Buying A Bible
Anyone who has walked into a Christian book store lately can tell you that our stores are filled with Bibles. As a matter of fact, there are now so many Bibles on the market that the task of finding the one for you can be almost overwhelming. So, to help you, I have prepared this list of 7 questions.
Russell Mckinney: Pastor, Disciples Road Church
Question #1:
“Which translation of the Bible do you want?”
The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew (with a few sections in Aramaic) and the New Testament was originally written in Greek. Therefore, we need translations. Over the past 400 years, many English translations have been done. The following is a list of the English translations that you will find in stores today:
King James; New King James; New International Version; New American Standard; New Revised Standard; Amplified; New Living Translation; English Standard Version; Holman Christian Standard; New Century Version; New International Reader’s Version; Today’s New International Version; The Message
What you must understand is that each of these translations fits into one of three broad categories of translation. The first category is the word-for-word translation. Word-for-word translations simply take the Bible’s Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words one at a time and translate them into English in a precise and scholarly way. The second category is the paraphrase translation. Paraphrase translations make no attempt at word-for-word translating. Instead, they take the general thoughts that are conveyed by the Bible’s words and translate those thoughts into English that is highly contemporary. The third category is the dynamic equivalence translation. Dynamic equivalence translations strive to combine the best of the word-for-word approach with the best of the paraphrasing approach. They translate the Bible’s words in a way that is more literal than the paraphrases but not nearly as literal as the word-for-word translations. The category breakdown of the current popular translations is as follows:
- word-for-word translations:
King James; New King James; New American Standard; New Revised Standard; Amplified; English Standard Version; Holman Christian Standard - paraphrases:
New Living Translation; The Message - dynamic equivalence translations:
New International Version; New International Reader’s Version; Today’s New International Version; New Century Version
And so, the question becomes, which translation should you buy? I’ll answer in the following way:
- If your priority is to buy the translation that does the most precise and scholarly job of bringing the Bible’s Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek into English, buy the New American Standard.
- If your priority is to buy a translation that is incredibly easy to read and uses highly contemporary language, buy either the New Living Translation or The Message.
- If your priority is to buy a Bible for a small child, buy either the New International Reader’s Version (reading level grade 2 and up) or the New Century Version (reading level grade 3 and up).
- If your priority is to buy a translation that is more than a paraphrase but not as rigid as a scholarly word-for-word translation, buy the New International Version.
- If your priority is to buy a translation that does a scholarly job of literal, word-for-word translating but also strives for somewhat contemporary language, buy either the English Standard Version or the Holman Christian Standard.
- If your priority is to buy the most classic and legendary translation, buy the King James.
- If your priority is not to change too much from the King James translation you've long used, but you want to eliminate words such as “thee,” “thou,” “verily,” and “lovest,” buy the New King James.
Question #2: “Do you want a reference Bible?”
The fact is, you can buy a “plain Jane” Bible of any translation for around $10. By “plain Jane” I mean a Bible that just has the words of the text. However, if you are willing to spend a little more money, you can buy a reference Bible. Please understand that reference Bibles read exactly the same as other Bibles. The only difference is, they have reference verses listed along with the Bible text on each page. These verses are usually found either in the center column of the page or to the left or right of the text. The idea is that the reader will read a verse such as John 3:16, look to the list of reference verses to see what other verses topically line up with that verse, and then turn to those reference verses and read them too. The best reference Bibles are:
- The Old Scofield Study Bible (available only in the King James)
- The New Scofield Study Bible (available in the King James, the New King James, the New American Standard, and the New International Version)
- The Thompson Chain-Reference Study Bible (available in the King James, the New King James, the New American Standard, and the New International Version).
- The KJV Dake Annotated Reference Bible (available only in the King James)
Question #3: “Do you want a study Bible?”
Just as a reference Bible is more expensive than a “plain Jane” Bible, a study Bible is more expensive than a reference Bible. It is usually money well spent, though, in that a study Bible will offer you much more help in understanding the Bible. This help can come in four forms. First, the Bible will have a section of explanatory notes at the bottom of each page. These notes will help you to interpret some of the verses on the page. Second, the Bible will have an introduction for each book of the Bible. This introduction will tell you things like when the book was written, who wrote it, and what the times were like when it was written. Third, many study Bibles have topical articles that will teach you what the Bible says on those topics. Fourth, some study Bibles also have a reference system similar to that of a reference Bible. Some excellent study Bibles are:
- The Nelson’s NKJV Study Bible (available only in the New King James)
- The Ryrie Study Bible (available in the King James, the New American Standard, and the New International Version)
- The Holy Bible - Baptist Study Edition (available only in the New King James)
- The MacArthur Study Bible (available in the New King James and the New American Standard)
- The Life Application Study Bible (available in the King James, the New King James, the New American Standard, the New International Version, and the New Living Translation)
Question #4: “Do you want a parallel Bible?”
A parallel Bible is a Bible that lays different translations side by side in its text so that you can compare them as you read. Some examples of parallel Bibles are:
- The Hendrickson Parallel Bible (combines the complete translations of the King James, the New King James, the New International Version, and the New Living Translation)
- The Comparative Study Bible (combines the complete translations of the King James, the New American Standard, the New International Version, and The Amplified Bible)
- The Essential Evangelical Parallel Bible (combines the complete translations of the English Standard Version, The Message,
the New King James, and the New Living Translation) - The Word: The Bible From 26 Translations (combines selected translations from 26 different translations, giving four to six
readings for each verse)
Question #5: “Do you want a specialty Bible?”
A specialty Bible is a Bible that is designed for a highly specific target audience. Some examples of specialty Bibles are:
- The Adventure Bible For Kids (designed for kids 8-12 years old; available only in the New International Version)
- The NIrV Little Kids’ Adventure Bible (designed for kids 4-7 years old; available only in the New International Readers Version)
- NIV Revolution: The Bible For Teen Guys (designed for boys 13-16 years old; available only in the New International Version)
- NIV True Images: The Bible For Teen Girls (designed for girls 13-16 years old; available only in the New International Version)
- The KJV New Defender’s Study Bible (designed to argue for the Bible’s account of creation and against the theory of evolution; available only in the King James translation)
- The Graduate’s Bible (designed to be a perfect gift for the graduate; available only in the Holman Christian Standard translation)
- The Soldier’s Bible; The Sailor’s Bible; The Police Officer’s Bible; The Firefighter’s Bible (Each of these Bibles comes with special features specifically designed for the subject group; they are all available only in the Holman Christian Standard translation)
- The KJV Reese Chronological Bible (designed to present the storyline of the Bible in a chronological order rather than book by book; available only in the King James)
Question #6: “What size Bible do you want?”
Bibles now come in many different shapes and sizes. There are: compact Bibles, regular size Bibles, giant print Bibles, large print Bibles, thick Bibles, and ultra thin Bibles.
Question #7: “What kind of binding do you want on your Bible?”
Bibles are now offered in: softcover, genuine leather, morocco leather, imitation leather, bonded leather, and hardcover. Generally speaking, hardcover Bibles are less expensive than leather Bibles.
One last thing to remember
As you consider these seven questions and set out to buy your new Bible, you must remember that you can’t always get every feature that you want in a Bible. Here are some examples of what I mean:
- You can find many parallel, reference Bibles, but it is extremely hard to find a parallel, study Bible. The only one I have ever seen is called The Parallel Study Bible.
- You can find many giant-print, reference Bibles, but I have never seen a giant-print, study Bible. I have seen some large-print (not giant-print) study Bibles.
- Study Bibles are not offered in a variety of sizes. For example, you won’t find an ultra-thin or a compact Ryrie Study Bible.
- Specialty Bibles and study Bibles are oftentimes limited as to the translations in which they are offered. For example, you needn’t expect to find The Graduate’s Bible in the King James translation.