I recently purchased the most expensive Bible I’ve ever bought.
I switched to the ESV from the NASB when I got my last Bible several years ago and I’ve enjoyed the ESV greatly. However, many courses I’ve had at College have required me to memorize scripture in the NASB. Comparing passages in the NASB with the ESV, I’ve found the NASB seems to be easier (for me at least) to memorize. In addition, many of the professors here at college and at seminary recommend the NASB, so while I’m here it makes sense to use the NASB.
I don’t think I’ll leave the ESV behind. I think there is merit in working from a couple of translations, so I expect I will continue to work by comparing the ESV to the NASB on occasion.
I deliberated for ages about which Bible to get. I had some quite specific “wants” for a Bible, including – No notes (translation notes are OK, but no study notes), a nice cover, well bound and decent margins. Ideally I wanted something smaller, but this proved very difficult with wide margins. The only option for a smaller Bible with useful margins was a single column Bible, but NASB Bibles in single column with nice leather covers are rare. I did find one, but as you can see, they don’t have any in stock until sometime in 2012. I initially decided to wait until it was reprinted, but then I saw the In Touch ministries Wide Margin Bible in Black leather on sale at American Bible Sales, so I decided to get one of those. It is bigger than I wanted, but I’ll have to get used to it – it was a good deal.
At first I was a little concerned about getting something branded with a particular ministry, but this Bible has no notes, or cross references or any other ministry extra’s – it’s just a Bible. The only thing that makes it an “In Touch Ministries” Bible is the Introductory blurb in the beginning written by Charles Stanley that says (in essence) – “This is a great book and it will change you as you read it.”
This is a nice Bible. The calfskin leather cover is soft and feels nice in the hand. It sits quite flat, and will stay open at Genesis 1 with little encouragement. It feels nice to pick up. If I give it to someone to hold, they often comment about how nice it feels in their hand.
The text is a good size – much bigger than smaller Bibles, and the space around the text is great. It is a double column Bible rather than my preferred single column Bible. It would be handy if it had cross references, but I’ve always wanted to start filling in my own references, so this isn’t a big issue. Bonus – it has two ribbons which is very useful – although another one would be ideal.
Anyway, if you are interested in one of these, they are normally $150, but right now American Bible Sales have them on sale for $97.49 which is over 30% off – making them a good deal.
