Buying A New Bible... Advice?

Kathy

Kathy

Hello, everyone. :) I hope this is the correct spot for this post. If not please move it where it needs to be. Anyway...

I am in the market for a new Bible. The two I previously owned seem to have wandered off and I was quite shocked to realize neither was on my shelf when I went looking for them. (Painfully obvious those weren't getting enough use, no? *shakes head*) Anyway...

This will be the first time that I have purchased my own Bible. The two I previously owned were an ESV my grandparents got me when I was in my early teens (roughly twenty years ago) and a KJV which was a gift from a friend (about ten years ago.)

My goal in getting a new Bible is to choose one that I can use for study. Meaning: It's going to get marked in the margins, underlined, have little papers or sticky notes put in it, etc. I'm actually shuddering as I say that--doing such things to a book seems very foreign--but from what I've been reading I should be doing this to at least one Bible I own because what we involve our hands in doing tends to stick better in our memory. (Plus we can look back on things that have stood out to us, etc.)

Alternately, should I try to keep my Bible relatively clean and instead start keeping scripture journals to write down scriptures that stand out to me and my thoughts on them? I'm still really not sure if I am comfortable with mucking up a Bible the way I'm describing above. I'm one of those 'don't earmark the page' readers... My books tend to be pretty much spotless / perfect.

Since I want my Bible to be something I use for study, I am curious what "type" of Bible I should be looking for. An actual study blble? A devotional? One of those that are broken up into 365 readings? The more I research the more confused I seem to get about this. (And it's entirely possible that's being done to me, I need to tune it out, and just -pick- one. After all, it's not the Bible but the Word of God in it and the help of the Holy Spirit that are really going to matter in the end...)

I am legally blind and I have arthritis in my wrists. This means that I need larger print, but that I cannot hold a large heavy book for reading over a long period of time. Because I am aware of this, I am considering the idea of also getting a Bible for my Kindle so that if I want to read for a long time I have that, but if I am studying and I want to keep track of how that is going I have the physical Bible.

I am curious whether people think that I should get these in matching translations so that my reading is consistent from one to the other, or whether I should take advantage of wanting to buy two Bibles to also deliberately buy two translations for cross referencing and getting a better grasp on what is being said.

As a random extra, I'm curious what people think of audio bibles? I don't believe listening to one can replace owning an actual Bible, but the idea of listening while going through with an actual Bible is something that sounds appealing to me.

Anyway, I think that about sums it up. I've posted similar questions on a couple other forums but I figured getting opinions here would help as well. I'm going to also be posting a complementary thread about how to study / use this Bible once it is purchased as well. If I don't use it it's wasted and I don't want that.

Thanks very much for your time. Have a great day! :)

Kat
 
By all means, mark your bible! When you look through it or are searching for a verse, and you come across something that spoke to you in the past, it is so wonderful to have it brought back to mind how Holy Spirit actually spoke to you about something!

The best bible I have ever had is my Spirit-Filled Life Bible, and I have two of them---both in the NKJV (which is now starting to show severe wear and tear). I didn't know it was also available in the NLT, and my daughter has that one...gotta get me one!

I think because of your eyesight, you would do well to have a bible uploaded to an e-reader, as you are contemplating doing. It's a good move!

When doing personal study, it is a good idea to get some nice spiral-bound notebooks to journal or keep notes on what God is speaking to you about as you read the scriptures. The same thing holds true as I mentioned earlier, in that as you look back in the future, the many things the Spirit of God is teaching you now will be brought to your remembrance and will give you much comfort and joy in seeing where you were "then" and where you are "now".
 
Kathy said:
Hello, everyone. :) I hope this is the correct spot for this post. If not please move it where it needs to be. Anyway...

I am in the market for a new Bible. The two I previously owned seem to have wandered off and I was quite shocked to realize neither was on my shelf when I went looking for them. (Painfully obvious those weren't getting enough use, no? *shakes head*) Anyway...

This will be the first time that I have purchased my own Bible. The two I previously owned were an ESV my grandparents got me when I was in my early teens (roughly twenty years ago) and a KJV which was a gift from a friend (about ten years ago.)

My goal in getting a new Bible is to choose one that I can use for study. Meaning: It's going to get marked in the margins, underlined, have little papers or sticky notes put in it, etc. I'm actually shuddering as I say that--doing such things to a book seems very foreign--but from what I've been reading I should be doing this to at least one Bible I own because what we involve our hands in doing tends to stick better in our memory. (Plus we can look back on things that have stood out to us, etc.)

Alternately, should I try to keep my Bible relatively clean and instead start keeping scripture journals to write down scriptures that stand out to me and my thoughts on them? I'm still really not sure if I am comfortable with mucking up a Bible the way I'm describing above. I'm one of those 'don't earmark the page' readers... My books tend to be pretty much spotless / perfect.

Since I want my Bible to be something I use for study, I am curious what "type" of Bible I should be looking for. An actual study blble? A devotional? One of those that are broken up into 365 readings? The more I research the more confused I seem to get about this. (And it's entirely possible that's being done to me, I need to tune it out, and just -pick- one. After all, it's not the Bible but the Word of God in it and the help of the Holy Spirit that are really going to matter in the end...)

I am legally blind and I have arthritis in my wrists. This means that I need larger print, but that I cannot hold a large heavy book for reading over a long period of time. Because I am aware of this, I am considering the idea of also getting a Bible for my Kindle so that if I want to read for a long time I have that, but if I am studying and I want to keep track of how that is going I have the physical Bible.

I am curious whether people think that I should get these in matching translations so that my reading is consistent from one to the other, or whether I should take advantage of wanting to buy two Bibles to also deliberately buy two translations for cross referencing and getting a better grasp on what is being said.

As a random extra, I'm curious what people think of audio bibles? I don't believe listening to one can replace owning an actual Bible, but the idea of listening while going through with an actual Bible is something that sounds appealing to me.

Anyway, I think that about sums it up. I've posted similar questions on a couple other forums but I figured getting opinions here would help as well. I'm going to also be posting a complementary thread about how to study / use this Bible once it is purchased as well. If I don't use it it's wasted and I don't want that.

Thanks very much for your time. Have a great day! :)

Kat
Click to expand...

Hello Kat,
I told Cturtle about this post so she should be either responding here or in a pm. The reason being is she has done a lot with the kindle and I believe she found a much better APP that keeps growing.

I have used so many different versions over the years but I tyruly believe God has shown for me that using the KJ and Amplified side by side is best. Now I need to get another amp soon for the one I had on my phone is long gone, that is the phone went south. lol

As far as marking in them - that is what they are there fore. Read and study and mark them up. You can always tell who studies more by the amounts of high-lighting and notes in them.
God Bless
Jim
 
As Euphemia has given you some great advice...might i add that in your kindle i believe that the esv is free and possibly the kjv. And it also has the ability to make notes and highlight (which was my favorite). Plus you can get samples of different ones. Then you can try them out to see which one really apeals to you. I have gotten rid of my kindle app and just have an app called The Olive Tree Bible study app. It has a couple more options than the kindle. Plus it can be synced with the website and it has the possibility for you to converse and share with others in that app. In my app i have several different translatons. Sometimes one can gain a better or deeper understanding in reading more than one.

I would caution using an audio Bible until you find one from someone you can trust ( i had one on cd from an old pastor and regret getting rid of it) or you read along while listening, so you know for sure its on the up and up. Many deceptions out there nowadays, and if one is just learning it can be easy to get wrong information.

Blessings in your search!
 
Kathy said:
Hello, everyone. :) I hope this is the correct spot for this post. If not please move it where it needs to be. Anyway...

I am in the market for a new Bible. The two I previously owned seem to have wandered off and I was quite shocked to realize neither was on my shelf when I went looking for them. (Painfully obvious those weren't getting enough use, no? *shakes head*) Anyway...

This will be the first time that I have purchased my own Bible. The two I previously owned were an ESV my grandparents got me when I was in my early teens (roughly twenty years ago) and a KJV which was a gift from a friend (about ten years ago.)

My goal in getting a new Bible is to choose one that I can use for study. Meaning: It's going to get marked in the margins, underlined, have little papers or sticky notes put in it, etc. I'm actually shuddering as I say that--doing such things to a book seems very foreign--but from what I've been reading I should be doing this to at least one Bible I own because what we involve our hands in doing tends to stick better in our memory. (Plus we can look back on things that have stood out to us, etc.)

Alternately, should I try to keep my Bible relatively clean and instead start keeping scripture journals to write down scriptures that stand out to me and my thoughts on them? I'm still really not sure if I am comfortable with mucking up a Bible the way I'm describing above. I'm one of those 'don't earmark the page' readers... My books tend to be pretty much spotless / perfect.

Since I want my Bible to be something I use for study, I am curious what "type" of Bible I should be looking for. An actual study blble? A devotional? One of those that are broken up into 365 readings? The more I research the more confused I seem to get about this. (And it's entirely possible that's being done to me, I need to tune it out, and just -pick- one. After all, it's not the Bible but the Word of God in it and the help of the Holy Spirit that are really going to matter in the end...)

I am legally blind and I have arthritis in my wrists. This means that I need larger print, but that I cannot hold a large heavy book for reading over a long period of time. Because I am aware of this, I am considering the idea of also getting a Bible for my Kindle so that if I want to read for a long time I have that, but if I am studying and I want to keep track of how that is going I have the physical Bible.

I am curious whether people think that I should get these in matching translations so that my reading is consistent from one to the other, or whether I should take advantage of wanting to buy two Bibles to also deliberately buy two translations for cross referencing and getting a better grasp on what is being said.

As a random extra, I'm curious what people think of audio bibles? I don't believe listening to one can replace owning an actual Bible, but the idea of listening while going through with an actual Bible is something that sounds appealing to me.

Anyway, I think that about sums it up. I've posted similar questions on a couple other forums but I figured getting opinions here would help as well. I'm going to also be posting a complementary thread about how to study / use this Bible once it is purchased as well. If I don't use it it's wasted and I don't want that.

Thanks very much for your time. Have a great day! :)

Kat
Click to expand...
I like the phrase:

A worn out bible, marked up and tattered, usually has a owner who is not.​
 
My opinion...

A good large print bible is good esp for worsening eyesight.
I use a journal/notebook to write in, I dont write on my bible. If someone else wants to read it, I dont want it all messed up with my highlights and notes. I use KJV.

If need to look up a different translation, I just go online on biblehub.
I did try to download an audio bible, theres sites you can do this for free, I downloaded Genesis KJV version...forgot the speakers name but they were nice and clear. But, I'm more of a reading person, so..I didnt download the rest.

Pray and ask God to give you the Bible for your special needs. He did for me. I didnt need to spend hardly anything. Salvation army usually give free bibles away, also, Gideons.
 
Devotionals...
The one that I found best was My utmost for His highest by Oswald Chambers. You can download for free that one as well.
When I first started gettting into the Bible, I found essential 100 a good start, it had space for you to reflect and write in. Its by whitney T kulhnoum.

For further bible study I was and am still doing World bible school, its a free online bible study. Mostly multichoice questions all based on the word of God..

And I get daily email scriptures sent by bereans. But theres lots of other free resources around..so look around.
 
I've had such a great blessing of comfort and joy going through my late mother's bibles. As she was a giant of a woman of God, a pastoral counselor, author and speaker, I have been able to see how the Lord has spoken to her personally about certain things (this is called Rhema), and I benefit from them.

This is one of the reasons it is good to write in your bible---it can be a blessed legacy!
 
Lanolin said:
My opinion...

A good large print bible is good esp for worsening eyesight.
I use a journal/notebook to write in, I dont write on my bible. If someone else wants to read it, I dont want it all messed up with my highlights and notes. I use KJV.

If need to look up a different translation, I just go online on biblehub.
I did try to download an audio bible, theres sites you can do this for free, I downloaded Genesis KJV version...forgot the speakers name but they were nice and clear. But, I'm more of a reading person, so..I didnt download the rest.

Pray and ask God to give you the Bible for your special needs. He did for me. I didnt need to spend hardly anything. Salvation army usually give free bibles away, also, Gideons.
Click to expand...

I am like you Lanolin. I do not mark up my Bible, but I don't journal either. Was never good at note taking our Journaling in school and that has transferred to my adult life.

I prefer my books (including my Bibles) to wear naturally and not to look like a mess with marks and highlights.
 
My advice would be to get a KJ version large print and a journal with numbered pages, or number them as you go. When you have notes on a verse, just mark the bible with a code which correlates with the journal. Something like 39b, 39 for the page in the journal and "b" for the note on the page. In the journal, remember to write the scripture, chapter and verse, that your note goes with so you can go from bible to notes, or from the notes to the bible. If you run across something interesting in the journal, you will want to be able to find the bible verses which correspond.

KJ is useful in that you can go directly to <blueletterbible.org> and type in words from the KJ to get the Strong's concordance definitions. Other Bible translations are easily had at <biblegateway.com> and other sites. I stay away from NIV because I have run across poor renderings, and one verse was the opposite in meaning from the KJV and the NLT. I like the NLT for deciphering concepts not easily understood by KJV or NKJV alone. The amplified version is also helpful.
You can do all this on the computer as well, but if you lose internet access or the power goes out, you can still have access to your Bible and journal.
 
Kathy said:
Hello, everyone. :) I hope this is the correct spot for this post. If not please move it where it needs to be. Anyway...

I am in the market for a new Bible. The two I previously owned seem to have wandered off and I was quite shocked to realize neither was on my shelf when I went looking for them. (Painfully obvious those weren't getting enough use, no? *shakes head*) Anyway...

This will be the first time that I have purchased my own Bible. The two I previously owned were an ESV my grandparents got me when I was in my early teens (roughly twenty years ago) and a KJV which was a gift from a friend (about ten years ago.)

My goal in getting a new Bible is to choose one that I can use for study. Meaning: It's going to get marked in the margins, underlined, have little papers or sticky notes put in it, etc. I'm actually shuddering as I say that--doing such things to a book seems very foreign--but from what I've been reading I should be doing this to at least one Bible I own because what we involve our hands in doing tends to stick better in our memory. (Plus we can look back on things that have stood out to us, etc.)

Alternately, should I try to keep my Bible relatively clean and instead start keeping scripture journals to write down scriptures that stand out to me and my thoughts on them? I'm still really not sure if I am comfortable with mucking up a Bible the way I'm describing above. I'm one of those 'don't earmark the page' readers... My books tend to be pretty much spotless / perfect.

Since I want my Bible to be something I use for study, I am curious what "type" of Bible I should be looking for. An actual study blble? A devotional? One of those that are broken up into 365 readings? The more I research the more confused I seem to get about this. (And it's entirely possible that's being done to me, I need to tune it out, and just -pick- one. After all, it's not the Bible but the Word of God in it and the help of the Holy Spirit that are really going to matter in the end...)

I am legally blind and I have arthritis in my wrists. This means that I need larger print, but that I cannot hold a large heavy book for reading over a long period of time. Because I am aware of this, I am considering the idea of also getting a Bible for my Kindle so that if I want to read for a long time I have that, but if I am studying and I want to keep track of how that is going I have the physical Bible.

I am curious whether people think that I should get these in matching translations so that my reading is consistent from one to the other, or whether I should take advantage of wanting to buy two Bibles to also deliberately buy two translations for cross referencing and getting a better grasp on what is being said.

As a random extra, I'm curious what people think of audio bibles? I don't believe listening to one can replace owning an actual Bible, but the idea of listening while going through with an actual Bible is something that sounds appealing to me.

Anyway, I think that about sums it up. I've posted similar questions on a couple other forums but I figured getting opinions here would help as well. I'm going to also be posting a complementary thread about how to study / use this Bible once it is purchased as well. If I don't use it it's wasted and I don't want that.

Thanks very much for your time. Have a great day! :)

Kat
Click to expand...

Hi Kat, welcome to the forum! I see that everyone else has been giving you good advice, which I'd second. Personally, I can recommend the New Translation by J.N. Darby. It's the Bible I use every day and the one I always refer to. I wouldn't say that it's the most easy to read, and, unlike me, most people wouldn't have it as their main Bible. I love it because it's sensitively translated and is very close to the original text. For example, Mr Darby has kept the apostle's Paul's very natural, flowing style of writing in the epistles (which is hard to read at times!) rather than dividing it up into easy sentences. The J.N.D. Bible also has extensive footnotes which give alternative translations for various words and phrases, which I find to be a spiritual goldmine! It's available in large print at quite considerable expense, but I happen to have a large-print one secondhand which I'd be very happy to send to you at no cost. It's rather well-worn, but there's life in it yet and I'd be delighted to see it go to another good home. I use a large print version for reading in bed, which is rather heavy, but I just lay it down to read it, because it sits open at whatever page you turn to quite nicely.
 
Big Moose said:
My advice would be to get a KJ version large print and a journal with numbered pages, or number them as you go. When you have notes on a verse, just mark the bible with a code which correlates with the journal. Something like 39b, 39 for the page in the journal and "b" for the note on the page. In the journal, remember to write the scripture, chapter and verse, that your note goes with so you can go from bible to notes, or from the notes to the bible. If you run across something interesting in the journal, you will want to be able to find the bible verses which correspond.

KJ is useful in that you can go directly to <blueletterbible.org> and type in words from the KJ to get the Strong's concordance definitions. Other Bible translations are easily had at <biblegateway.com> and other sites. I stay away from NIV because I have run across poor renderings, and one verse was the opposite in meaning from the KJV and the NLT. I like the NLT for deciphering concepts not easily understood by KJV or NKJV alone. The amplified version is also helpful.
You can do all this on the computer as well, but if you lose internet access or the power goes out, you can still have access to your Bible and journal.
Click to expand...

I agree with Moose, but go one step further! I have a "parallel" Bible; one column for KJV and the other NIV. If you don't like this combination, there are New Testament parallels, with the NLT. I think these parallels come with multiple translations. Do you know why the KJV and NIV are so different? Because the KJV is a word-for-word translation and the NIV and NLT are thought- for-thought translations.

If you'd like to read something very inspiring, look at the Book of Common Prayer, 1928, Oxford, Episcopalian Church. It is entirely KJV. It has two sections: Daily readings and the Psalms. It is available from Christian Book Distributors.
 
Penion said:
I agree with Moose, but go one step further! I have a "parallel" Bible; one column for KJV and the other NIV. If you don't like this combination, there are New Testament parallels, with the NLT. I think these parallels come with multiple translations. Do you know why the KJV and NIV are so different? Because the KJV is a word-for-word translation and the NIV and NLT are thought- for-thought translations.

If you'd like to read something very inspiring, look at the Book of Common Prayer, 1928, Oxford, Episcopalian Church. It is entirely KJV. It has two sections: Daily readings and the Psalms. It is available from Christian Book Distributors.
Click to expand...

Yes, I've been doing my homework. :) I know that KJV, NKJV, NASB are word for word / more literal, whereas NIV and NLT are thought for thought. I also know there are more translations than this; these are just the quickest to list. There are also paraphrases, but at this point that does not seem the right direction to explore.

Thanks to everyone for all of the feedback. It is truly appreciated. :)
 
My own hard book is the NIV as I prefer easy reading.

It seems to get a bit of criticism but I can't really figure it out. That last bit I read here was that its publisher also produces a Satanic bible.

Now in the US it is published by Zodervan (in the UK where I am it is Hodder and Stoughton who publish it - a different company) and Zodervan is owned by Harper Collins who produce this bad book.

Now Harper Collins is owned by News Corp, part of the Australian Murdoch enterprise who also do Fox News.

Now I've seen people call this news the most reliable. And I've seen them criticise NIV for it's Harper Collins association. If you can figure this out, you are doing better than me...

I've played with the KJV. It's easy to get a free version from project Gutenburg into a computer, it isn't cluttered with copyrights and I have it on my PC. Can sort of do things like click on a word and find wherelse in the bible that word is - very basic database programming.
 
I have no idea why people think harper collins is bad. But maybe they just think because it publishes other dubious books it cant be trusted to publish the Bible? I'm sure Zondervan publishes other translations of the bible as well, including KJV.

I dont generally read the NIV for other reasons..Im not going to knock it, but KJV is just better. So, its not an issue. We all have a choice which version speaks to us.

Good thing about KJV is its in public domain, so free...and most christians read this english version of the bible, and ita easiest to memorise. Also, its one of the oldest...its not like there were no christians before the newer translations were published and they missed out on something. So you can trust it.
 
Lanolin said:
I have no idea why people think harper collins is bad. But maybe they just think because it publishes other dubious books it cant be trusted to publish the Bible? I'm sure Zondervan publishes other translations of the bible as well, including KJV.
Click to expand...

I'd think it unlikely that Harper Collins go changing words. I'd think another publisher would be found if that happened.

Lanolin said:
Good thing about KJV is its in public domain, so free...
Click to expand...

Agreed but if one was to get totally strict over it, it has some odd Royal Perogative status in the UK. See. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_James_Version#Copyright_status

Only giving this as an odd curiosity. I think for most purposes even I can look upon it as public domain.
 
boltardy said:
My own hard book is the NIV as I prefer easy reading.

It seems to get a bit of criticism but I can't really figure it out. That last bit I read here was that its publisher also produces a Satanic bible.

Now in the US it is published by Zodervan (in the UK where I am it is Hodder and Stoughton who publish it - a different company) and Zodervan is owned by Harper Collins who produce this bad book.

Now Harper Collins is owned by News Corp, part of the Australian Murdoch enterprise who also do Fox News.

Now I've seen people call this news the most reliable. And I've seen them criticise NIV for it's Harper Collins association. If you can figure this out, you are doing better than me...

I've played with the KJV. It's easy to get a free version from project Gutenburg into a computer, it isn't cluttered with copyrights and I have it on my PC. Can sort of do things like click on a word and find wherelse in the bible that word is - very basic database programming.
Click to expand...

The main issue I've read about people having with the NIV is that when the 2011 version was released, replacing the last one from 1984, they began using a more gender inclusive language. ("Brothers and sisters" as opposed to just "Brothers", for example.) Provided that this is not done in a way to intentionally alter the actual meaning of a verse I don't find that too disruptive.

I watched a video on YouTube where someone was discussing this in relation to both missionary work and the modern perception of male / female terminology with younger generations. They claimed that many men / women no longer view "man" as representing the entire human race, but rather only males. Rather fascinating stuff, though admittedly me getting sidetracked.
 
Kathy said:
The main issue I've read about people having with the NIV is that when the 2011 version was released, replacing the last one from 1984, they began using a more gender inclusive language. ("Brothers and sisters" for example.) Provided that this is not done in a way to intentionally alter the actual meaning of a verse I don't find that too disruptive.

I watched a video on YouTube where someone was discussing this in relation to both missionary work and the modern perception of male / female terminology with younger generations. (They claimed that many men / women no longer view "man" as representing the entire human race, but rather only males.) Rather fascinating stuff, though admittedly me getting sidetracked.
Click to expand...

Interesting.

I'm of the old fashioned "mankind" means men and women view. Sometimes man or woman may need to be specified but also, "man" can be gender neutral. Or maybe I'm just an old misogynist....
 
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