Bible Shopping.

It's amazing all that's involved in buying a Bible, and why.  

Not long ago,  I was given a New Testament by a nice minister while I was at a hospital visiting.  It was a Gideon's.  I mentioned to him that I was memorizing John 7.  It turns out, it's the longest chapter in the Bible.   

When you set about such a thing, you will soon find out what can happen to Bibles.  My brand new New Testament fell all to pieces.  So I bought another one on Amazon.  I liked it.  It was a faux leather pastel pink, and it had a harmonization of the Gospels.  

And so I did memorize John 7.  On to John 8, the John 9.  Wait.  What's this?  Some of the words were different than in my other New Testament!  And here I had gone to some trouble to memorize them.   Yet they both claimed to be King James Version.  

So I decided to buy a better Bible.  Unlike most books, a Bible is used frequently by many, and often for years, even handed down. It needs to be durable. There should be a course on selecting a Bible.  There's a lot involved.  And all this research was Protestant Bibles only, since I'm Protestant. 

1.  What version and which one of what version.  

Since I had settled on the King James Version, I discovered that there are still varieties according to which publisher published it.  Trying to research this I heard the expression "King James ist", the "King James cult", and some other disparaging terms.  Also, there is the 1611 KJV, and the 1769 KJV.  And the Zondervan, Thomas Nelson, etc.  All I had really tried to do was a standard, recognized version that was uniform.  So one has to choose a publisher.  There are several that I like, Cambridge, Local Church Bible Publishers, Church Bible Publishers,  Evangelical Bible Publishers, to name a few.  

2. Decide on a type of Bible.  There are study Bibles, reference Bibles, wide margin, Clarion, etc.  I thought a reference Bible would  be good. 

3. Choose the cover and binding.  

This may seem unnecessary, but a leather cover holds up better, and the sewn binding also holds up better.  

Wait.  What kind of leather?  Well, number one.  Bond leather means bits of leather that are glued together.  Why bother?  It's the leather equivalent of plywood vs a real piece of wood.  Other than that it's a matter of preference, with some being soft, beautiful and more expensive.  

A top rate cover is pliable, not stiff, so that it can be rolled up if you like.  The better Bibles are a little floppy, and will easily stay open if you put them on a surface.  

4. Type of paper.  Top of the line Bible paper is called India paper.  It is becoming rare, I think because of computer generated printing.  Short of India paper, there are other quality papers.  Naturally I like India paper. 

5. Red or black letter.  This is an area that people can be picky about.  I love the red letter Bibles, which means the words of Christ are printed in red letters.  

6. Tippy top Bibles.  My understanding is that the tippy top Bibles are the Allan Longprimers and the Schuyler, then Cambridge.  

7. Font. 

There are a number of fonts, and by that I mean the size of the print, the style of the letters, and how bold the print is.  This is one of the reasons that people prefer the Allan Longprimers, and Cambridge - legibility.  I don't like small print.  May I say, most of the time, having "study Bibles" like Scofield's, will come at the price of having a large portion of the page devoted to the notes.  Thus the print will wind up being smaller.  Wide margins usually is going to mean smaller print also.  But even smaller print can be much more legible if the print is bolder, like in the Cambridge Bibles.  A small font would be 7.5 to 8.  Medium around 9 or 10.  Large print is about 11.  

8. Bible size.

This is probably contingent on what you need a Bible for.  Travel size is usually a smaller Bible.  One you can carry easily or hold for a while to read.  Or maybe you're a minister and the Bible mostly lies on the pulpit while you refer to it.  

9. Type of reference.  

Once I decided on a reference Bible, there are lots of references written by lots of people.  Cambridge is felt by many to be very good.  Some like others.  The maps in Cambridge are really quality too.  Some writers have their own opinion inserted which in my opinion detracts, and there are a variety of topics that are debatable, like pre Millennium, post Millennium, pre trib, post trib.  Mostly those can be worked around I think.  I don't care to hear about the 2nd Amendment being Biblical.  


10. Gilding. 

Gilding is the pretty gold on the edges of the pages.  This is lovely. Usually it's gold, but sometimes silver.  

And so I arrived at the Bible above for a lot of reasons.  This is a limited edition Thompson chain reference Bible with top grain cowhide, red letter, silver page edges, two blue ribbons.  Also a concern was price.  After a lot of video watching on Bibles, I learned of Local Church Bible Publishers, and Church Bible Publishers, both of whom publish top quality Bibles at cost as a ministry.  This Bible is from Church Bible Publishers.