The Bible continues to be the number one best-selling book in the world. It has been read by more people and published in more languages than any other book. The manuscripts were preserved by meticulous scribes and the Bible has more manuscript evidence that any ten pieces of classical literature combined. The Bible was the first book to be mechanically printed. Over the centuries many tried to burn it, ban it and destroy it and there were many periods of time when possessing Scripture was grounds for being put to death in a brutal way. And yet the text survived. It has a detailed remarkable history of the Hebrew people. It contains prophesy relating to individual nations and to all peoples of the earth. It was written by people who were quite forthright about their failings and sin. The Bible has greatly influenced literature. It is the most quoted book of all time. There are more than 1300 documented quotations and allusions to the Bible in the writings of Shakespeare! In a 2005 survey of high school English teachers, 98% said students who are biblically literate have an edge academically over those who are not. We get such sayings as “the salt of the earth’; “fought the good fight”; “a drop in the bucket”; and “handwriting on the wall” from the Bible. A 2006 survey of English professors from the top universities in the United States agree that “regardless of a person’s faith, an educated person needs to know the Bible,” saying that the Bible is “indispensable” and “absolutely crucial” for a person who wishes to be considered well educated. (1) You’ve meant to read the Bible, but there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day. It’s a long book and perhaps you don’t even like to read. It is intimidating. You may be thinking of the Bible as one big book. Think of it instead as a library of books - like a bookshelf and you are going to take a book off and read it. When you think of the Bible as a library, it isn't quite so intimidating to begin. However, there is an order to the Bible and it helps to know a little about that before you start. The Bible is divided into two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. There are 66 books in the Bible – 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. The Old Testament takes up about 2/3rds of the Bible! The Bible was written over a period of about 1500 years by over 40 authors from every walk of life. David and Solomon were kings. Peter was a fisherman. Luke was a doctor. Matthew was a tax collector. Paul was a rabbi and tentmaker. Nehemiah was a cupbearer. Do you know what a cupbearer is? It is the person assigned to the king to take a drink out of the cup before the king to make sure the drink wasn’t poisoned. Some job, huh? The books of the Bible were written in different places on three different continents – Africa, Asia, and Europe. Paul wrote some of his books while in prison. John wrote a book while exiled on the island of Patmos. Moses wrote in the wilderness. Comprised of 66 books written over centuries by many authors from various locations and walks of life; yet the Bible has one story! The Bible is all about God’s redeeming love for us and how we should share that love with others. It’s a love story – a remarkable, fascinating, transforming love story about His grace for us. The books of the Bible are NOT in chronological order! That is not how the canon of Scripture was organized. (Canon just simply refers to the books that are considered the authoritative Word of God. The term “canon” comes from a Greek word that meant “ruler.” To us it means the “rule of faith.”) The OT was divided into 3 sections: history, writings, and prophecy. The first 17 books, Genesis – Esther, tell us about the history of the Hebrew nation. It helps to read these books in order because they are chronological. The next 5 books, Job – Song of Solomon, are considered poetical books or wisdom literature. They can be read at any time. The last 17 books of the OT, Isaiah – Malachi, are considered the prophetical books. The prophets have to do with certain historical time periods. A total of 39 books in the OT. The Hebrew Bible – the Jewish Scriptures - used by Jewish people today has the same text as the Protestant Bible’s Old Testament. However, the Hebrew Bible has different divisions and arrangements of the books and they combined some books. Or should I say we separated some books? But they have the same text as our Old Testament, just arranged differently. The NT was also divided into 3 sections: history, writings, prophecy. The first 5 books, Matthew – Acts, are considered the historical books. They tell us about the life and ministry of Jesus, His death and resurrection, and the founding of the universal church. The next 21 books, Romans – Jude, are letters to churches and individuals. You will often hear these called epistles which is a fancy word for letters. They tell us how to live as believers. The last book of the Bible, Revelation, is prophecy and tells us about the future when our Lord will triumphantly return and good will triumph over evil. A total of 27 books in the NT. Again, neither the Old Testament or New Testament books are organized chronologically. They are organized in the canon of Scripture by category. Old Testament History – 17 books Writings – 5 books Prophecy – 17 books New Testament History – 5 books Writings – 21 books Prophecy – 1 book So where to start? I recommend starting in the New Testament with one of the Synoptic Gospels - Matthew, Mark, or Luke. The thing is, just start. Read a little each day. If all you can do is 5 minutes a day, then start with that. Commit to read the book of your faith. (1). George H. Guthrie, Read the Bible for Life, (B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 3. (affiliate link)

(This post has affiliate links.) In Choosing a Bible – Part 1 and 2 I discussed what a version is; deciding on if you want a literal, balanced, or paraphrase version; and the differences in those versions. Now I am going to go over features of various Bibles. The features of Bibles are going to vary per Bible making it very difficult to choose one online. The ideal situation is to go to a store like LifeWay that has a large selection of Bibles, go to the section with the version you want and just compare the various Bibles. I realize that is not possible for everyone and many of you will have to order a Bible online. Once you’ve decided what version you want you need to consider what features are important to you. Cover of the Bible - It is worth the money to get one with an imitation leather cover on your Bible. A Bible is something you will have for life. Invest the money in a good cover if you can afford it. When I worked at the Christian bookstore it always amazed me that people would pick a Bible out based on a pretty cover and the way it looked. Remember the version is the most important selection. Then the features you want to have in the Bible. The pretty cover is the least important choice in picking out a Bible. Indexing - These are the indents on the side with the name of each book of the Bible. If the Bible comes with indexing it usually adds about $10 to the price of the Bible. Indexing isn't really necessary. It is helpful when you first start reading the Bible, but after awhile you know where the books are. Better yet go old school and memorize the books of the Bible in order! There are on-line YouTube songs that help you do this. You can buy separate tabs and add them to your Bible. These tabs stick out from the pages and often bend and sometimes rip off. I don’t really recommend tabs. Font Size - The font size is called point and varies greatly from Bible to Bible! The smaller more compact the Bible, the smaller the font. Thinline Bibles and pocket Bibles have very small font size. Study Bibles often have small point and the point of the text notes is even smaller. The small font size makes it hard to read, especially in poor lighting. The number one complaint is the print is too small! If you are ordering a Bible online, check the point. Bibles do come in large print and giant print. My NASB Bible is giant print so that when I’m somewhere with poor lighting or when I’m teaching, I can still easily read it. However, the font size being bigger makes the Bible bigger. If you get a large print study Bible, the Bible will be thicker and heavier than other Bibles. I looked at the specifications for several study Bibles online and for a regular study Bible the text point is 8 and the text note point is 6. I can’t read that very well! I looked at the same study Bibles in large print and they had either 10-point or 11-point text and 8-point text notes. A large print Bible is the print point of a regular book. Giant print is 14-point. Two Column versus One Column - I just prefer a two column Bible. I think it makes them much easier to read. I have an NIV Life Application Bible that is one column and I don’t have any problem with it. But I have an ESV Study Bible which is one column and is a nightmare to read. The ESV will combine several small paragraphs into one long paragraph and I’m constantly getting lost in the paragraph! ​Page from ESV Study Bible showing how difficult it is to find a verse in the paragraphs. Words of Jesus in Red - This is an important feature to me because it makes it easier to see what Jesus said. The red print jumps out at you as you are reading. It used to be this feature was standard on all Bibles. Not anymore. Most ESV Bibles and the NIV Essential Study Bible do not have this feature. Page from 1984 NIV Study Bible showing 2-column, Jesus' words in red, reference column in the middle, text notes at the bottom References - Most Bibles give references either in the text or in a center or side column to other Scripture with similar content. References help you find commonalities between different parts of the Bible. References are good to have, but some Bibles have a lot of references and too many can be distracting. It is best to look at the layout of the page if you can. Concordances - A lot of Bibles have Concordances located in the back of the Bible. A Concordance is an alphabetical list of words and under each word is listed several verses where that word can be found. Concordances are great for topical studies like if you want to look up a verse that has to do with a certain subject. For instance, you want to look up verses on prayer. A concordance is helpful, but not necessary in this day and age because you can go online and search “Bible verses having to do with prayer” or whatever you are looking for. Maps - Not all Bibles have maps in the back of them. Maps can be very helpful to visually show you information such as the Land of the Twelve Tribes or Paul’s Missionary Journeys. They aren’t necessary because you can look this information up online, but it is nice to have some of the basic maps in your Bible. Pronouns Referring to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are Capitalized - I believe the NASB (New American Standard Bible) is the only one which does this. I absolutely love this feature! You have no idea how many times Jesus is talking to someone and it says “him” and “Him” (referring to Jesus) in the verse and makes it very evident who is who/ Who in the verse. I really hope future Bible revisions incorporate this feature. Study Bibles - I highly recommend getting a study Bible! A study Bible contains the full text of the Bible, along with a library of study features to help you more completely grasp and understand what the text is saying. All study Bibles have introductions to each book of the Bible. The text study notes explain a wide variety of background information to the biblical text and provide deeper insights. Study Bibles also include maps, graphs, tables, concordances, charts, and people profiles that will enhance your reading. Page of NIV Life Application Study Bible showing one of many charts in the Bible. Page of NIV Life Application Study Bible showing one of the many People Profiles. I highly recommend the NIV Life Application Study Bible (affiliate link) which is today’s #1-selling study Bible. (I know KJV, HCSB, and NLT also have Life Application Bibles.) NIV also has a regular Study Bible, a Quest Study Bible, and an Essentials Study Bible. The Life Application Study Bible gives you a wealth of information, but also has in the nearly 10,000 text notes how to apply the Scripture to your life. An example of a text note from the NIV Life Application Study Bible for Luke 10:27-37, The Good Samaritan is shown in the picture below. Text note for Luke 10:27-37 in the NIV Life Application Study Bible. My 1984 NIV (New International Version) Study Bible text note says: 10:31-33 priest…Levite…Samaritan. It is significant that the person Jesus commended was neither the religious leader nor the lay associate, but a hated foreigner. Jews viewed Samaritans as half-breeds, both physically and spiritually. Samaritans and Jews practiced open hostility, but Jesus asserted that love knows no national boundaries. MY ESV (English Standard Version) Study Bible has the following text note: 10:33 Samaritan. Culturally, it would have been unthinkable for a Samaritan to help a Jew. Thus Jesus makes the additional point that to love one’s neighbor involves showing care and compassion even to those with whom one would not normally have any relationship (cf. Jesus’ command to “love your enemies”; Luke 6:27, 35). 10:36 Which of these…proved to be a neighbor? Jesus’ question corrects the lawyer’s improper question (v. 29). The question is not “who is my neighbor?” but “how can I be a neighbor?” The NIV Life Application text note for Luke 7:47 ends with “Do you appreciate the wideness of God’s mercy? Are you grateful for his forgiveness?” The NIV Life Application text notes explain the text, but take it a step further to make you think about your own life. For several months I did some research for the pastor at my church. He would give me a passage and I would give him anything I could find on that passage. I would go through my reference books, my commentaries, online research, and look at the text notes from my 3 study Bibles. I found my 1984 NIV Study Bible to have fairly short text notes that gave you really good historical, cultural, and background information. My ESV Study Bible text notes were good, but they tended to be quite scholarly. I really came to appreciate the 2011 NIV Life Application Study Bible text notes because they explained the text, but really made you think about applying the Scripture to your life. All study Bibles will have an introduction to each book of the Bible, text notes, graphs, maps, charts, etc., but I definitely favor the Life Application text notes. Remember how I said I didn’t care for the layout of the ESV Study Bible because I found it difficult to read from? I did want to mention that the ESV Study Bible has a wealth of information that other study Bibles don’t have. It has in the back a number of articles like God’s Plan for Salvation; Biblical Doctrine: An Overview; Biblical Ethics: An Overview; Reading the Bible; Reliability of Bible Manuscripts; etc. Hence the ESV Study Bible is quite popular with seminary students, ministers, and scholars. [* Update on 1/22/18: The Christian Standard Bible (CSB) was published in 2017. It is a revision to the HCSB. I recently purchased a CSB study Bible and so far I like everything about it - layout, readability, point size, Christ's words in red, the study Bible information. The CSB is a balanced version. As I use it more, it may become my recommendation.] Go online to ChristianBook (affiliate link) and click on Bibles and then the version you want. Go to the Bible you are interested in and click on it. Scroll down to the specifications and it will tell you about the Bible and its features. You can even look at an excerpt which will show you the page layout. Additional Features: 11-point Bible text 8-point note text Presentation page "Special Memories" personal record page Words of Jesus in red Gold page edges Ribbon marker 9.50" x 6.50" x 2.25" Again, do some research at home comparing Scripture from various versions and deciding on a version first. Then look online at the various Bibles in that version. Decide if you want a study Bible. Pay close attention to the point (font size) in the specifications. A Bible does you no good if you can't easily read the text! If at all possible, go to a store which has a large selection of Bibles such as LifeWay and actually look at them in person. It is very hard to order a Bible online. You need to see it. Who knew there was so much to consider when choosing a Bible?! Once you have chosen the version you want, and the features you want (and hopefully a study Bible); now you can pick a pretty cover!

You want to buy a Bible and you are confused by how many different versions there are! In Choosing a Bible – Part 1 we talked about the versions are divided into literal, balanced, or a paraphrase. In literal versions the translators chose words that closely matched the original Hebrew and Greek words even if some of the meaning to present day readers is lost. Balanced versions translate words into modern day language and are in general easier to read. Paraphrases are usually only written by one person and add a lot of extra words to convey the ideas. King James Version (KJV), New King James Version (NKJV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), and English Standard Version (ESV) are considered literal versions of the Bible. New International Version (NIV), Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB), Christian Standard Bible (CSB)* and New Living Translation (NLT) are considered balanced versions of the Bible. Catholic Bibles come in literal versions or balanced versions too. I'm not very familiar with the various options for Catholic Bibles. (Catholic Bibles vary from Protestant Bibles in that they contain extra books in their Old Testament - called the Apocrypha.)** The Message is considered a paraphrase. If you are new to reading the Bible, I recommend a balanced version of the Bible. If you already own a balanced version, you might want to consider getting a literal version. Balanced Versions: NIV (New International Version): The most popular Bible version sold in the world today. #1 in sales. It is written on an 8th grade reading level and is very readable and understandable. NLT (New Living Translation): It is written on the 6th grade reading level and is easily understood. This version is very popular with young people and youth ministers. I like the NLT, but it doesn’t sound like Scripture to me. It reads like a book. HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible): This is a wonderful balanced version that is really beginning to gain popularity. CSB (Christian Standard Bible): This is a revision to the HCSB. Over 100 scholars with PhDs worked on this revision.* Literal Versions: KJV (King James Version): This version is written on a 12th grade reading level. Because it was translated in 1611 it has some difficult language such as “thee” and “thou” and “begats” and “begotten.” We no longer talk like that and most people today find the KJV more difficult to read and sometimes understand. It is popular with older people and is the second popular Bible version sold in the world. I do love some of the beautiful phrasing and wording - particularly in a passage like Psalm 23. The NKJV (New King James Version) replaced some of the difficult language and is more readable. NASB (New American Standard Bible): This literal version is written on an 11th grade reading level. This is the version I read from daily and I don’t have any problem reading or understanding it. As far as I know the NASB is the only version which capitalizes all pronouns referring to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. I notice a lot of books and Bible studies will do this now. This gives God the respect He (see how I capitalized “He”) is due and makes reading Scripture so much easier! I hope this is a feature that future versions will incorporate. ESV (English Standard Version): This version has gained popularity among Bible scholars and seminary students. It is written on a 7th grade reading level. Most ESV Bibles are one column and combined many paragraphs. The combining of the paragraphs is very annoying because if I am trying to look up a certain verse, it is difficult to locate it in the long paragraph. And most of the ESV Bibles don’t have Jesus’ words in red. I like the Lord’s words sticking out to me and this is a feature that is important to me. Paraphrases: The Message is a fun version to read. It was written by one person, Eugene Peterson. He played loose and free with the translation to convey the thoughts of Scripture in a very easy way to understand. The Message also does not have the verse numbers like we are used to. It will number several verses together. This can make it difficult if you are trying to follow along in a Bible study or some other group. While this version is a fresh way to read Scripture, I would not recommend using it as your primary Bible for reading and study. Literal versions: KJV, NKJV, NASB, ESV Balanced versions: NIV, HCSB, CSB, NLT, Catholic Bibles (These versions are a little more readable.) Paraphrase: The Message (Of course there are a lot more versions than just these listed. But these are the most popular ones on the market right now.) You can compare Scripture verses from various versions on www.BibleGateway.com. Enter a Scripture verse or passage at the top and the version you want. Then on the right top corner click on add parallel. (It is an icon with lines in it.) You can add three more versions to compare side by side. Or you could search on the internet for “Bible Translation Chart” and there are plenty out there to compare various Scriptures. Or download a Bible app on your phone and just pick a chapter and read it from various versions. Spend some time comparing various versions to know what you like to read. What do I recommend if you are new to Bible reading? I recommend a balanced version. However, there are a bunch of various features to choose from. So don’t buy a Bible yet because in Choosing a Bible – Part 3 we are going to talk about various features of a Bible and what a study Bible has in it. * This post was updated on 1/22/18 to include the Christian Standard Bible (CSB) which was published in 2017. ** See What is the Apocrypha?

You want to purchase a new Bible. Good for you! Reading the Bible is the number one way God will speak to you. Oh, He can speak to you in other ways. He is after all, God. He can do anything He wants in any way He wants. But the primary way He will speak into your life is through the Bible. It sounds easy enough to go to a Christian store or go on-line and choose a Bible until you look at what is available and then you are going to be overwhelmed. There are so many choices! Bibles can be quite pricey if you get a good one; so you want to purchase one that meets your needs. Look at it like a lifetime investment. Getting a Bible which you actually will read and has the features you want is worth the money. You will treasure it for years. The first thing you need to decide is what version you want to purchase. The #1 feature of the Bible is the version. This post will be on what versions are. Part 2 will be on the differences in versions. (Choosing a Bible Part 2) And Part 3 will be about various features of a Bible. (Choosing a Bible Part 3 - Features) I used to work in a Christian bookstore and our store had an entire wall of Bibles. I was trained on knowing the products and now I teach on versions in my Connecting the Dots of the Bible class. I have done a lot of research on the various versions. The Old Testament of the Bible was written in Hebrew (and there is a small portion written in Aramaic) and the New Testament was written in Greek. Since you and I can’t read Hebrew or Greek, it needed to be translated into English. Translation means the process where original language manuscripts were copied into another language. We read an English translation of the Bible. The team of scholars who do the translating are at the top of their fields in biblical studies, Hebrew and Greek scholarship, and linguistics and usually have some training in anthropology and sociology. Their credentials blow you away. A reasonable question is what is a version? If a Bible was translated to English from the original language manuscripts then it is a translation. If the team of scholars took an English translation and revised it, then it is called a version. A version is a revision of an existing English translation. We often use the words “translation” and “version” interchangeably and that is OK. Not a ‘biggie.’ But technically we are usually reading from a version. For instance the New International Version (NIV) Bible is a revision of a previous English translation. But so is the New American Standard Bible (NASB). So you can't tell by the title whether it is a translation from the original language manuscripts or a version of an existing translation. You have to look in the foreword to find that out. Most popular Bibles sold today are versions. This is probably TMI for you, but some of you might be interested and it explains why I am calling them versions. So why are there so many versions? First of all language evolves. Modern language changes constantly and the Bible must use understandable words for everyday life. Some words that meant something 100 years ago mean something different today. An example would be the word “aliens” which was used in older versions and is now translated “foreigners.” The foreword of my NASB Bible (a literal version) says “The attempt has been made to render the grammar and terminology in contemporary English. When it was felt that the word-for-word literalness was unacceptable to the modern reader, a change was made in the direction of a more current English idiom.” Translation scholarship has evolved also - meaning understanding of ancient languages changes. There are differences in style between ancient and modern writing and scholars are continually learning more about this. With each new discovery of ancient manuscripts (not only biblical ones), knowledge is gained. But the main reason for all of the versions is translators’ purposes vary. There are three schools of thought to the translation process. Literal Translations or Versions (sometimes called Formal Equivalent) – stay as true to the original Hebrew and Greek even though some of the meaning might be lost to modern day readers. The thought here is to mess as little as possible with the wording of the original writers. Balanced Translations or Versions (sometimes called Dynamic Equivalent) - stay close to the original text but translate words and idioms into what would be the normal way of saying the same thing in a new language. Paraphrase - an attempt to translate ideas from one language to another. It conveys the meaning of the text by adding more words to ensure that the meaning is understood. (Don’t buy a paraphrase version as your primary Bible and I’ll explain about that in Part 2.) Source: https://nlt.to/DiscoverTheNLT/ComparingTranslations/ But understand this, and it very important to know this. So pay attention! All literal and balanced versions say the same thing meaning-wise. You can compare Scripture verses and passages between the various versions and you will find the wording very similar and even though some of the words are different, the message is the same! The balanced versions just use easier words and phrasing, but the meaning is not altered. You will find the word “begotten” in most literal versions. In balanced versions they change it to “one and only”, “fathered”,… Literal versions will refer to believers as “saints.” Balanced versions will refer to them as “God’s people”, “the Lord’s people”, “believers”,… “Ankle chains” might be changed to “anklets” meaning jewelry. But the meaning of the original writers is the same! This is why people with different versions can sit in the same Bible study and understand what is being read. The different versions DO NOT convey different ideas. They are just worded differently. But they aren't worded that differently! If you go to a website like www.biblegateway.com and enter a verse and a version and hit search; then go to add parallel (the icon with the lines through it) - you can compare 4 versions side by side. Compare several verses. You will see they may have only changed a couple words in the verse and some punctuation. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 says: KJV (literal) - Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. NASB (literal) - Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; ESV (literal) - Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, NIV (balanced) - Rejoice always, pray continually, NLT (balanced) - Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Do they say the same thing? They do! Compare several verses until you are convinced. In Choosing a Bible - Part 2 I’ll explain the differences in the most popular versions and give you a recommendation. For most people I recommend a balanced version.