Ben Spratling, who is the creator of a great little bible app called BibleXpress, has included a little feature that I absolutely love: the ability to turn off the default red letter text that tends to come with most bible translations on most apps in iTunes App store.
With the default settings, the accursed red letter text can be found in abundance in the Gospels.
However, in the settings you can switch off the red letter text so that you can read the bible in blessedly uniform black letter text as below.
So far, BibleXpress has the ASV, ESV, KJV, NASB, NRSV, The Message, and a couple of Spanish translations, with more to come (he's negotiating with the folks who hold the rights to the NLT and even attempting to get the rights to the Greek NT and LXX). Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your perspective, Zondervan declined to allow him to include the NIV. For more information about this app, you can check out his home page here or check out the app in iTunes.
It seems to me, for the price ($30) it's the best choice out there for those who don't need access to the text in the original languages, for which Olive Tree Software is, of course, indispensable. I hope the folks at Olive Tree are paying attention because their App is the one I use most frequently (the Greek and Hebrew is really coming along in beta) but it's annoying that I have to stare at red letter text anytime I read the gospels in English.
Update: And just like that, Olive Tree Software has a new beta that enables readers to change the color of Jesus' words to whatever they like. Awesome. Additionally, it appears that lemma search in Greek and Hebrew is just around the corner.
Sorry about the lack of posts. I have a project coming near completion and have been busy the last several weeks. I can now see light at the end of the tunnel, however, so in the near future I'll be back blogging on what I consider a regular basis (i.e., one or two posts a week).
Before I get to Bible Reader though, I must say that if I didn't know how to read the biblical languages (and if Olive Tree hadn't offered me this free beta!), I would definitely go with BibleXpress since it easily offers the best value for the money.
So far BibleXpress has five English translations: ESV, NASB, NRSV with Apocrypha, KJV, and ASV. Ben Spratling (the developer) is also attempting to get the NIV, the Message, the NLT, and a Greek NT and LXX, which would be added as a free update. All of this for the very reasonable price of $30. Go ahead and compare this value with any other bible program that offers a comparable set of core modern translations and texts that isn't tethered to the Internet in some way.
The same five translations already offered by BibleXpress (i.e., ESV, NASB, NRSV, KJV, and ASV) would cost $62.75 on Bible Reader when purchased individually, and this is without factoring in the additional translations that Ben Spratling will be adding for free at some point. In light of this, I think that those Christians who had the gall to complain about BibleXpress's initial purchase price are simply empty-headed.
Having said all that, since I can read the biblical languages, however, I will be adopting Bible Reader as my main bible app for the iPod Touch. While BibleXpresswill eventually offer a Greek NT and LXX, it is highly unlikely that Ben Spratling will be able to offer the morphological data to go with these texts, and besides which, the Hebrew Bible isn't in the plans to this point and of all the potential texts available, that's the most important to me.
It appears that Olive Tree Software has a solution to the problem of combining all the various translations and texts into one program. On my beta version of Bible Reader, there is a way to access the store and my Olive Tree account to download translations and texts. On my beta version of Bible Reader, I have the following translations:
Bible in Basic English*
English Standard Version
Green's Literal Translation*
Holman Christian Standard
JPS Tanakh
King James Version
New American Bible
New American Standard Bible.
New English Translation (with limited notes)*
New International Version
New King James Version
New Living Translation (2nd ed.)
New Revised Standard Version
Revised Standard Version
The Message
Today's New International Version
Young's Literal Translation
In order to purchase all these translations individually it would cost you just under $225 (* indicates a free translation). If you omit the KJV and Young's Literal translation which are very cheap ($5 and $2, respectively), the average price for the individual translations runs to about $18 each. The good news is that Olive Tree Software will offer many of these translations in combination in a variety of packages, bringing down the cost considerably (indeed they have already begun to do so).
Overall, this beta version (4.02.024) is remarkably bug free (it's the fourth one I've received). There are still a lot of formatting issues for many of the translations, but they are aware of them and are in the process of smoothing those out.
When I got my first bible app, I didn't really expect to use it much. Initially, I refused to bring it to church, since I thought it would be a distraction to those around me, but I noticed that there were quite a few others around me who actually use some sort of portable electronic device for not only referring to the bible, but also to take notes (there's a high yuppie quotient at my church).
So I started bringing it along with me on Sundays. The great thing is that I now have a lot of different translations at my fingertips. This comes in handy because at my church there is no standard translation used by everyone, though a couple of pastors appear to be partial to the ESV.
This can be rather problematic since it's quite rare for the same pastor/person to preach two Sundays in a row (and forget about three Sundays in a row, which almost never happens). For one thing, we have four pastors at our church. In addition, several members of the congregation have attended seminary (I can think of 6 off the top of my head, and I know there are others I can't think of at the moment) and are often called on to speak (I fall in this category). We also regularly have outside speakers as well. In fact, this past September we had four different outside speakers giving the sermon on four successive Sundays.
This generally means a different translation is used each Sunday, even if it happens to be the same pastor, since I've noticed that some of the pastors like to use different translations on different occasions.
In the past I simply had to follow along in my ESV regardless of the translation used by the pastor. So, for instance, when Eugene Peterson's The Message was used, as is sometimes the case (a couple of the pastors were students of his), trying to follow along in my ESV was next to useless. This is no longer a problem, thanks to Bible Reader.
Anyways, since it is a beta, rather than lauding the numerous things that the Bible Reader does right, I figure it would be far more useful to offer constructive criticism. Here are a list of some modest improvements in the interface that I would like to see:
Adjustable margins. I put my iPod Touch in a leather flip case that protects it. However, one drawback is that the protective leather tends to crowd the edge of the screen. This means that the biblical text runs right up against the leather edges, becoming a distraction.
Optional red letter text. It's nice that the font color can be changed. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the red letter text. It stays red no matter what color you change the surrounding text to. Of course, you can change the font to Dark Red, and Jesus' words will be indistinguishable from the rest of the text. However, looking at all that red text is simply annoying.
I'm not sure the verse chooser (which I like a lot) needs to go down to the verse level. I'd like to see this as an option you could toggle on and off.
There has to be a better way to switch chapters rather than scrolling downwards through the text to the next chapter. Perhaps a sideways swipe to change chapters could be implemented. Ben Spratling's BibleXpress already has such a feature.
There should be an easier way to change font sizes, rather than going to the setup menu. Perhaps a pinching motion on the screen could be implemented. Ben Spratling's BibleXpress already has such a feature.
In the recent past, I've actually encouraged my fairly conservative students and fellow parishioners to burn their NIVs. They usually laugh, and then I tell them I'm only half-joking.
So why is this heir to the NIV on my list? To tell the truth, mostly to round out my top five; generally speaking, I only use the other four translations on the list. I do like this translation somewhat better than its predecessor (maybe only because I've mellowed with age) but obviously that isn't saying very much.
Cons Almost from the moment I started learning Greek and Hebrew as an undergrad, I've felt that the NIV was a paraphrase, albeit restrained, masquerading as a real translation. It does succeed in being readable but sacrifices far too much in doing so for my taste.
I have nothing against paraphrases, mind you, and have occasionally recommended them to those whose reading skills are challenged. For instance, I think this is a good translation for children since it's written at a grade 7 or 8 level. I was given an NIV as a child and found that much easier to read than the KJV I had been using. I also increasingly come across English-as-a-second-language students nowadays and I think the TNIV is a fine compromise between readability and "accuracy" for such students. However, do the rest of us really need such a dumbed-down translation? I really don't think so.
The issue of gender-neutrality is part and parcel of the theory of translation that lies behind the TNIV. Given its translation philosophy, it makes sense for the TNIV to employ gender neutrality. However, since I prefer literal translations, I dislike the gender-neutrality of the TNIV, but it's just part of my overall dislike of dynamic equivalent translations, rather than anything particular against gender-neutrality (the NRSV is also on this list).
Then there's the theologically tendentious translations that plague all evangelical editions (e.g., Red Sea instead of Sea of Reeds in Exodus 13-15; virgin instead of young woman in Isa 7:14). Thankfully, the alternative translations are typically footnoted. I simply privilege the footnotes above the main text in such situations.
Pros There are two basic reasons why this translation has made this list:
R. Mansfield's arguments about catering to the audience. I occasionally preach. Since the bibles in the pews at my church are almost invariably the NIV, and the TNIV is reasonably close to the NIV, I've resolved to use the TNIV on such occasions. It's really a matter of convenience for the congregation, more than anything else. For teaching situations, I'd always insist on a more literal translation. As for my own personal use, I do try to work my way through the bible in a different translation each time, so if I start running out of translations, I may give this one a try some day, but it's doubtful, given the plethora of new/revised translations produced in the last 10 years.
It doesn't hurt that they published quite a nice edition recently, and an even nicer edition of the TNIV Reference Bible is on the way. I appreciate publishers who go the extra mile to produce a bible in an attractive format. The folks at Zondervan have definitely been listening to what a significant segment of the customer base wants and have responded admirably. In my book, that is reason enough to purchase a copy of this translation.
Editions Worth Having Of the various (cheap) editions that have been published, theTNIV Reference edition is the only one really worth having. If you don't already own it, and don't mind spending extra for a nice edition, I'd wait for the new deluxe leather edition that is due out in December. TNIV Reference Bible, bonded leather ($23.09 at Amazon) TNIV Reference Bible, renaissance leather($62.99 at Amazon, available in December)
Rick Mansfield has some information, including photos, on a new edition of the TNIV Reference (see also this earlier post by TC Robinson). The basic difference appears to be an extra ribbon marker, and a premium leather cover for the MSRP of $99 and is due out this November.
I'm not a huge fan of the TNIV translation, and since I already own the original TNIV Reference and am generally happy with it, I doubt I'll splurge for this deluxe edition; though if the reviews rave about how supple the leather is, I may break down.
Addendum: Here's a link to Zondervan's page detailing information about this edition. It states that the release date is this December.
Addendum II: Amazon has it available for pre-order at a price of $62.99. For that price, I really might go for it. I'll still wait for some reviews to come in though.
Addendum III: Rick at This Lamp is teaming up with Zondervan to give away 10 of these deluxe editions. It's only available to gatekeepers (pastors and teachers) in the USA who use the TNIV as their main translation. That rules me out on all three counts.
Making lists of one's favorite bible translations appears to be the thing to do on blogs such as this, so here's mine. I'll do it in a series of posts, ranking my top five, with a follow up post or two discussing some of the translations that didn't make my list and a few comments on why they didn't.
For this introductory post, I'll limit myself to discussing some of the criteria I used in judging these translations.
Main Criteria
(1) Fidelity to the source text combined with readability (which I distinguish from what translation theorists refer to as transparency).
There's an old Italian saying that translators often like to quote in their prefaces: traduttore, traditore or "the translator is a traitor" (or more literally and thus less treacherously, "translator, traitor"). If this is true, and anyone who knows more than one language knows that there's a great deal of truth in this saying even if it may be an exaggeration, then every bible translation is the fruit of treachery.
My general preference in a translation is to be as literal as possible while still maintaining as much readability as possible within this framework.
More than anything, since I can read Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, and have spent almost all of my adult life studying the bible, I don't really need or want a translator telling me what a Hebrew or Greek idiom "really" means by couching it in a contemporary equivalent.
(2) Audience
In Albert Pietersma's introduction to NETS (p. xiv), he cites Nida and Taber on the three main audiences for any translation of the bible:
It is usually necessary to have three types of Scriptures: (1) a translation which will reflect the traditional usage and be used in the churches, largely for liturgical purposes (this may be called an "ecclesiastical translation"), (2) a translation in the present-day literary language, so as to communicate to the well-educated constituency, and (3) a translation in the "common" or "popular" language, which is known to and used by the common people, and which is at the same time acceptable as a standard for published materials.
I like the emphasis on audience since it acknowledges the need for different types of translations for different people/purposes, so I'll address this matter with each of my favorite translations since I often use different translations for different purposes.
(3) Availability in a nice reader-friendly format
Also a big factor in this list is the wide availability of nice editions for any given translation. Features I look for include black letter, single column, paragraph format, on paper that has minimal bleed-through, with sewn bindings that lay flat and accompanied by an affordable price tag (i.e., under $50 including taxes and shipping).
I am realistic however, and understand that I won't get everything I want in a bible for a cheap price. None of the editions I own is ideal.
I include this because translations are meant to be used, not simply admired in isolation from the form in which it will come packaged. What use is good content (a fine translation) if it doesn't come in a correspondingly good form (a nice edition)? Not much if you ask me.
I simply won't use a translation that I can't find published in an attractive format that doesn't include most of the features I listed above. I don't find that the quality of the translations differs all that much on the top end. They all have their own peculiar flaws as well as their own peculiar strengths. Therefore, format often makes the difference for me.
This list is highly personal. I'm not making any grandiose claims for any of these translations as far as which is better or worse, except as it pertains to me (see criteria #2). All of the translations on my list have their problems. While I will often engage in some mild hyperbole in the posts to come, I actually do appreciate how tough it is to produce a good translation.
In the posts to come, I've not only ranked my favorite bible translations but have included the date of publication of the version of the text that I use in brackets.
My Top Five Bible Translations: #5 TNIV (2004) My Top Five Bible Translations: #4 My Top Five Bible Translations: #3 My Top Five Bible Translations: #2 My Top Five Bible Translations: #1
The recent HarperCollins editions were where I looked first. The Standard and Go Anywhere editions are frankly huge disappointments. (I saw both in a bookstore; it unfortunately didn't carry the NRSV XL.)
The Standard has terrible bleed-through problems, making it unusable for anything longer than a quick check of a verse or two. It's a shame, really, since it is in single column format (though the poetic sections are in double columns to save space, which leads to chopped up poetic lines).
If anything, the Go Anywhere is even worse, since it still has bleed-through problems and is printed in dual columns. As Bertrand rightly points out, the format screams single column, but the dunces at HarperCollins are blinded by bible-making tradition. In addition, though it is supposed to be portable, it is actually quite unwieldy to handle.
I don't have a picture of the Go Anywhere, but this is the NASB Compact Reference, which is similarly ridiculous in insisting on double columns, resulting in columns averaging a paltry 6 words per line.
Based on a few reviews I gathered from the web from the usual suspects (Iyov and Bertrand, plus the reviews on Amazon and CBD, I chose the NRSV XL because it appeared from these reviews that this edition avoided the worst of the problems associated with the other two.
Since these other bloggers have reviewed this edition already, I'll simply post some pictures along with some brief comments underneath.
For the sake of comparison, I've lined it up with the ESV Personal Size Reference on the left and the TNIV Reference on the right. The NRSV XL with Apocrypha measures 8 1/8" wide x 8 1/4" high x 1 1/2" thick. The form factor takes some getting used to, but I actually like it. The only real problem I have with it is that you can't just flip the page over without a second thought (you have to be careful) like you can with most other bibles, since the pages tend to want to curl back over on itself.
Here are the same three bibles stacked with a view of the bindings. The large font and the addition of the Apocrypha make this a rather thick bible, even with the very thin paper, which unfortunately allows for a little too much bleed-through for my taste.
Despite my afinity for single columns, this particular edition would look silly in such a format. I'd say each column averages a respectable (though sub-optimal) 9 words per line. The font is nice and clear at 13 pt and the spacing of the lines does not feel cramped. Here's a look at the poetic sections. Unfortunately due to the large font size, the lines are often chopped up. Still, though I don't need a large font (I can comfortably make out the ESV Deluxe Compact type), it's a nice change of pace.
The binding is craft sewn, whatever that is. I presume that it isn't as good as smyth sewn, but it does allow this bible to lie completely flat in the middle and I expect that the binding will last a whole lot longer than a glued one.
Towards the ends of the bible, one side will hang in mid-air. This is a shot of the book of Jude. When held in one open hand (i.e., without a thumb or pinky holding it open), you can have it open at Genesis 1 or Revelation 22 and it won't close on you.
A few random notes and then some final comments:
One great thing about the NRSV is that you can purchase editions that include the full Apocrypha, as this one does. The editions with the Apocrypha are tan, the Catholic edition is green and the Protestant edition is brown.
The binding is a faux leatherette type material that is rather stiff but looks like it will last a few years of regular use. As noted above, it does nevertheless allow the bible to lay relatively flat due to the wide pages.
Thankfully, as with most NRSV bibles, this is a black letter edition.
It has one ribbon marker that isn't overly thick (at just over 1/4"), but isn't as thin as in some other bibles.
As alluded to above, there are two main problems with this edition:
I find the bleed-through a trifle distracting, though it isn't anywhere near as bad as in the Standard edition. This is much more of a problem in the poetic sections where there is a lot of blank space around the text; the narrative sections aren't much of a problem at all as far as I'm concerned (the bleed-through isn't any more distracting than in most bibles in the narrative sections; I believe this is due to the large print which is quite effective in drawing attention away from what can still be clearly seen on the other side of the page).
You have to be rather careful when flipping the pages because of the extra width; the pages tend to want to curl over rather than naturally lie flat when flipped.
Some suggestions for improvement:
Thicker paper. The bleed-through is borderline unacceptable for me in the poetic sections.
A slightly smaller font so that you can get the optimal 12 words per line, which would also lead to fewer chopped lines in the poetic sections. Since this would also save space, it could be used for thicker paper.
The concordance (about 50 pages) needs to go. Why do bible makers insist on including one? It's a waste of space/thickness in the bible. Use it for thicker paper instead.
An extra ribbon marker would be nice. And thicker paper too, please.
I'm quite a fan of the NRSV translation on the whole, though it's not as literal as I'd like. I think it's a shame that it appears to be well on its way to being relegated to a small niche (academics and the ever dwindling mainline denominations).
At one time I used to use the NRSV almost exclusively (for serious work, I'd often lean on the NASB), but I don't any longer. In those days, I was happy with a hardcover pew edition (without even the Apocrypha included), but I've gotten much pickier over the years, as my eyes have been opened to what is available in bible editions.
The one huge drawback of the translation, and the single biggest reason I don't use it much anymore except (more recently) when reading the LXX in English (thanks to NETS) and in ecumenical contexts (which for me, nowadays, is typically limited to academic conferences, like SBL), is it's been very poorly served by its various publishers.
This edition goes some way to addressing this, since it's quite nice, but it isn't good enough for me to switch away from the editions I mentioned above for day-to-day use, especially since I like most of those translations (i.e., TNIV excepted) as much as I do the NRSV. I'm still glad I bought the NRSV XL, however, since the large print is a novelty to me (it's the only large print version I own), and it contains the Apocrypha.
Sometimes it take a non-scholar to show scholars how to effectively put together a translation of a book written thousands of years ago so that it will have maximum impact on a modern audience.
This is what Robert Strassler has accomplished. He doesn't have any scholarly credentials to really speak of. He doesn't have tenure at a university and doesn't even read Greek or Latin. Yet he has produced the English editions to own of first Thucydides (The Landmark Thucydides, 1996) and now Herodotus (The Landmark Herodotus, 2007). Additional volumes on Arrian (2010), Polybius (2009), and Xenophon (2012) are forthcoming in the next few years.
What makes these editions special is the extra helps for the reader that he included. To draw a comparison with another series that aims to aid the reader, the Arden Shakespeare provides an extensive introduction and copious notes to the text of each play. However, while a few photos are included, they are typically photos of the various famous actors who have played the parts in question. In other words, true visual aids are few and far between, and most of what is included doesn't really help you understand what's happening in the play.
Well, what the Arden Shakespeare series is to serious Shakespeare readers, the Landmark series is to readers of Greek historiography (which I hope he expands to include Latin historiographers), only more so. This is not only because the Arden series has its competitors in the Oxford and Cambridge editions when it comes to Shakespeare, while the Landmark series stands alone with respect to Greek historiography, but also because the Landmark series contains wonderful, highly-detailed maps along with other visual aids (charts, timelines, useful illustrations and photos) to help the reader. In addition, he has organized a highly detailed system that enables a reader to quickly ascertain where and when any part of the narrative takes place, as well as very useful paragraph summaries in the margin, along with many other useful features (like incredibly detailed useful indexes, numerous appendixes on background, a glossary, and numerous detailed notes).
The Landmark Thucydides contains over 100 maps (most are a full page) embedded directly into the text (approximately one map every 5.5 pages). You literally almost never have to flip more than 3 or 4 pages either way to get to a map that details exactly what you need to know to make sense of the narrative. For the Landmark Herodotus, Strassler upped it to 127 maps embedded in the text (approximately one map every 5.7 pages). These maps and other visual aids make reading these books much more fruitful, since the myriad of names, dates, and places can be quite confusing. If you are at all interested in these Greek historians, you need to get your hands on these editions.
Which brings me to the real subject of this post. Too often in the past, the producers of study bibles have taken the Arden Shakespeare approach: that is, aids that are dominated by text (i.e., detailed introductions plus copious notes). It looks like things are beginning to change. The people behind the ESV Study Bible (coming in October) have apparently gone to the trouble of embedding over 200 full color maps within the biblical text, along with numerous diagrams, illustrations, and over 200 charts. I'd say it's about time. Study bibles dominated by text are simply boring. A study bible chock full of visual helps is the next logical step. The potential in such a study bible is enormous if done correctly.
If you'd like to see a sneak preview of the ESV Study Bible, Mark Bertrand has photos of a mock-up made by the ESV people who displayed it at a recent conference. It's only the gospel of John bound over and over again to approximate the size of the actual study bible, but it gives you the basic idea. Most of the specs on the binding and format line up with what I like in a bible (i.e., single column, paragraph format, black letter, sewn binding, a wide variety of covers to choose from, etc.).
There's only a couple of things I worry about, based on the photos of the mock-up: (1) the text appears to sink into the gutter far too much (I suspect this is just a problem with the mock-up -- I wonder if the mock-up has a glued binding; but it would be a deal-breaker for me if the mock-up is a true indication of what the inner margins will look like); (2) there appears to be more bleed through than I would have hoped for.
Anyways, I'm looking forward to getting my hands on this study bible, because, despite the fact that I'll almost certainly not like a lot of what's in the footnotes (it appears to be heavily slanted in the Reformed/Baptist vein to tell from the buzz in the blogosphere), this appears to represent a quantum leap in the evolution of study bibles, which should be encouraged and supported.
I only hope that the HarperCollins people take note of what the ESV Study Bible has (likely) accomplished and incorporate some of the same insights the next time they publish a revision of their Study Bible.
One final note: I echo Mark Bertrand's enthusiasm and appreciation for the work that went into the website displaying the ESV Study Bible and the openness with which they've shared the details of the binding and format of the editions being released. I wish more bible publishers would be as diligent in putting out information about their bibles.
(Addendum: I should have known that Iyov would beat me to the punch on the Landmark series; see his post here).
I love diglots, but have found it difficult to find good ones. Needless to say, Interlinears don't count, since, though they often include an English translation in the outside column, it is more properly a language tool rather than a real bible. For one thing, the interlinear English distracts attention away from the original text, and for another, the English translation in the outside column is usually treated as an afterthought, with no care given to its presentation. It's hardly a bible that one would curl up with and read for either pleasure or devotional purposes.
So when I saw a post by Iyov taking to task Christian publishers for not producing more diglots, and Christians for not making more use of diglots, I not only had to sadly agree with his point, I thought I'd do my part to help remedy the latter by displaying the advantages of one particular Hebrew-English diglot that I've loved ever since I first purchased it in the hopes that a few more Christians will consider buying one.
The New Testament is fairly well-served by the GBS edition that contains the Nestle-Aland 27th and the RSV and now the NET diglot (which I don't have yet, but they don't exactly make it easy, do they?). The former's existence, in particular, is fairly well known among Christian seminarians, I think, so I won't bother discussing the features of that edition. The only thing I'll say about the GBS edition is that I wish those folks would update the RSV and take out all the archaic thee's and thou's, since I doubt it would take much work in this age of computers (the archaic grammar I don't mind at all), or alternatively, use the NRSV as the English translation.
And now that there's a new translation of the Septuagint out, I imagine that it's just a matter of time before we see a new diglot. Anything's got to be better than the old Brenton one.
However, to finally get around to the subject of this post, the best Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) diglot I've seen is the one published by the Jewish Publication Society in four editions: pocket, student, cloth, and leather. I have two of the four (pocket and cloth) and wish that I had sprung for the real leather version when it was still in print (at the time, I was a poor graduate student and couldn't justify the extra dough).
(Addendum: David Stein, the original managing editor and co-designer of these editions left a comment below informing me that these are also available in electronic format--a PDF-based e-book--here.)
These have been around awhile (like the NASB Classic Companion I reviewed here), but since I haven't noticed anyone else giving it the Bertrand/Mansfield treatment, I thought I'd have a go.
The JPS Tanakh (Tanakh is a Hebrew acronym for Torah-Prophets-Writings = Christian Old Testament), for those who aren't familiar with it, is a fairly literal translation of the Masoretic Text (the version of the Jewish scriptures that the rabbis preserved). It isn't as literal as the NASB or even the ESV since it can be rather idiomatic in places (often it simply replaces an original Hebrew idiom judged to be unclear with something more contemporary that approximates it's meaning). I'd roughly equate it to the NRSV in terms of literalness.
Since it is a Jewish bible, it scrupulously follows the Masoretic Text (i.e., the Leningrad Codex, and as such is nearly but not quite identical to BHS), ignoring other texts and textual traditions in the text itself, though it does take note of textual variants, including possible emendations, in footnotes (unfortunately transliterated).
The cloth edition is quite a hefty volume (10 1/4" x 7 1/8" x 2 1/4"), while the leather edition is even larger.
For size comparison purposes, here is the TNIV Reference stacked on top of the JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh: Cloth edition. You can see the latter is quite a lot thicker.
The dark blue padded cover is very nice. It's essentially a hardback covered in a spongy faux-leather type material. It feels a lot like the covers on those old gi-mongous KJV family bibles that everyone used to own. The page edges are gilded with gold and there is one blue ribbon included.
Here they are side by side. The TNIV Reference is on the left, while the JPS Tanakh is on the right.
The text is presented in two parallel columns with English on the left and Hebrew on the right.
The text lays flat, even at Genesis 1.
The font is a nice size (I'd estimate about 10 pt.) with uncommonly generous spacing between each line. Lines average about 8 or 9 words in English. The Hebrew font is clear and easy to read, even the vowels and cantillation marks.
The Hebrew tends to be more compact than the English so the verses don't quite match up in the bottom half of each page, but I'm glad they didn't chop up the verses to simply match them up. It would have de facto turned this bible into one of those dreaded verse-by-verse editions. The editors have, however, gone to the trouble to re-align the text at each chapter and kept the Hebrew and English within one verse of each other at the bottom of each page.
The overall presentation is beautiful to look at and easy on the eyes, though I often wish that they had devoted each entire page to a single column, paragraph formatted text, English on one page and Hebrew on the facing page (like the GBS New Testament diglot), and that is lined up at every new paragraph, rather than dividing the page into columns and lining it up at every chapter as they did.
One of the few defects that mars this edition is some moderate bleed-through (If you click on one of the above images and blow it up, you can see what I mean). It isn't really any worse than the TNIV Reference or the ESV Personal Size Reference though, so if you can put up with it in those bibles, I daresay you won't find this appreciably worse. Another defect is that you don't get much in the way of margins.
I'm no expert in bindings, but I'd hazard a guess from the above picture that it's sewn, though I can't be sure.
One drawback for Christians, is that the chapters and verses in this edition follow the Masoretic Text and thus won't always match up with what most are used to in the Old Testament. When reading alone this won't be a big deal, but in a group setting (e.g., bible study or following along in a sermon) this could be an annoyance (especially in books like the Psalms). Those who don't mind the KJV might appreciate Aron Dotan's Parallel Bible Hebrew-English Old Testament published by Hendrickson, since it preserves the Christian book order and versification (it's about to be re-printed).
Another feature of this bible that some will view as a drawback, but I view as a huge advantage (especially for Christians) is the order of the books, which generally follows the Leningrad Codex with a few concessions to the order of books found in most Hebrew printed editions. It could give Christians a fresh perspective on the Old Testament (e.g., Daniel is found among the Writings in the Tanakh, and not among the prophets, as in the Christian OT, and the Deuteronomistic History can be found intact, without the intrusion of Ruth).
Everything considered, I don't think you can go wrong with buying this edition, especially if you don't already own a copy of the NJPS translation, which you should have anyways.
If this edition is too large for you, the student edition and the pocket edition are still available for purchase.
However, I'm sad to say that I can't recommend the student edition. I saw it several years ago when it had just been printed (at the annual Society of Biblical Literature convention), and it had a very bad gutter problem. You had to pry the bible wide open to read the text which went right into the spine. I imagine that they've fixed it by now, but I'd have a look first to make sure. I was told by the JPS spokesperson at the exhibit that year that they'd be fixing it in the next print run (at the time, he said it would come in a matter of months), but when I checked again a couple years later, it still hadn't been fixed from what I could tell.
Here's a video I found of what looks like the student edition. At one point he opens it upand shows the text. Either the gutter problem isn't as bad as I remember it or they've somewhat alleviated the problem. To me, it still looks like the binding pinches the text too much in the gutter though. Too bad, since the size represents a good trade-off between form and function.
On the other hand, if you can get past the odd shape (6" x 4" x 1.75") of the "pocket" edition (you'd have to have pretty large pockets), it's quite functional. The layout is exactly the same as the cloth edition, only with smaller print, which is comparable to the print of the original ESV compact editions (not the deluxe compact). It retains the nice line spacing of the cloth edition though this extra space could have been used to increase the font size if they had gone to the trouble of specially formatting the bible for this edition.
The text block itself is almost exactly the same size in both editions since they both have the exact same number of pages. The slight difference in thickness is accounted for by the fact that the cloth edition has a very thick padded cover.
For those with poor eyesight, though, the Hebrew vowels and cantillation marks might be a little tough to make out. Also, the text does tend to run just a bit too far into the gutter (but not as badly as the student edition and just about par for the course in the current bible-making climate) and it still has the same moderate bleed-through problems as the cloth edition. (I tried to take a picture with my crappy camera but I can't get a decent one that isn't one big blur.)
All in all, though, I'm quite happy to have this small edition to lug around as the cloth edition is more or less anchored to my desk.
Oh yeah, one last thing: it doesn't exactly lay flat.
(Addendum: Iyov has posted some related thoughts here. I look forward to his posts on other Hebrew-English diglots.)
The ESV Bible Blog recently issued an invitation to bloggers to outline the features they'd like in their idea of a "perfect" bible. They say they read every blog post they can find on the ESV, so this is a good way to give them feedback on the format that customers like to see in their bibles.
Since the English Standard Version is my translation of choice at the moment, and since, like Mark Bertrand, I am on my own quixotic quest to find the perfect bible (though unlike him, I'm unwilling to sink any serious money in anything less than perfection), I figured it's worth my while to put something together on this topic.
What I have in mind is a go-to bible that can serve as my main bible for studying, teaching, and preaching. Here is a list of features I'd like to see in my perfect bible:
A nice flexible cover that allows the bible to lay completely flat, even at Genesis 1 or Revelation 22. A premium cover would be nice, but a really soft, flexible manmade material would also be acceptable, provided it allows the bible to lay limp and completely flat (and I do mean completely flat).
A smyth sewn binding.
A single column format that averages out to approximately 12 words per line.
Paragraph format.
Black letter.
A 10 pt font minimum that is clear, crisp, and dark. I'd like to be able to clearly and easily see the text when I'm teaching or during those rare occasions when I preach from the pulpit and the text is at least a full arms length away.
Some space between the lines of text so that they don't feel so cramped and it's easier to follow the text all the way across the page without skipping down a line or otherwise losing track of it.
At least two thick, high quality ribbons.
Really wide margins, at least 1.5 inches on all sides (preferably 2 inches), even in the gutter if possible. At any rate, nothing should slip into the gutter at all, even cross references (as happens in the Personal Size Reference).
Cross references, if included (I'm ambivalent about them since they typically clutter up the text itself though they are nice to have to refer to), should be in the gutter, not the outer margin where they would form a barrier between my notes and the biblical text. This also prevents the biblical text from slipping into the gutter. The cross references in the text should be as unobtrusive as possible.
No book intros at all please. Especially shaded with a different background color.
No lines around the text. They're unnecessary and get in the way of notes. Plus they're distracting to look at.
No concordance in the back. It's an absolute waste of space. I don't think I've ever used a concordance that came in the back of a bible. For that matter, aside from a few color maps, a table of weights and measures, and perhaps a detailed historical timeline covering both testaments, extra material in the back should be kept to an absolute minimum. Use the saved thickness for thicker paper. Speaking of which...
Nice thick paper with no bleed-through at all. If the price is a thicker bible, so be it. My notes should also not bleed-through the paper.
Finally, everything about the construction of the bible should enable it to last 20 years. This is absolutely crucial for a bible that I would devote hours to writing notes in.
The above features were designed with a large wide margin bible in mind. But I'd also like to see a bible with similar features in a compact edition: essentially a Personal Size Reference edition with a few improvements (i.e., columns that average fewer words per line, elimination of the gutter problem, a sewn binding with a premium cover, thicker paper, a slightly larger, darker font, no concordance, and a few maps).
I thought I'd take a page from a couple of other bloggers (Rick Mansfield at This Lamp and Mark Bertrand at Bible Design and Binding) who inspired me to start my own blog and provide a review of a bible, complete with pictures.
Like them, I prefer single column, paragraph formatted texts with no red letters. As many have commented, this is how books that are meant to be read are formatted.
While most bible translations and publishers are addicted to the double column format, the NASB alone among the more contemporary translations appears to be fixated on the verse-by-verse format which drives me batty. A few weeks ago, I finally gave away my NASB single column wide margin (along with most of my English language bibles) because it was just sitting on my shelf unused due to my abhorence of this format.
Well, I finally found an NASB in a single column with the paragraph formatting I've wanted for about 20 years. It's the NASB Classic Companion (1995 update) published by World Bible Publishers (ISBN: 0529110628). I was very excited to finally get my hands on it and while it doesn't live up to my wildest hopes, it is still quite a nice cheap edition.
The picture makes it look browner than it is. It's actually a deep burgundy.
To start with, the form factor is very handy. It's only slightly larger than the ESV Personal Size Reference Edition that I recently bought. It's the same thickness, but about 1 inch taller and 3/4 of an inch wider. It's dimensions are 8.5" x 6" x 1".
The NASB Classic Companion is on the left and the ESV Personal Size Reference is on the right. The lighting in this shot gives a truer indication of the bible's real color than the first photo.
The cover is a cheap burgundy bonded leather that nevertheless is flexible enough that the bible will lie flat provided the bible is opened somewhere in the middle third of the book and with a little coaxing, you can up that to about the middle half of the book (from about 1 Samuel to the end of Mark) though it won't lie completely flat, since one end will hang suspended in the air an inch or so off whatever surface you're using.
When you hold it in your hands, the bible will stay open without anything holding it. However, to see the text easily right into the gutter, use of your free hand will be required to hold the bible fully open at the extreme ends of the bible (the books of Genesis & Exodus on one side and the General Epistles & Revelation on the other).
The poetic sections are laid out nicely. My camera stinks so the text is a bit muddy, but this will give you a general idea. Notice that it does manage to lay flat in the middle of the bible.
I'm hoping that with some use, the binding will loosen and this will improve. As is, functionally speaking, this is better than most bonded leather bindings I've encountered (especially glued ones as this one appears to be). It's not nearly as good as the TNIV Reference bible that I recently bought, which is one of the best functional bonded leather bindings I've ever seen, but it's definitely not as bad as I feared. I've found that bonded leather bindings are sometimes so stiff that both hands are required to pry the book open and keep it that way. That is thankfully not the case with this one.
I can't tell if the binding is sewn or not, but I strongly suspect that it's glued given the price I paid for it (less than $25 Canadian from Amazon.ca) and the tightness of the text block at the spine.
Notice how the TNIV Reference (sewn) binding lays almost completely flat.
In contrast, the NASB Classic Companion looks as if the text flows up first and then outward from the binding. A sure sign that it's a glued binding I'd venture to say.
My edition doesn't have tabs, but you can get one that does. I believe that the cover is available in black as well, but on Amazon.ca, they were sold out.
As mentioned above, the text is single column, paragraph format, but unfortunately uses red letters for the words of Christ. Another problem is that the text goes too far into the gutter (the part where the pages join into the spine). This means that the lines of text are extremely long, over 17 words per line on average, rather than the optimum 12 words per line. Happily, due to the generous font size, following the text across the page is not much of a problem. There is also some bleed-through, but not to the point where I find it too distracting. There are no cross references or maps, but it does contain a short 3 column concordance as well as a topical index and a bible reading plan in the back.
The font size is quite generous for such a handy edition. It's quite a bit larger than the ESV Personal Size Reference which is 7.4 pt type. In comparing the two, I'd say that the NASB Classic Companion is in the 9 pt range. In fact, the print size compares favorably with the TNIV Reference which uses an odd choice in font styles, and which is a much larger bible (the NASB font actually looks a tad larger and darker).
The text on the left is the NASB Classic Companion while the text on the right is the ESV Personal Size Reference. Again, the picture isn't very clear but you can see a distinct difference in type size.
The red letter is annoying to look at for long periods and the bleed through is a tad more distracting behind the red letter text in those instances when the text on the other side is mostly black letter. Thankfully, my focus of study is the Old Testament and since this translation is mostly used for study purposes, I have little occasion to turn to the New Testament in this particular bible, at least not for long periods of time.
You can see that this bible has a problem with text slipping into the gutter. However, it's no worse than what you get with the ESV Deluxe Compact or the cross references in the ESV Personal Size Reference.
All in all, I'm quite pleased with this bible for the price I paid. It won't last forever, but that doesn't matter to me since I usually clean out my old English-only bibles every 5-7 years or so. I tend not to get too attached to my bibles, because I've never come across the perfectone. If I ever did, this practice would change. As it is, eventually a newer and/or better edition will come along to replace it and when that time comes this one will simply have to go.
