Last year I made a decision that I wanted to become a more spiritual person, and I felt one of the keys to that was to read the Bible. I filled out a calendar with due dates for each of the various books and started out - but failed miserably. A few weeks ago I was playing golf with a new acquaintance and he mentioned a daily reading bible that he had found to be a great help in reading and studying the bible. The chronological layout, he felt, was the greatest asset.
I found my way to a nearby Christian bookstore (the first time in my life) and looked at the verion my golf partner had recommended. It seemed like it would work, but then I found this version sitting next to it on the shelf. Immediately I was attracted to it for several reasons, but the most compelling was the author's explanations and introduction to the different sections. That extra information seemed to make the passages so much easier to understand.
So I've been reading this book for a while now - and actually keeping to my schedule - and I have to give it five stars for ease of reading and understanding (and keeping me on schedule!).
If you want to successfully read the bible I suppose any chronoligical version would do. But if you want to understand it and get some real enjoyment and knowledge from your reading then I can't think of a better purchase
By shoutgrace "savedbyhisgrace" (Charleston, WV United States)
I really love my Max Lucado Inspirational NKJV Study Bible. It's a wonderful study bible with many sidebars of life lessons of Lucado's teaching guides. This the only one I use because it helps me to have a better understanding of the Scriptures. Each Book of the Old and New Testaments are laid out in an instruction manual style. All chapters are boldly titled to explain the situation for each one. The Life Lessons examines more closely the situation, makes observations, gives inspiration, makes application and gives further explorations of other scriptures throughout the Bible. It's chalkful of footnotes of many reliable references. Throughout this study gem are more inspirational ancedotes from Grace, Forgiveness, Suffering and Victory to God's Love, Hope, Prayer and Faith. And many more worthwhile inspirations that will bless your life. Even more, it has one hundred greatest thoughts, an index to selected readings, a dictionary with topical concordance, acknowledgments from many great references from the most notable names in Christianity. There's even a place in the back to add your own notes. I'm sure this is the only study bible you'll ever use. I find it to be the most comprehensive, enriching masterpiece of the Holy Bible yet. I would definitely give this as a nice gift.
The book is beautifully bound in black bonded leather with Silver coloured writing on the spine. It comes in a box which will be useful to preserve the life of the book when on the shelf. It has a ribbon bookmark which is a minor thing but I find it useful. The print in the personal size is quite small only 7 points so if you have any sight problems I would not recommend it. I however had no problem reading the text. The pages are very thin this can cause problem if you are scanning pages as text does show through from the other page. I
I cannot fault the contents. The introductions to the books are concise and to the point covering things like authorship, historical backgrounds, contents and theme of book. There is also an outline for each book giving one line summaries of the main chapters. The book intros do not go into as much detail as the Nelson Study Bible (NSB) or Open Study Bible (OSB). There was however plenty of information and I felt some of the summaries while slightly shorter where better written.
I found it particularly useful having the words of Jesus in red my personal copy of NIV does not have that.
The cross-references are in a centre column this means they are there easy to find but they do not interfere with reading. For example the OSB has the references at the end of the verse this can be distracting when reading. There is an amazing amount of information contained in the study notes at the bottom of the pages. There are clear symbols to tell you if the references are archaeological or life application or about a person. All the study aids are there right by the relevant scriptures. This saves you having to flick through the book to find certain study aids. There are black and white maps and charts interspersed throughout the book these are useful and right at hand. There are plenty of detailed coloured maps as well as timelines but these are found separately at the back and front of the book. This is better than the NSB which has thick coloured charts throughout the book which interferes with the smoothness of the book and page turning. The back of the book has several useful study helps, this includes, Table of weight and measures. Index to Subjects, Index to notes, Index to Maps, Concordance (not exhaustive but enough to find main points and scriptures) and a Index to coloured maps.
In summary I would highly recommend this study bible. It is not suitable if you want lots of application notes for that try the excellent Life Application Bible. However if you want a Study bible that has clear easy to understand notes that go into plenty of detail then this is definitely he bible for you.
By Mrs Joanne Froggatt
By Encompassed Runner
When I first saw the Bible title, I thought perhaps this would be a man-centered, Christianity-lite Bible, but that is not the case here. So much more than I had expected, The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible strikes a balance between doctrinal helps and applicational helps, which Stanley interweaves in a very natural, buoyant, visually attractive, and thorough yet uncluttered way.
The Bible has a whopping 195 page concordance, "What the Bible Says About" articles, introductions for the 66 Bible books, a "God Promises" feature, and an index for the >300 promises categorized under family, provision, deliverance, justice, obeying, and more. Yet for all these helps, the Bible lives up to its title in offering practical inspiration with such features as
- "Life Principle" articles (for ex, "Obey God and Leave the Consequence to Him"),
- "Life Examples" (for ex, "Joseph: Waiting and Trusting"), and
- "Answers to Life Questions" (located near to scripture tie-ins, for ex, near Gen 39:29 on Joseph one finds "Does God Bring Us Adversity?")
As for the Bible proper, the NKJV is not one of the looser translations, much less a paraphrase, but is a word-for-word literal equivalence translation that improves a bit on the accuracy of the KJV yet keeps the KJV's familiar flowing beauty while also avoiding both the KJV's archaic words, pronouns, and verb endings and also the dry or wooden sound of the NASB. For those concerned about translation issues, it is fairly easy to follow along with either the NASB or KJV, even the NIV, using the NKJV, and anyway, differences between underlying texts are noted in small print.
For those wanting notes that are more of the historical, archaeological, or doctrinal type, this is not the most academic of Bibles, nor does its title advertise itself as a Study Bible. Instead, the Bible falls within the niche somewhere between the more man-centered Life Application Bible and the info-rich MacArthur or Nelson's NKJV Study Bible. Most of all, fans of Charles Stanley's books or television show will surely enjoy this Bible.
By Sven Allenbach-Schmidt (Greenbelt, MD USA)
This review is from: Amplified Bible, Indexed (Hardcover)
When reading the Bible in different translations readers are often struck by the different words used by different translations. That is even between two Literal (word-for-word) translations (like the King James and the NRSV). When you get into a Dynamic Equivalence translation (like NIV) or a Free translation (like Phillips) you can be astounded, and wonder if the translators were using the same source material. Idealy, students of the Bible should be able to read it in the orginal Hebrew, Aramaic, and koine Greek. But that's an ideal the vast majority of us will never be able to meet. Enter the Amplified Bible. The purpose of the AB is to give English readers a better feel for the original material by amplifying the translation.
The AB starts with an excellent Literal translation and then uses brackets and parentheses to amplify any word that doesn't have a literal English equivalent. Brackets []contain clarifying words or comments not in the original. Parentheses () include additional meanings to the original word that the English word doesn't, for example the Greek work transliterated as pisteuo, is usually translated as 'believes', but in the orginal actually means much more. See my example from John in the next paragraph.
John 11:25- "Jesus said to her, I am [Myself] the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on) Me, although he may die, yet he shall live."
Why do I title this "Outstanding Second Bible"? I find that for my first read thru on any section, I prefer to use a good study Bible, as the amplified material interrupts the flow of the narrative. Especially for those new to Bible study, the amplifications can be confusing. Read your primary Bible first, then look at the AB to ensure you have a good grasp of the word meanings. My personal recomendations for primary study Bibles are: for Literal translation, the "Harper-Collins NRSV Study Bible", and for Dynamic Equivalence translation, the "Concordia Self-Study Bible (NIV)".
To sum up, the Amplified Bible is an outstanding tool for anyone interested in serious Bible study, my only caveat is that it shouldn't be your primary text.
By Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews
This is the complete New International Version of the Bible in a compressed MP3 format. This format has both advantages and disadvantages. The greatest advantage is that you get the entire Bible on just six CDs. It even comes with a nice fabric CD holder to keep them from getting scratched. The entire Bible can be placed in a common 6 CD changer and listened to at your convenience. The down side of the MP3 format is a problem with the format itself. If you are traveling short distances or only listening for a short while then each time you start to listen it begins at the start of that MP3 track. As a result I found myself often having to listen to the same verses over and over because I didn't listen to it long enough to go to the next track. The Zondervan company has done a good job of ameliorating this problem to some extent by putting each chapter on its own track, but some chapters are long and so it is still a problem at times. With a true audio CD my player will pick up in the middle of a song or wherever I left off, not so with the MP3 format.
The actual dramatized reading of the Bible is excellently done and I am very impressed with it. My experience with similar products from other publishers has been that the dramatization is highly overacted and includes background music that more suited to a Cecil B. DeMille movie than an audio Bible. Zondervan strikes a perfect balance between the dramatization and the reading such that it is a joy to listen to and effectively pulls the listener into the story.
This is the perfect choice for those who plan to listen to it for at least half an hour or more at a time. If you plan to listen for shorter periods of time you may be better off choosing the much larger 64 CD audio product. The perfect combination of size and dramatization makes the NIV Audio Bible: Dramatized a highly recommended choice.
By Tim Challies (Oakville, Ontario)
Just a few months ago I came to the sudden and perhaps not-so-startling realization that although I have been reading the Bible for more than twenty years I had never really been taught how to study it. I have been told of the importance of spending time each day reading God's Word, meditating on it and even memorizing it, but I do not ever recall being taught how to systematically study it.
After explaining this predicament to a friend of mine, she recommended the inductive Bible study approach, which she had only just discovered through buying the New Inductive Study Bible. Kay Arthur edited that version of the Bible and knowing she was a proponent of the inductive method, I decided to read How To Study Your Bible by Arthur.
I do not intend to go into detail about the Inductive method of Bible study. There is any number of resources available in bookstores and online that can outline the method in detail. Essentially, though, it begins with understanding the context of the big picture (the Bible) then works to the smaller picture (a specific book of the Bible) and so on until the study leads to specific words. The method relies heavily on note-taking and Bible marking. There is a whole system of Bible marking that Arthur recommends which helps in identifying themes and patterns. The appendices are filled with useful information about how to best use concordances and expository dictionaries. They even go into some detail about the tenses, moods and voices of Greek verbs!
Although the book sometimes appears as an advertisement for the New Inductive Study Bible, it does a fantastic job of outlining the method and rationale for the inductive approach to Bible study. This book is a valuable resource and I highly recommend it.
Reviewer: A reader
This review is from: The New Jerusalem Bible (Hardcover)
There is not an English Bible that will bring you closer to the full historical, literary, and religious meaning of the Bible than this one--and I've looked at all the competition up close. The format of the full edition is great, and for most people, this is the only Bible you'll ever need. The translation (made not from French, as some persist in saying, but from the Hebrew and Greek) is faithful without being awkward or obscure, and fluent without being fuzzy (NEB/REB, anyone?) or inaccurate. The scholarly apparatus (especially the footnotes, also the marginal parallel passages, introductions, and indices in the back to places, persons, and major footnotes) is outstanding. Only the Oxford Annotated can compete, and, again and again, I have found that the Oxford editors are guilty of tedious plot summary, while the NJB actually gives historical, cultural, and textual information that deepens your understanding of the text! I am a scholar, not a Roman Catholic, and moments where I think "Catholic" reading a note are EXTREMELY rare. This is not a Catholic Bible, this is a Bible for whoever wants the most objective, historically sound, and readable presentation of the original texts. The way I think, if you're going to read books that are millennia old, you need HELP. It's all here, the perfect marriage of readability (much better on this score than NRSV) and accuracy (arguably the best here too, though of course preferences in this domain are controversial).
Don't be misled by the half-truth that this literarily distinguished translation is somehow "looser" than, say, the NRSV (which, in the New Oxford Annotated Bible, is probably the NJB's only real competition). The NRSV, in the tradition of the KJV, still tilts towards word-for-word translations even when they don't give a clear and accurate sense of what the original text means. Not only is this not ideal for general readers, who will blame themselves for not understanding what the hyper-literal rendition has obscured, but it is not very helpful for more scholarly readers who too often will only see the impenetrability of the original reproduced in English. The fact is, that centuries of scholarship have given us a good understanding of most of these difficult passages. The NJB does the favor of bringing out these accurate understandings in translation; and when it really IS obscure, it explains the difficulty in a note! I have often had the experience of reading the translation of a passage I've studied closely, and thinking "Aha! of COURSE that's the correct nuance that didn't come through in my own clunky 'literal' attempt to read the original correctly."
In all fairness, some criticisms/clarifications. Some have expressed concern that this translation's intention to be "inclusive" has led to departures from the original texts' true meaning. In general, this is not a problem with the NJB. For example, in reading 1300 pp. of the Hebrew Bible, I found the translators' choices to be guided by accuracy and fidelity. (Non-philologists often don't realize that the ancient languages have loads of ways of making gender-non-specific constructions; the problem has often been to get it into modern English!) But there was one howler. In the decalogue, we read "set your heart on your neighbor's spouse." This is a bit of a stretch from the Hebrew "your neighbor's woman [wife]." I think the great fame of the Ten Commandments as "universal" principles clouded the translators' judgments here. A more frequent but minor irritation is that the translators have violated good English usage in writing "the wise" to mean "the wise one" (singular). They thought it was less awkward (and they are right to avoid the inaccurate "man"), but they judged wrong--it's just not good English to use "the wise" with a singular verb. One more complaint. As other reviewers have said, the superior notes (for which you have to buy the full edition, ISBN 0385142641) are one of the biggest reasons to use the NJB. But if you are reading whole books of the Bible at once, you will probably feel some annoyance that the explanatory notes are mixed in with the textual notes. In other words, when you see that a verse has a footnote, you don't know (without reading it) whether it has to do with a minor and uninteresting textual variation in one of the traditions, or whether it is one of the NJB's fantastic notes that contextualize the passage, give a thought-provoking reference to elsewhere, etc. In this regard, the design of Oxford study Bibles (where the two kinds of notes are segregated, though there's no marker in the text that there is an explanatory note, as there is in NJB) is probably superior. In most books, it doesn't matter, but there are some where the textual tradition is so messy that you really get tired of looking at the bottom of the page, and it disrupts the reading experience even for a reader who enjoys a complicated and scholarly view of the Bible.
To me, it speaks volumes that the problems I've mentioned (one howler + occasional infelicity + design error of the notes) don't change the fact that this is the most accurate, fluent, and useful-for-study-purposes Bible in existence!
