First I’m going to address the physical attributes of this Bible and its features with minimal critiques and then I will flesh out my opinions of the essays and notes included in this Bible. Keep in mind that part of the review is highly subjective depending on your theological position.
The Bible arrived sufficiently packaged in a cardboard box.
It is a pretty big Bible as most study Bibles tend to be. It measures approximately nine and half by six and three quarters by two inches and weighs a little less than four pounds. It sells for about thirty three dollars on most internet retail sites. The Bible has a dust jacket.
I don’t like dust jackets. They always get in the way. Some people like to use them to mark their place, but I’d rather have some good quality ribbon markers. This one only comes with a single brown ribbon marker.
The hardcover itself is nice enough. It has kind of a brown marbled look. It is made in China, but seems to be well manufactured despite that fact.
The binding is sewn. The Bible opens and lays flat right out of the box.
I expect if it is treated well it should last a long time. It does have a lifetime warranty.
It comes with a free download that I found quite useless. It is not a download of the entire Bible. Crossway gives you access to their study Bible online when you purchase theirs. It is laid out really well and makes good use of the full color printing. It is a double column paragraph format with references in the center column and notes at the bottom of the page.
Each chapter has a book introduction and outline. There are full color features like maps, word studies, essays, and photos dispersed throughout.
The impression I got from reading some of the articles and notes is that this is a Bible for the masses. If you are Reformed, you’ll probably want about half of the notes removed. If you are Arminian you’ll probably want about half of the notes removed. If you don’t know what either of those are, you’ll probably love this study Bible. That is just the impression that I got. It could be that I am being overly sensitive. Most people will find the notes well balanced between the two predominate theological positions.
An example of that is the language used in the explanation of women’s roles in the Church. It goes to extreme lengths to be sensitive to readers who might not agree with the biblical position and then briefly states the biblical position and then tries to scoot past in hopes of nobody noticing. This technique usually pleases nobody and only confuses neophytes. Of course if you wanted a study Bible that was more aligned with your position I imagine you could find one. I like the MacArthur Study Bible, ESV Study Bible, and the Reformation Study Bible. When you get a bunch of theologians from different tents within the camp of Christianity together to contribute to a study Bible, you end up with the modern study Bible. It isn’t supposed to be a systematized theological work.
I actually would recommend the Holman NKJV Study Bible over the Thomas Nelson. You can read my review of it here. I think the entirety of it is a little more honest and direct. Think NonDenom vs SBC… I think that sums it up.
ISBN: 0529114380
ISBN-13: 9780529114389
I received this Bible from the publisher gratis for the purpose of review and am under no obligation to render a positive review.
Just a little disclaimer first, I am not a KJV only guy. I love the KJV and I do read the KJV, but I also use the NASB as my primary translation. In addition I use the ESV, NKJV, HCSB, and Geneva. This should be good news to people looking for an honest, unbiased, review. The bad news is that I received this Bible gratis from TBS. Some of you might believe that will make me biased, but if you look at my blog you can see that there are a few publishers represented by reviews of their products, all of which were gratis. I am under no obligation to give a positive review to any of the books or Bibles I review.
That being said, this is an AMAZING reference Bible! I was very surprised to see the quality of this Bible considering the price they ask for it. You can purchase one from TBS directly for $80.00 and they use the proceeds to provide Bibles and resources to Christians around the world. Or you can buy it from evangelicalbible.com for a little less.
TBS took great care in packaging this Bible for shipping. When it arrived at my house it was in a clamshell type cardboard box filled with packing peanuts. The Bible was placed on top of a foam pad inside the box.
Its retail packaging is a blue clamshell box with product information on it. Save the box for storage.
I was so glad to see they took good care to ensure the Bible arrived undamaged. I have received numerous Bibles that have had bent corners, wrinkled covers, and scratches on them due to insufficient packaging.
When I opened the box I could smell the calfskin leather. It was soft to touch and has a fairly smooth texture. It isn’t heavily textured. The cover is lined with typical vinyl looking material that is glued down. It is a case bound book.
The first and last pages are glued up higher to ensure the text block is securely fitted to the cover.
The printing and binding were done by Jongbloed in the Netherlands. They are well known for producing luxury Bibles like R.L. Allan, Schuyler, and Cambridge.
The spine has, “Holy Bible” at the head, “Westminster Reference Bible” in the middle, and the TBS logo at the foot. These are written in gold lettering. The page edges are gold gilt as well.
The binding is smyth-sewn and very flexible. Fresh out of the box the Bible lies flat on the table from the first book to the last.
When you hold it by the spine it drapes over your hand. The cover has some rigidity due to the lining. This is only a con if you are looking for a cover that edge lined. I have had both types of covers on Bibles. For a time I thought it was the mark of a good quality Bible to have a lining as flexible as the cover material, but I have come to appreciate some rigidity in the cover. It helps to hold onto the Bible, if there is something to hold onto. Some of the Bibles without it are more difficult to read because they are too flexible. They tend to flop around. This one has a great quality cover and it adds to the utility of the Bible. The fit and finish of the text block to cover is very clean and well done. It is obvious that they are doing this work with honoring God in mind.
The Bible comes with four ribbon markers. There are two red ones in the Old Testament and two black ones in the New Testament. Both sets of ribbons are good quality and about a quarter inch wide. I really appreciate this feature. Often times Bibles only have one ribbon marker if you are lucky. Sometimes you can get them with two, but four is almost unheard of. I end up gluing more in on my own. I love having four. I can use one from the Old Testament for my daily reading plan and the other for following along with the sermon. I do the same with the two in the New Testament.
The first pages are made out of a heavier paper and TBS instead of just leaving them blank has tastefully printed some scripture quotes on each one of them. Instead of being out of place, they were quite a propos and well done. After that we have a presentation page on the same paper, and then the paper changes over to Bible paper for the, Translators to the Reader, Epistle dedicatory, and the, Guide to Using the Westminster Bible, pages.
At the beginning of the books there are verses that are helpful for the reading of each book and the Chapter numbers are larger and bold. The text is in a double column verse format with over 200,000 references printed on the gutter and page edge sides of the page. I love these cross references, the TBS Westminster lives up to the claim of being a reference Bible. They aren’t there to be pretty. They actually are relevant to what you are reading. One of my favorite features, is the archaic words are in the margin with an * by them in the text and in the margin. In the margin you get the modern word or short definition. This makes reading the KJV much simpler.
In the top outside of the page you get the Book and Chapter, the inside has the heading, while the bottom outside has the page numbers. The font is clear and sharp 9.6 point, with consistent ink distribution making it quite legible and easy on the eyes. The paper is opaque and a bit thicker than some of the very thin paper used in lesser Bibles. It is a bit off white, but not so much as to diminish the contrast against the text.
At the back of the Bible there is a, Tables of Weights and Measures, List of Words and Proper Names with their Pronunciations, Daily Reading Plan, Maps and an extensive concordance. I was impressed with the size of the concordance. Most Bibles have one, but generally they are little more than a few pages. This one is actually large enough to be useful.
After spending some time using this Bible and reading from it, I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a King James Version Reference Bible. I have some Local Bible Publishers Bibles and the TBS is superior in the printing and binding. Compared to the ones made in China and Korea the TBS wins hands down.
Not too many Bibles from large publishers like Holman surprise me. This one is the exception. I am accustomed to receiving Bibles from big publishers that are for lack of a better term, “disposable.” Many of them seem to make Bibles that you can use for a couple of years and then have to throw it away when it begins to fall apart. This Bible truly surprised me. It came in the mail packed in a white plastic bag-elope. I was immediately expecting some substandard, mass produced, mail abused, Bible. I opened the bag and didn’t notice any damage to the box… bonus! I was glad that the corners weren’t mashed. I opened the box (keep the box for storage) and was presented with black construction paper.
I seriously hoped that wasn’t the cover. Upon closer inspection I determined that the black construction paper was there to protect the supple and soft genuine cowhide cover. It smelled like a new leather jacket and the texture was very pleasant.
One of the most important parts of a Bible is the binding. Naturally I checked that next. I was pleased to see that it had a sewn binding. This makes a Bible last longer and lay flat when you want to read it.
Have you ever had to struggle against an intrusive and rude cover made of bonded leather, always trying to close on you? Have you ever had a fake leather cover get stained, scuffed, or torn? Well I have, and that is why I love genuine leather and goatskin covers with sewn bindings so much. This Bible’s chocolate brown colored leather cover is lined with a vinyl sheet matching the cover’s color. The lining is glued down. This is pretty typical. I was hoping to see it lined with a higher quality material sewn to the cover, but for the price of this Bible and the features it has I can’t complain.
This Bible can be purchased for about $48.00 on a couple of different web sites. Christianbook.com has it here and Amazon.com here. I was a bit surprised to see that this Bible was made in China.
I was surprised because they seemed to have put it together pretty well. There is a slight problem with the binding at the bottom, but that could be one of the drawbacks of having it banged around during shipping from China to the States. It didn’t look like a manufacturing problem as much as shipping damage. The pages are gilded and indexed.
The indexes caught my eye as they are rectangular with rounded shoulders. The usual ones are crescent shaped. The New Testament ones were red and the Old Testament ones were black. The spine is gilded with the, NKJV in a circle at the top, and, “Holy Bible” in the middle, with Holman’s logo at the bottom. The spine has decorative hubs.
When you open this Bible up you first have the normal presentation and records pages as well as the publishers information. Then there is some info on the NKJV translation and a page with the plan of salvation. I was expecting cheaper paper that was more translucent, smaller font, and more ghosting. (text from the page behind showing through) I was very pleasantly surprised again. The paper was pretty opaque for a less expensive Bible. Well, even for some more expensive Bibles it was pretty opaque.
The font looks to be twelve point and is clear and legible. The Bible is a double column, paragraph format with some foot notes and references at the bottom of the page. This was a smart move. Doing it this way enabled them to print some large font while keeping the size down. This was going to become my daily reader until my dear wife picked it up. I think to quote her she said, “Oooh this is so soft and nice… Can I have it?” What can you do? This Bible has one ribbon marker matching the color of the cover.
It opens nicely and is very easy to read. I love the accuracy of the NKJV. This Bible has some colored maps at the end. I highly recommend this Bible for those looking for a daily reader without a bunch of distractions. It is comfortable to hold and easy on the eyes with the opaque paper and large font. All of this with the low price makes it an excellent value and asset.
Dimensions: 8.13 X 5.38 X 1.13 (inches)
ISBN: 1433613190
ISBN-13: 9781433613197
I received this Bible free of charge for the purpose of writing a review and am not obligated to write a positive review.
First I’d like to start out by saying that study Bibles in general have some benefits and some drawbacks. One of the great advantages is that you have a set of commentaries with your Bible to be carried with you wherever you go. One of the obvious drawbacks is that all those notes and features add to the bulk of the Bible making it heavier and bigger. The size and weight isn’t the major drawback. Most people expect that when they are shopping for a study Bible. The major drawback of course comes into play when you ask, “Who wrote my commentary?” For instance if your theology is very liberal and intolerably inaccurate then you would absolutely hate the, “MacArthur Study Bible.” You would probably love a study Bible caters to your liberal theology. The downfall of having a study Bible with just one mans commentary is that you just get his point of view, and if he is a false teacher you get more false teachings. The benefit is if he is a good teacher, you get very focused and direct answers to difficult passages.
When you have a study Bible where hundreds of theologians were utilized for the commentaries, you end up with what could be a mixed bag of theologies. Unless, that study Bible is put out by an organization or denomination with set doctrine, then they would make an attempt to have the commentaries conform with their doctrines.
Well what if the denomination has a split opinion about some doctrines, like oh, I don’t know… perhaps the Southern Baptist Convention? You guessed it, you’ll have some Reformed doctrines and some Arminian doctrines espoused. I’m not knocking the SBC, after all I’m a member. I’m not knocking this study Bible either. So far I quite enjoy it. I think it is kind of a, “Jack of all trades, master of none” study Bible. I don’t mean to imply a lack of direction or focus on the part of the publishers. I think that this study Bible will fit a very large cross section of evangelical Protestantism. This can frustrate some or be refreshing to others. Like I said just a bit ago, I am enjoying it. I myself am in the Reformed camp when it comes to soteriology, but I am not the type of person who cries heretic when I see an Arminian walking down the street. With that all out of the way, we’ll start by taking a look at the construction of this Bible.
The most important physical feature of this Bible is the sewn binding. I verified with Holman that in fact, this does have a sewn binding. You can see here how the binding bends in the spine wherever it is opened. A sewn binding bends and the Bible can open flat because the pages don’t have to bend around a fixed glued point. The pages are also set up in journals and stacked before they are sewn to binding straps (tape)
With this method of binding comes some added expense to the consumer, but in my opinion it is well worth it for durability and usability. The pages don’t fall out of the front or back of the Bible as easily with a sewn binding.
The leather they use here is supple with a good grain.
It just drapes over your hand.
Here you can see it rolled up on itself.
I don’t usually treat Bibles like this, but I wanted you to get an idea of how well bound this one is. Most large study Bibles will fall apart if you do this with them. Because of the sewn binding and the quality cover this Bible is going to last a long time. It has a lifetime warranty from Holman.
The inside cover does not appear to be lined at first glance, but upon closer inspection you can see that it is lined with some very flexible material that doesn’t crease like the normal vinyl and card paper you typically see. I like that feature a lot. It makes the outer cover that much more enjoyable.
The Bible has two ribbon markers. One is kind of a gold color and the other is black. They used good heavy ribbons instead of the thin cheap ones that fold up and crease.
Another part of the binding process I truly appreciate is the first page being glued in further up and away from the gutter, keeping it more securely locked into the cover.
As you can see the pages are edge gild. The spine is gild as well.
If you are like me you may be curious as to what exactly makes those pages so shiny. I always thought it was gold leaf. I e-mailed Holman and they referred me to their expert. He told me that it is actually a gold colored foil made from colored aluminum particles. The page edges get sanded and then the foil is rolled on. The heat that is generated by the sanding process makes the inks that are printed on the pages sticky. So that is why the pages stick together. Here is a link to a video that they sent me showing how the machine works;
When I received the Bible it was packaged in a retail box. It got banged around a bit during shipping and one of the corners of the cover was a bit bent.
This Bible is a double column format with center column references. It is a black text edition. The font looks to be a 9 pt. font. It is printed clearly with good contrast. The ghosting is minimal even though the pages are very thin. This Bible is made here in the U.S.
I think the blue headings and chapter numbers are a nice touch. The reference chapter and verse numbers are also in blue. It seems to make them easier to locate for me. You can also see there is a colored band separating the text from the study notes at the bottom of the page. The inside of this band is utilized for more references. It is all quite readable and there is a plethora of information.
In the picture above you can see one of the word study boxes in the lower left of the page.
In the picture above you can see one of the colored maps that is spread throughout this Bible in addition to the typical maps at the back.
These closeup pictures should give you an idea of how clearly the text is printed.
The page margins are pretty good sized as you can see in the picture below. They look to be about 9/16ths of an inch.
I can’t get over how many full colored features this Bible has. It is chocked full of stuff. This could be distracting if you are just wanting to read, but if you are studying it could add a number of side studies to your use.
I know that there are people out there like me who like to see as much as they can before they plunk a chunk of change down on a purchase so I’ve included a photo gallery at the bottom of this review so you can see the features for yourself. There are book introductions, outlines, topical concordance, presentation pages, records pages, lined not pages, one and three year reading plans, word studies, essays, and on and on and on. This isn’t a cheap Bible. It is a good value for all of the features and the quality binding. You are getting what you paid for here. I hope you enjoyed the review.
Here is a link to this Bibles page on Christianbook.com where it can be purchased.
This list of features comes from the Christianbook.com page for this Bible. I noticed that some of the features listed there were different from the ones listed on the Holman site. I think the Christianbook.com list might be more up to date.
Top-quality black cowhide binding
Online access to the HCSB Study Bible and Bible study resources
408 word studies
More than 100 photographs
59 timelines
59 maps
24 articles on practical and theological issues
Feature-length article on how to reaed and study the Bible
16 illustrations/reconstructions
15 charts
Four-color presentation pages
Two-column text setting
Center column references
One-year Bible reading plan
Topical subheads
Black letter text
Gold page edges
Lined pages for personal notes
Presentation page
Two ribbon markers
9.75″ x 7.00″ x 2.00″
The following information is from Holmans site.
Format: Cowhide Leather
Number of Pages: 2304
Vendor: Holman Bible Publishers
Publication Date: 2010
Dimensions: 9.75 X 7.25 X 2.00 (inches)
ISBN: 1586404571
ISBN-13: 9781586404574
Availability: In Stock
References: Center Column
Text Layout: Double Column
Text Color: Black Letter
I was looking for a nice compact Bible to carry with me at work. Most of the Bibles I found were not of good enough quality. They would not withstand daily use and carry. I wanted one that had a smyth-sewn binding and was covered in genuine leather. While scouring the usual online retail sites I kept finding the same low priced compact Bibles. Don’t get me wrong, for the price a person could afford to replace them when they fall apart, but there are other problems with inexpensive value Bibles. The paper is usually not Bible paper, the font is not printed sharply and clearly, the Bible is put together in China or Korea where the workmanship isn’t as conscientious, The Bibles are stiff and by the time you brake them in they are falling apart, the bonded leather cracks and swells, the bindings come unglued and pages start falling out, and so on. If you are like I am you’d rather spend a few extra dollars and get a Bible that will become an old friend, or something you’ll be able to hand down to loved ones when you pass. Something that you would have used so often that it takes on your scent and the wear and tear you cause remind your loved ones of your love for God’s word. Maybe it will inspire them to open it up and read it as well.
So with all of that in mind I did a search for, “compact smyth-sewn Bible” and found out about a Bible publisher called, “Trinitarian Bible Society.” We’ll refer to them as, “TBS” for the rest of the review. I tried to visit their web page, but to my surprise it was closed for business due to it being Sunday. This was a pleasant surprise and caused me to become even more curious about them. I did some research and found this little gem.
It is the TBS PS31UTZ/BK Royal Ruby Text Bible
in black genuine calfskin leather
with a zipper,
thumb indexes,
gold gild page edges,
spine,
and Holy Bible on the front cover,
metrical Psalms,
two ribbon markers,
presentation page,
dictionary of King James era words,
reading plan,
Bible paper, set by jongbloed and printed in Belarus,
and in the Authorized King James Version.
I’d like to take a bit of time here to tell you a little about TBS. They are a ministry based in England. They use the money they make off of the sales to provide Bibles to those who can not afford them. They only print the Authorized King James Version, so if you want a different version you might try Cambridge. I sent them an e-mail and asked for a review copy. They sent one gratis with no strings attached.
I really like the size of the Bible.
It’s cover is a bit stiff as it is glued to card paper and then lined with vinyl. The grain of the leather is pretty defined so that makes it easy to hold on to.
The zipper is sewn to the semi-yap cover. It does a good job of protecting the pages.
The Bible feels like it is going to break in nicely. It looks like it is put together well. It fits in my hand easily and it is light weight enough to hold for long stretches of time. The Bible having a zipper makes this Bible able to survive my B.D.U. pants pockets. I don’t have to worry about it opening up and having the pages get wrinkled, bent, or mutilated. The genuine calfskin is pretty tough so it is protected from getting scratched of torn. The font is a bit on the small side at 6.5 point, but it is a compact Bible.
If you have descent vision it shouldn’t be a problem. Mine is about 20/25 and I can read it fine. I didn’t notice any production errors or defects. The Bible came packaged in a cardboard box packed in foam packing shells.
The Bible itself was in a cardboard sleeve, neatly wrapped in clear plastic.
One might save the cardboard slip case for storage purposes. Unlike the card paper sleeves that many value Bibles come in this case can provide a service to the owner rather than being thrown away.
Snyder's Soapbox 