.

"If you take the King James version or the New English version it doesn't mean a great deal for these children so I found by putting it into their lingo..the way they speak like How U doin mate? and all that they really responded positivily to it," Mike Coles told CNN.

The first 300 copies of the Bible in Cockney went on sale at the National Christian Resources Exhibition outside London but has already sold more than 5,000 copies throughout Britain.

But for Coles it is not about fame, or fortune. He just wants to get his students enthused about reading the Bible. When he started using it in lessons, he found that his pupils responded well, and the idea of a Bible story book was born.

"The kids really responded to it, they loved it, it was more in their sort of way they speak," he said.

"It brought the bible to life for them, but at the same time being entertaining for them the message was still getting across."

Taking the bible to the streets

In a foreword to the book, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey applauds it for "taking the Bible out of the formal church setting, and putting it back into the marketplace and the streets where it originally took place.

"This version puts energy and passion back into the stories," he added. "If it manages to get people reading the Bible, who would not normally do so, then it has achieved an invaluable work."

Coles' book includes a verse-by-verse translation of St. Mark's Gospel and nine stories from the Old Testament, such as the tale of Noah -- who built a "bloomin' massive nanny" (shorthand for boat) and David, who killed that "massive geezer" Goliath with a slingshot.

The story of creation is titled, "Would You Adam and Eve (believe) It?" And in the tale of Abraham and Isaac, Abraham takes his son up a "Jack and Jill" (hill) when God insists that Isaac be sacrificed.

The book is being sold at mainstream and Christian bookstores in Britain at $8.50 each.

CNN London Bureau Chief Tom Mintier and Reuters contributed to this report.