Bibles

The King James Version in popular giant print. (first published 1611) Available in a wide range of colors and high-quality bindings. Giant print makes Bible reading easier...

Zondervan TNIV Study Bible (Hardcover)
by Ronald F. Youngblood (Editor)

For those interested in a Study Bible this one is really the best I have found. I am amazed at the amount of work that went into this particular Bible. It is loaded with charts, diagrams, and so on. It is not a good Bible to use in the sanctuary as the type is so small, but it is a the best I have seen for study purposes. (See below for what is included.)

This Bible is the first I have seen that is gender neutral, meaning that where gender terms are used they have been translated according to the context. In most translations gender terms have been translated according to the author's gender bias.

This can change the meaning of a text line significantly. For example:

NIV
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

TNIV
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

While the TNIV Bible is a conservative translation, it is still better than the standard KJV for accuracy in terms of translation and historical information. Rather than reiterate what the TNIV site states in my own words, here is some more info from the site about it. Jessika

See: http://www.tniv.info/qanda.php

# The TNIV offers a conservative treatment of gender, making changes only where the original writers did not intend a specific gender reference. For example, the New Testament authors frequently used the word huioi? translated "sons" in Matthew 5:9 (NIV)?as a theological term denoting the relationship between God and his people. In such contexts, huioi refers to both men and women who are God's children. The TNIV clarifies the intended meaning of the original with a gender accurate translation.

# There is good precedent for the wording of the TNIV. Every English Bible from Tyndale's New Testament (1536) to the revered King James Version (1611) used the word "children" to translate huioi in Matthew 5:9. (The English Revised Version of 1881 was the first to use the term "sons.") In Matthew 5:9, the TNIV returns to the historic tradition of English Bible translation.

Q: How does the TNIV differ from the NIV?

A: The TNIV updates language and reflects advances in biblical scholarship.

* Word changes that more precisely render the meaning of the original text. For example, "Christ" is changed to "Messiah" when the underlying Greek functions as a title.
* Word changes that reflect a better understanding of the meaning of certain terms in the original Greek and Hebrew. References to "the Jews" are described more specifically, such as "the Jews there" or "the Jewish leaders," when the context indicates a more precise group of people.
* Changes that clarify the meaning of language for today's reader. For example Mary is said to be "pregnant" rather than "with child." Or "the third watch of the night" is changed to the more understandable, "shortly before dawn."
* Changes made in paragraph structure, sentence structure, word order, punctuation, spelling and capitalization as well as word changes based on contemporary English style.
* Generic language is used where the meaning of the text was intended to include both men and women. For example, when it is clear the original text never intended any exclusive male gender reference, "sons of God" becomes "children of God," and "brothers" becomes "brothers and sisters".
*All gender-related changes in the TNIV are made to update masculine terminology that has generic intent and is often misunderstood by today's generations. References originally intended to be masculine remain masculine in the TNIV.

The Zondervan TNIV Study Bible combines over 20,000 in-text notes that form the study backbone of this Bible with the most current scholarship reflected through ongoing discoveries in archaeology, linguistics, and biblical history. Including award-winning features and concise, conservative biblical commentary, the Zondervan TNIV Study Bible is edited by the same leading evangelical scholars who brought the world the bestselling Zondervan NIV Study Bible. With a treasury of instant study material alongside the easy-to-read and highly accurate Today's New International Version, the Zondervan TNIV Study Bible provides the most comprehensive study Bible for an emerging generation of Bible readers.

Features:
• Over 20,000 bottom-of-the-page, verse-by-verse study notes offer biblical perspectives and study insights
• Icons throughout the study notes highlight
o historical/archaeological contexts
o biblical characters and people groups
o notes for personal application
• Topical Index offers over 700 entries to enhance personal and topical Bible study
• 16 pages of new, satellite-generated, full-color maps
• TNIV side-column cross-reference system and concordance
• Helpful indexes to study notes, in-text maps, and color maps
• The complete text of the TNIV in a single-column format with words of Christ in red
• Presentation page, notes and map index, and 8-page historical timeline section

The New Oxford Annotated NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha, Third Edition

This Bible is superbly annotated and especially good for Anyone interested in the Apocrypha. Jessika

Amazon.com Editorial Review: The new Annotated is a complete revision of Oxford's classic study Bible, and the first such resource to incorporate the full text of the acclaimed New Revised Standard Version Bible. The features of this enhanced resource include: expanded notes and essays compiled by top scholars, including seven new essays on major subdivisions, a new introductory essay by Bruce Metzger on how to use the new Annotated in reading and study, and a better organized book design. Also included is a 36-page indexed map section featuring Oxford's world famous Bible maps. The new Annotated is sensitive to inclusive language. It is an invaluable resource for students, scholars, religious educators, and pastors for personal and group study. The new Annotated is available in editions with and without the Apocrypha, and in fine leather bindings.

In 1769 the Oxford University Press published an edition of the King James version in which many small changes were made. These changes were of five kinds: 1. Greater and more regular use of italics; 2. minor changes in the text; 3. the adoption of modern spelling; 4. changes in the marginal notes and references; and, 5. correction of printers' errors. This edition soon came to be known as "The Oxford Standard" edition, because it was widely accepted as a standard text by commentators and other publishers. The editions of the King James version published in our century generally reproduce this Oxford edition of 1769, with or without the marginal notes. The following information is given so that the reader may gain an accurate impression of how far the modern editions differ from the original King James version of 1611.

The Modern New Testament from the Aramaic: With New Testament Origin, Comparative Bible Verses, & A Compact English-Aramaic Concordance : Deluxe Study Edition

George M. Lamsa brings to this work a lifetime of scholarship and translation of the Eastern manuscripts of the Bible. He was raised in Assyria; during his lifetime he translated The Holy Bible from the Aramaic of the Peshitta and authored over twenty books illuminating the original meaning of Scripture.

The Peshitta is a fourth century Syriac (late eastern Aramaic) version of the Old and New Testaments. "Peshitta" means literally "the simple (version)," as opposed to the older Syriac texts which had alternate readings noted in the margins. The Peshitta distilled these older Syriac texts into one uniform version and was adopted by the Jacobite and Nestorian branches of the Syrian church. Since the Syrian church did not accept as canonical 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation, the Peshitta did not include these books.

George M. Lamsa's published 21 books by the time of his death in 1975. For nearly 50 years Lamsa spoke at conferences and churches. He published the periodical Light for All and spoke on the radio. He founded the Aramaic Bible Society and the Calvary Missionary Church.

Lamsa was raised in the Nestorian church, which can be traced back to A.D. 431 when the Council of Ephesus declared that the patriarch Nestorius was teaching a false view of Christ. Nestorius' followers fled to Persia and developed their own rituals, customs, and theology.

Lamsa promoted the Nestorian views (1) that Jesus Christ was actually two persons — Jesus and Christ — who, in a manner of speaking, were glued together like two boards. Jesus, Lamsa says, began His existence at birth in Bethlehem, while "Christ existed from the very beginning. He was neither born nor did he die, but he lives forever. This belief is still held by Christians in the East...." In Lamsa's view, Jesus did not claim to be equal to God, nor did He want to be worshipped." (2) Lamsa said "the Eastern Christians believe in one God with three attributes, instead of three persons." Other Nestorians also preferred the Aramaic word "attributes" (kenomey) to the Greek concept "persons" (prosopon), even though these held to the doctrine of the Trinity. Adapted from: CHRISTIAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE
For source and more information see: http://www.equip.org/free/DL010.htm

The New Jerusalem Bible is a revision of the Jerusalem Bible (1966). The revision seems to have been motivated chiefly by a desire to make the version more accurate. A number of reviewers had pointed out loose renderings which would cause problems for those who would use the version for close study, as it was intended to be used. There was also another consideration: The 1966 Jerusalem Bible was based upon the French Bible de Jérusalem (1961) prepared by the faculty of the Dominican Biblical School in Jerusalem; but in 1973 the French Bible was revised, and so for this reason it was felt that a corresponding revision of the English version was in order.

Henry Wansbrough of Ampleforth Abbey, York, was appointed chief editor for the revision. The preface mentions "Professor Kenneth Grayston and Canon Douglas Webster" as being especially worthy of notice in connection with this work. The revision of the voluminous notes and introductions of the version simply follows the new French edition, and they represent the opinions of secular critical scholars. Skeptical views on the authenticity of various books, on the truthfulness of the biblical narratives, and even on the inspiration of the teachings of the Bible, are presented as if they were uncontroversial.

The translation is generally made more literal. In some places, however, the revision is less accurate than its predecessor. This is due mainly to the occasional changes made so as to avoid the linguistic "preference for the masculine." Apparently, the editors were under some pressure to revise the text according to the new principles of inclusive language. But changes of this type in the New Jerusalem Bible are very few compared to the severely neutered Bible versions which appeared in the 1990's.

The New Jerusalem Bible has become the most widely used Roman Catholic Bible outside of the United States. American Catholics prefer the New American Bible published by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

This version is A "Reader's Edition" of the New Jerusalem Bible with abridged introductions and notes (ISBN: 0385248334) was issued in 1990.

For source and more information see:
http://www.bible-researcher.com/new-jerusalem-bible.html

For sources of the above and to compare the text of the Jerusalem Bible with the New Jerusalem Bible and more go to:
http://www.bible-researcher.com/jerusalem-bible.html

The Jerusalem Bible: Reader's Edition

This is a version prepared by Roman Catholic scholars in Great Britain, under the general editorship of Alexander Jones of Christ's College, Liverpool, assisted by twenty-seven colleagues. (1) It is notable as being the first English version to be done by Roman Catholics on the basis of the Greek and Hebrew texts rather than upon the Latin Vulgate. In 1943 Pope Pius XII had issued an encyclical letter on Biblical studies called Divino Afflante Spiritu in which he gave permission for this departure from Roman Catholic tradition.

The Jerusalem Bible derives its name and its character from an earlier French version, called La Bible de Jérusalem. This French version (published in 1956, and revised 1961) was prepared by the faculty of the Dominican Biblical School in Jerusalem, on the basis of the Hebrew and Greek. An introductory note acknowledges this indebtedness: "The introductions and notes of this Bible are, with minor variations and revisions, a translation of those which appear in La Bible de Jérusalem (one volume edition, 1961) published under the general editorship of Père Roland de Vaux, O.P. by Les Editions du Cerf, Paris, but are modified in the light of subsequent revised fascicules." The annotations of the French edition were remarkably full and helpful, and the idea of the English Jerusalem Bible was to turn the French version, together with all of its annotations, (2) into English, with constant reference to the Hebrew and Greek. And so the translation is based upon the Hebrew and Greek as interpreted by the French version.

Although it was prepared by Roman Catholics, the version does not serve to promote traditional Roman Catholic doctrine. The translation is little influenced by dogma (if at all), and even the annotations are of an ecumenical-scholarly character. This is a consequence of the fact that the scholars who produced both the French and the English versions were guided by the same principles of modern secular scholarship that many Protestant scholars have adopted in the more liberal theological schools. Traditional Roman Catholic exegesis is therefore largely absent from the Jerusalem Bible, just as traditional Protestant exegesis is absent from the Revised Standard Version.

For source and more information see: http://www.bible-researcher.com/jerusalem-bible.html

Douay-Rheims Holy Bible by Rheim Douay
A translation from the Vulgate translated by St. Jerome. It predates the King James( 1611) and was first published in 1582

...on its title page: "The New Testament of Jesus Christ translated faithfully into English, out of the authentical Latin, according to the best corrected copies of the same, diligently conferred with the Greek and other editions in divers languages. With Arguments of Books and Chapters, annotations, and other necessary helps for the better understanding of the text, and specially for the discovery of the corruptions of divers late translations, and for clearing the controversies in religion of these days..."

The Holy Bible: Translated from the Latin Vulgate and Diligently Compared With the Hebrew, Greek and Other Editions in Divers Languages
by Pope Leo Xiii first published in 1752

Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision
Richard Challoner (1691-1781) was a Roman Catholic Bishop in England who prepared several extensive revisions of the Rheims and Douai Bible between 1749 and 1777. Challoner's edition of 1763-1764 became the basis of nearly all subsequent Roman Catholic editions of the Bible which appeared under the titles "Douay Bible," "Rheims-Douay Bible" or "Douay-Rheims Bible," and these editions are often referred to by Roman Catholics as "reprints of the Douai Bible." But this terminology is quite misleading, because Challoner's version differs very substantially from the Rheims and Douai Bible of 1582-1606.

A comparison of the Challoner-Rheims with the original Rheims and the King James Version shows how much influence the latter had in Challoner's revision:

Rheims, 1582

1 Diversely and many ways in times past God speaking to the fathers in the prophets,
2 last of all in these days hath spoken to us in his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all, by whom he made also the worlds.
3 Who, being the brightness of his glory, and the figure of his substance, and carrying all things by the word of his power, making purgation of sins, sitteth on the right hand of the Majesty in the high places;
4 being made so much better than angels, as he hath inherited a more excellent name above them.

King James, 1611

1 God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds,
3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,
4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

Challoner, 1752

1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets,
2 last of all, in these days hath spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world.
3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the figure of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, making purgation of sins, sitteth on the right hand of the majesty on high,
4 being made so much better than the Angels, as he hath inherited a more excellent name than they.

For source and more information see: http://www.bible-researcher.com/challoner.html

The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English
by L.C.L., Sir Brenton

This edition of The Septuagint with Apocrypha (the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament and the apocryphal books of the same linguistic origin) gives the complete Greek text along with a parallel English translation by Brenton. Original publish 1851: in its 9th printing this is the Hendrickson Publishers (April 1, 1986) edition; Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton Translation

The early Christian church was predominantly Greek-speaking, so it used the Septuagint LXX for its Greek Scriptures, and most Christian writers of the first three centuries - including the writers of the New Testament - generally used the LXX as their Old Testament.

The Septuagint is the first Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, probably from the third century B.C. in Alexandria, Egypt. It was translated for the benefit of the Israelites living in Greek-speaking countries due to the Diaspora.

According to tradition, there were probably seventy-two translators (six from each of the twelve tribes). This number was later changed to the number seventy, suggesting the seventy elders of the Sanhedrin. Thus, the Roman numeral LXX represents the Septuagint, a word which comes from Latin meaning "seventy." The Greek form was later improved and altered to include the books of the Apocrypha and some of the pseudepigrapha. It was the version used by the Greek-speaking Christians, including St. Paul; it is still used in the Greek Church.

This impressive volume contains both the original Greek and its English translation. It gives you the complete Septuagint text in parallel columns with Brenton's translation. It was first printed in 1851 and is said to be the best study edition you can buy.

Also see online: http://www.ccel.org/bible/brenton/

See Off Site Sources for this page:
History of the The English Versions of Scripture
CHRISTIAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE