This week I'm listing the five editions of the Bible that I use most often.
1. ESV Journaling Bible
All the cool people have one.
Becky bought me two of these for my birthday last year, with the idea that I would fill each with notes, thoughts, and commentary and thereby create two keepsakes to pass on to our daughters when they're all grown up. I had already begun a project of this sort with the Bible found in #2, but the journaling Bible, with its wider (and lined!) margins and smaller size, is so much more portable. Plus, its cover makes it feel like I'm carrying around the grail diary from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. And it's in the ESV, my translation of choice these days and the one we use at Element.
2. NRSV Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha
This isn't just a Bible, it's a weapon. This is a thumpin' Bible.
Plus, with black Moroccan leather and wide(ish) margins for notes, it was just the coolest Bible on the scene until the ESV's came along.
I've already completed notes in every available margin for Genesis, Exodus, Matthew, and John. The plan is to complete the rest in the next thirty years and give the behemoth to my nerdiest grandkid.
3. NASB Reference Edition
This is a compact Bible in black "genuine leather" that was given to me by Becky in 1996 as a gift when I was licensed for ministry by our church. 1996 is also the year Becky and I got married, so it's meaningful to me in that way as well. I really like the NAS translation, and it is the one I grew up with. I can find verses I'm looking for more easily in this Bible than in any other, which is weird as its concordance and notes are basically worthless compared to the larger Bibles. I've just been using this one longer, I guess, and there's a comfort level in the text that I've developed for over a decade.
4. NIV Study Bible
The grandpappy of contemporary study Bibles. Even though the editors of the NIV allegedly pee sitting down, I like the NIV translation fairly well, but I like my copy of the NIV Study Bible -- which is a tattered, falling apart hardback with Becky's notes scattered throughout -- even more.
5. ESV Literary Study Bible
I also got this for my birthday last year from Beck. I confess that I haven't used it as much as I'd like yet, but I certainly plan to.
What Bibles do you use/favor most? Let us know in the comments!
3 comments:
I am really starting to use the NET bible (bible.org) the most. Since most of my studies these days take place online, this Bible is great. I also love that the translators notes are shown so you can see how they came to the english translation. very nerdy, but short of having a working knowledge of biblical Greek and Hebrew this works the best for me.
I've been using the ESV Journaling Bible for almost two years now. I love it! I wish the print were a little bigger, but it's worth it to have those great margins!
That ESV journaling Bible is suh-weet and I've been eyeing it myself. But since I've been doing my reading at the ESV website and my note taking on my blog of late, and want to continue to do so, it seems a little pointless.
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