A Review of the Berean Standard Bible.

January 12, 2023 Bob Snyder1 Comment

I purchased this Bible in genuine cowhide leather. The edition I chose was Atlantic blue. It was listed as, “Genuine Leather – Tosca Cowhide Atlantic.” You can look at the product page via this link. I wasn’t aware that another edition had been published. When I saw that it had, I purchased one. The last Bible I received from the folks who run Biblehub.com was the Berean Study Bible. Keep in mind, this Bible does not come with a storage box.

The most impressive things about this edition in my opinion are as follows;

1. It was printed, and bound in the United States, not China.

2. It was priced very competitively. (Proving you don’t need to go overseas.)

3. The form factor is about perfect, in my subjective opinion.

4. The paper is excellent.

5. The quality, in toto, is excellent.

6. This translation is easy to read, without being dumbed down, or neutered to fit an extra-biblical agenda.

All of that considered, here is a citation from the product page linked above detailing the vital stats.

“The text is 9.5 pt. Cambria font, printed on high quality 39 gsm Thincoat Plus Bible paper that is also ideal for highlighting and note taking.

SKU: 9781944757090
ISBN: 9781944757090
Color: Dark Blue-green
Dimensions: 6.15 x 8.5 x 1.25
Page Count:1504”

There are three ribbon markers. This edition includes decorative head, and tail bands, that are gold in color matching the ribbons. The ribbons seem to be high quality, and the ends are seared. The cowhide leather cover is moderately textured, perimeter stitched, with a paper interior liner. The perimeter stitching is an additional step that aids in the durability of the cover. Since the interior liner is paper, and it connects the text-block to the cover, it cannot be said to be edge-lined. This edition is case-bound, though you couldn’t tell by how flexible this edition is. It is just as flexible as some of the edge-lined Bibles out there. The cover gives the impression of being tougher than some of the garment grade goatskin covers I’ve seen recently. If you have purchased a sub $200, edge-lined, goatskin Bible, it is more than likely cheaper grade goatskin. The Highland goatskin covers on Jongbloed produced Bibles is significantly higher quality. The spine of this edition is smyth-sewn. The Spine is hot-stamped with gold colored foil. It says, “Holy Bible” at the head, and, “Berean Standard Bible” towards the center. There are four mildly pronounced decorative spine hubs. I think it is tastefully done.

The text-block has rounded corners, and spine. These features help to reduce the premature wear, and tear of the pages. The paper is 39 g.s.m. This is some thick paper, but since this edition lacks any maps, concordance, or other helps, the thinness is maintained. The page edges are gilt. As I mentioned before, this is pretty much the perfect sized Bible, for almost all occasions. The price is under $90. It is a true bargain, and good value.

If you aren’t familiar with this translation, the best way I could describe it to you, is that it is a pleasure to read, much like the N.I.V. was from 1984-2010 before it adopted a gender neutrality disorder. It is important to mention, this is not a dynamic equivalent translation like the N.I.V. This does seem to be more of a formal equivalence translation.

Now for all the pictures. Remember to check out my album of pictures on the Flickr page by clicking this link. If you click on the pictures in this review, they will take you to the high resolution, full sized picture on my Flickr page. It helps to get a closer look.

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Jehovah isn’t in the Bible!

January 11, 2023 Bob Snyder1 Comment

Yep, you read that right. The word, “Jehovah” never appears in any of the Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek texts that we translate for our English Bibles. It is what is known as a translation convention. When a word doesn’t translate neatly from one language to another, when there is no counterpart, or when the translators have other concerns that supersede what should be their main intent in translation work they may utilize a convention. Here is a for instance for you. Modern translations render the word, “δοῦλος, doulos” as, “bondservant.” This sounds much more acceptable to the modern reader. The more accurate translation of this word would be, “slave.” Nevermind that there are different types of slavery throughout history. Ancient people would consider modern people who sell their labor to a business owner to be slaves in some regards. Another common translation convention employed today is LORD in small uppercase letters. It is not literally there in the Hebrew text. When you see this word, it is representing the tetragrammaton, which are these four Hebrew consonants, yod he vav he יהוה. (Remember, Hebrew is read right to left.) This is the name of God that He told to Moses. It is a statement of God’s aseity. The ancient Jews refused to pronounce this name out of reverence. So they would substitute the word, “adonai” which is a form of this Hebrew word, “adon אָדוֹן” About a thousand years after the ascension of Christ the Masoretes came along, and added vowel markings to the Hebrew text. They did this in an attempt to help readers know how to pronounce a word, and tell the difference between one Hebrew word, and another. All Hebrew words only have three letters. Then grammatically, prefixes, infixes, and suffixes, could be added. The translation convention of Jehovah didn’t come into use until after that time. Jehovah is a completely made up word. It is not in the original texts. The consonants from the tetragrammaton were blended with the vowel sounds from the word adonai. There is no, “J” in Hebrew. There is no, “J” in Greek, or Latin. Please stop making such a big deal out of using this translation convention now that you know better. Insisting on the use of Jehovah is an act of ignorance.

A Review of the Legacy Standard Bible, Inside Column Reference Edition in Blue Cowhide Leather.

January 6, 2023 Bob SnyderLeave a comment

I preordered this edition when the option became available, and have been patiently waiting for it to arrive. I am also waiting for other editions to be published. I know that many people don’t use the cross references often, but I do like to have them in my daily reader. I am hoping for the MacArthur Study Bible in LSB to be announced one of these days. I know it is a matter of time. This Bible isn’t as large as the Large Print, Wide Margin edition, but it feels like it weighs about the same. It is not a light Bible. I have to say, I’m really enjoying the blue cowhide leather cover. The grain of the leather is more pronounced. It hasn’t got the ironed leather look. The perimeter of this edition’s cover is sewn. That should keep it from coming unglued at the corners, since we are talking about a case bound edition here. The corners, as well as the spine are rounded. The spine is smyth-sewn for durability, and flexibility. There are 5 raised spine hubs. “Holy Bible” is hot stamped in gold colored foil on the spine along with the logo for the LSB, and the publisher’s name at the bottom. I did notice some odd markings on the page edges. It looked like someone at the factory tried to repair some spots where the page edge gilt may have been damaged, or misapplied. There were also some minor dings in the page edges. In the Facebook group, another person mentioned the same problem with his Bible. (I hope, once they get the production procedures practiced, the quality control will get better. I sort of expect quality control problems with a new translation being published in South Korea. The Berean Standard Bible is printed, and bound in the USA, and doesn’t seem to have these problems It also costs much less. I wonder why 316 went with a Korean printer instead? Perhaps the American one couldn’t do the volume they needed?) There are 2 ribbon markers, that are nice quality, and the ends have been seared. The head and tail bands are blue to match the cover, and one of the ribbons. 40 g.s.m. paper is terrific! I love the paper. There are 14,000 translation footnotes. This is helpful for the language geeks like me. We want to know. The concordance is a nice addition. It has over 16,000 entries. The font is nice and legible at 11 pts. for the scriptures, and smaller for the references. This is a black text edition, with red titles, headers, chapter, and page numbers. The text is line matched with the text on the reverse side of the page for eye comfort. This is a single column, verse format Bible with the cross references in the inside column between the gutter, and the text column. There are some maps at the very back. I am very pleased that they included a storage box for this edition. It is the best way to keep a Bible protected when not in use. All in all, this is a really nice edition. This translation is, in my opinion, the best modern English translation to date. I am hopefully looking forward to more editions. 316 also included a lapel pin, and a daily planner with this Bible purchase. I have pictures of the planner on my Flickr page along with more pictures of this edition. Click the link to check them out.

You can purchase your edition of this Bible at 316publishing

Here are some pictures that highlight the features I mentioned. If you click the album link above, you can see the high resolution pictures instead of these lower resolution ones.