What study bible ?

hey, i actually posted a thread with this similar topic a wile back, i couldent find the thread. So i made a new one. Since i have to order my bible, i cant see one or hold one before i paid for it and received it, so this opens up a big chance for disappointment. And since i am not loaded with money, i rather be "happy" with i buy....

so......

I have a bible, a very nice KJV and I am very happy about it, and feel blessed to own such a good copy or his Holy word, now this is a reference bible and it is great, but i would like an other bible, i am leaning at NKJV or the NIV, not that i see them as better translations, but i want another bible to help me further see things and to help me dig a little more.

now i am leaning towards a NKJV Thompson Chain made by Kirkbride, anyone own a copy of this bible or seen one?

and anyone may please post what kind of study bible you have and its "pros" and "cons"

what you like,dislike about it and so on. Many thanks from sweden

Christian

I've been digging into the Word with a KJV/NLT parallel and having a wonderfully blessed time doing so. It's really been a pleasure especially reading through some of the more obscure passages in the historial, poetical and prophetical sections of the OT. See, you've got the dear King James on one side, the modernly smooth and dynamically accurate New Living Translation on the other, and the Holy Spirit presiding over it all. I've personally found this to be a wonderful receipe for progress...but to each their own, I suppose. People get funny when it comes to different translations on the Word of God, and though admittedly, some are horrendous, with an unbiased attitude and an aptitude to increase in light and knowledge of Jesus, the Lord will show you that there are other excellent resources out there alongside the KJV, and God can use them to elucidate deep truth in our spirits if our consciences are clean and pure. We should find relaxing pleasure in God's Word; God will open it with pleasure to them that [i]find[/i] pleasure in it.

Brother Paul

p.s. All this with a strong cup of coffee is the icing on the cake! Try to get comfortable when reading the Word. I've found the most amazing treasure discoveries have come while relaxing on my futon with the Bible.

Hi Christian,

One thing I've noticed about study Bibles is that the fewer the contributers, the higher the bias when it comes to scripture interpretation. (More about this later).

So here are the study Bibles I currently own (in order from "milk" to "meat":

Life Application Study Bible (Available in NLT, NIV, KJV, NKJV)
PROS: Feature packed! Maps, verse-by-verse commentry, key character profiles. As the title suggests, this Bible puts an emphasis on the personal applications of the text in your own Walk. I usually recommend this for New Believers.
CONS: Not much theology, probably not best for exegetical study.

The Reformation Study Bible (ESV)
PROS: This is RC Sproul's ministry, Ligonier Ministries, own study Bible. Verse-by-verse commentry, articles about the essentials of reformed theology at introductory level.
CONS: Probably not so relevant for non-calvinists (though good if you're interested in learning). Leans towards presbyterian theology (e.g., paedobaptism vs credo).

Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible (NIV)
I'll put this on a par with the Reformation Study Bible. This one has a bigger list of contributers, but it's main feature is that it contains within it as an appendix the confessional documents common to the reformed traditions (e.g. the Westminster Confession plus Catechisms, Canons of Dort).

Last but not least, a drumroll for...

The MacArthur Study Bible (NKJV, NASB)
PROS: Johnny Mac!!! John MacArthur's 30 years of expertise packed into a single volume. His own verse-by-verse expository commentry, excellent index/concordance, maps, book introductions, plus articles on the inspiration of scripture, signs of true conversion plus Grace Community Church's faith statement. This is my personal "weapon of choice".
CONS: As great an achivement as this is on MacASrthur's part for which he should be commended, this is a "one-man show", hence you will see his own biases come through e.g., I'm charismatic in my view of the Holy Spirit, hence I disagree with his commentry on Acts and 1 Corinthians, though it does give food for thought. He is also dispensationalist and pre-trib in his view of end-times. On a more practical level, the harcover is a bit heavy to carry around.

Has anyone got Jack Hayford's study Bible?

PaulWest wrote:
People get funny when it comes to different translations on the Word of God, and though admittedly, some are horrendous, with an unbiased attitude and an aptitude to increase in light and knowledge of Jesus, the Lord will show you that there are other excellent resources out there alongside the KJV, and God can use them to elucidate deep truth in our spirits if our consciences are clean and pure. We should find relaxing pleasure in God's Word; God will open it with pleasure to them that find pleasure in it.

Brother Paul

p.s. All this with a strong cup of coffee is the icing on the cake! Try to get comfortable when reading the Word. I've found the most amazing treasure discoveries have come while relaxing on my futon with the Bible. .

Yes, I to can see some translations as "bad" in more then one sense, but as you say, if used in a right way it can bring more light. I like the fact that Zac Poonen uses the message when he feels that version expresses a passage clear,

I am thinking of getting the life application NLT version, i will pray and do some more research on it, I figure this will be a good buy, And i home I may "glean" some things further through the Spirits "pressing on it" as bro Paul said :-) But maybe i will change...i remember last time, I was set on a bible with commentary and was going for the nasb MacArthur, After praying and carefully searching, i ended up with a KJV reference bible without notes in it :-) but ohh what Joy i had from it!

Sometimes in spiritual matters ive noticed less is often times more.... ;-)

I am thinking of getting the life application NLT version, i will pray and do some more research on it, I figure this will be a good buy, And i home I may "glean" some things further through the Spirits "pressing on it" as bro Paul said

I use the People's Parallel Bible for this. I don't mind admitting that I read and glean from the NLT, and neither should you! In fact, if you want to get a "bird's eye view" of a particular book, it is good to read the book over and over again in the NLT. I can't say enough about how helpful a practice like this is. Of course, once you get a good "bird's eye", then you can go into a word-by-word study with either an NASB or KJV. You wouldn't use the NLT for this work, just as a cardiologist wouldn't use a butter knife during an operation.

Brother Paul

yes, I just really want to know the Lord :-) and i feel blessed to have such opportunity to own more then one version of the word, A brother told me, and i concidered it good advice, biblical that is...

"just one thing is needful, sitting at the Lords feet. All i want is to be a clean vessel, if i am clean and ready it may please him to use me one day for his glory, or he may just have me sit there doing nothing. It is up to him, I just want to sit at the Lords feet"

Timothy 2:21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.

I feel in my inadequate walk "limping" behind after the Lord, but with a heart that has such a desire for the Lord it is almost painful. I have a hard time express that in words.... I just want to know Jesus more and more day by day

alelujah!

And isent it a such a wonderful thing!

a bible....

a pen....

paper to write on...

an open heart and mind....

and then wooooooooom

the spirit shows you something!

and it is either joy unspeakable....

or dropping to your knees in tears....

or other times, it feels as you really dont understand the most simple thing in this book, its just closed to you, every word is like trying to swallow a refrigerator whole.... sort of

Acts 27:7 And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone;

sometimes my biblestudy feels just like that ! i think some of you know what i mean...

but i guess it is when we get past tease "obstacles" we see the greater truths...the deep things. One man said, if you got something easy in your christian walk(without pain, or suffering and hard work) probably aint worth much.

anywayyyyyy......

just some late night thoughts from sweden

your brother through the lamb of God

Christian

I own a NKJV Henry Blackaby study bible.
I love it!
Lot's of charector studys in it, and cross references with word study's on every page/.
a chaper will have a main theme, and a word study.
Cons. Im pentecoatal and he's baptist. But I love him and his understanding of scripture/

next:The Interlinear bible. hebrew/greek/english.
not a study bible, but has the original text with strong's numbers over each word for quick reference. a must have for studying.
Cons:big/heavy/

Lastly my favorite and really enexpensive.
The Word BIBLE Collection Suite
it contains 30 bibles, 19 commentaries & references.
125 maps, and a Jerusalem Photo tour.
and with a click of a finger you can read two bible versions at one time and then click on any commentary, and read what Matthew Henry has to say about, it.
You can read the KJV with a strong's word dictionary. As you read the scripture you can just click on any word thats highlited and it will take you the word definiton and word count, great for study.
it has John Wesley's commentary.
Matthew henry complete. 1706
Treasury of scripture knowledge
Matthew Henry consice
jamieson-fausset-Brown 1871
Geneva Study Bible 1599
Scofield Commentary notes 1917
Spurgeon's Morning and evening Devotional
John Darby's Synopsis of the New Testament
People's New Testament 1891
John Gill's Exposition for the New Testament 1887---LOVE HIM ALOT!!
James Coffman's NT Commentary

Check it out for only $20.00
ValuSoft
valusoft.com
the word bible collection suite

now i am leaning towards a NKJV Thompson Chain made by Kirkbride, anyone own a copy of this bible or seen one?

The old Thompson Chain KJV was my first serious Bible as a teenager and I am grateful for so much background information that I picked up almost without effort in using my Thompson.

The disadvantages are that as sections on archaeology have been added it is now bit overweight unless you have good strong wrists. It is now almost a full 2 inches thick. I preach from mine, holding it, but it probably really needs a lecturn for on your feet preaching.

The Thompson Chain NKJV has a very readable font with comfortable spacing around the words and letters. The paper is good and white and this makes reading a real pleasure. Some modern Bible have gone for big fonts but that doesn't always work. I think the NKJV Thompson has a really good font and spacing policy.

As with all 'study bibles' it really depends on what you are looking for and where you are starting from. If you have been on your pilgrimage for some time you may think some parts of a Thompson are superfluous but his charts and maps are great helps to getting the flow of Bible history.

For really detailed 'study' I doubt that anything will ever compare to the Newberry KJV; this does not provide much in the way of extra historical and cultural explanation but for in depth word studies it is brilliant. (beware there are 2 or three different versions. The most complete is one with a single column of text and margins on each side.)

[url=http://www.penfoldbooks.com/product/74/773]Newberry bible [/url] is quite "pricy" :-) but looks good and from what i found out about it it seems to be a good buy for anyone who want to "dig" a little

Thanks for those links. I had not heard of the Wide Margin edition. The [url=http://www.penfoldbooks.com/special.php]link[/url] shows clearly what I meant by the wide central margin with more narrow margins on each side.

The double wide margin edition shown here would need to be used at a study desk I think. To stand and preach holding one of these very wide books puts a lot of strain on the bindings, but margins for personal notes like these can be very valuable.

i just need to find a way to get it to Sweden :lol: otherwise it looks very good, you who owns one of these , cant you show us a verse? and what this bible can do for you.... what it offers such as comments or the other features, from what i understand it shows what the greek is saying much clearer?

There used to be an example [url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=175&forum=36]here[/url] but it looks as if it has gone missing. I provided it, I will see if I can find the original gif.

[url=http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26p%3Dnewberry%2520reference%2520bible%26fr2%3Dtab-web%26fr%3Dmoz2&w=559&h=794&imgurl=www.newblehome.co.uk%2Fnewberry%2Fbiblepenfold.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newblehome.co.uk%2Fnewberry%2Fpenfold.html&size=119.2kB&name=biblepenfold.jpg&p=newberry+reference+bible&type=jpeg&no=3&tt=4&oid=a16f6fd77b719488&ei=UTF-8]Here is one.[/url]

If I remember correctly Ron's was diagramed, but this one lets you see a page.

I own one. It is a great bible.

No, this wasn't mine but this shows some of its strengths.

I just bought the Thompson Chain NASB last week, and so far love it. Some might complain that the study notes being in the back of the bible is not as convenient as a Life Application(which I also am fortunate enough to have), but there is so much study material and reference in this bible. My dad suggested this, except his is the NKJV, and I think he said he has had his for 30 years, and was his sole Bible for preaching.

I sat down with the Macarthur Bible, the Thompson Chain, the Legacy, and a couple of other, and just compared them. Over all I went with the thumb indexed Thompson Chain. I think you will like it.

In Chirst

Jared

I am actually leaning towards the Newberry, I can see how this can be an increasing blessing the more language "skills" one learns with time.... but i am still in the "valley of decision" :-)

As you well know if you open your Newberry Study Bible you'll notice so very much is said that one can't possibly understand like: The Hebrew Conjunctions, many things like that, and even some plain ole English that i'm suppose to know. Just need some help.

So many have 'made a start' but then found it too complicated. In a sense it only needs to be as complicated as you want it to be. For example, I have very little Hebrew but I can still find many useful things in the Hebrew marginal notes. One of the great things about a Newberry is that if you are studying Greek at any level your Newberry will 'grow with you'.

I would recommend taking a passage scripture you know pretty well and working through a couple of verses at a time. Getting a hold of the Greek tenses is a good place to start and his geometric diagram of prepositions is very useful.

philologos wrote:

I have it in mind to create a Quicktime tutorial for using a Newberry Bible but it is pretty far down my list of projects.

So many have 'made a start' but then found it too
complicated. In a sense it only needs to be as complicated as you want it to be. For example, I have very little Hebrew but I can still find many useful things in the Hebrew marginal notes. One of the great things about a Newberry is that if you are studying Greek at any level your Newberry will 'grow with you'.

I would recommend taking a passage scripture you know pretty well and working through a couple of verses at a time. Getting a hold of the Greek tenses is a good place to start and his geometric diagram of prepositions is very useful.

will it help if I order a Newberry and say "Please" :-P

that what i figured also, it can become more useful with time since we learn more and more and so can this bible become more and more useful.

well they are willing to send it to Sweden :-) its just that how i used to live before coming to know the Lord has had a consequence on me being allowed to own a credit card, I can not buy anything that requires a credit card, i do have another company in Sweden that allows up front payment where i get most my books. But they require an isbn number....the newberry dont have one, or i cant find one at least.

But i am right now in "conversation" with a credit card owner here in Sweden( my mother ) :-) so i figured i pay upfront and she order for me , and i pray it get safe to me. So right now i am hoping on this....otherwise i will find a way brother.

can any of you dear brothers take out a ???? what do you call those things you measure with? :-) dont know the word in English...and measure the margin in the regular newberry bible. how wide is it ? is it 1/3 of an inch? then it should be enough for my small notes :-) and i do not need the wide margin

thanks for the inconvenience

Christian

The outer margins are about 1/2 an inch, but the inner margins where they come together and much less and I doubt that you would be able to use the inner ones for notes.

[url=http://library.dts.edu/Images/Sc/newberry.bible.1896.L.jpg]HERE[/url]
Is a picture from the 1896 printing i think, but it is two columns so this is not the same one as the penfold printing.

hi y'all its my first post in this forum.. i'd like to throw in a recommendation for the kjv life in the spirit study bible, it was formerly known as the full life study bible, the notes were written by a missionary named donald stamps, this bible is an amazing study tool, it has tons of articles, lots of commentary notes, and from what i was told was designed with pastors, missionaries and lay people all in mind, this is a bibleyou can take in the mountains or jungles church or streets and it'll be helpful to you. whether you're going to plant a church or sit by the fire and study this is one of the best bibles on the market. my pastor has many bibles, thompson chain, life application, king james study bible by nelson, ryrie, and about 14 other study bibles and he told me once he found the full life study bible he found a bible that was exactly what he was looking for, i've owned and do own several now, i have given them most away just because they are nowhere near as good as the life in the spirit study bible. its published by zondervan and made cheaper than some, but the quality of the study aids is as good as it gets..

welcome to the forum brother/sister? thank you fot your recommendation, It would be good if you introduced yourself officially here :-) and told us a little bit about yourself.

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewforum.php?forum=13&3835]welcome and intro[/url]

Just ask if there are some things you need help with,

Christian

I received my Newberry today, and I have just looked through it, and I realize it is a bible out of the ordinary... But there is so much! I can clearly see how one can draw much out of this bible the more one uses it and learns through the years.... Just get used to it will probably take some time, a good thing to print out or have a paper with all the different markings beside so one don't have turn page all the time, and I am now waiting for Ron's "Newberry Guide" :-P

Christian

I HIGHLY recommend the NKJV Thompson Chain Study Bible. Instead of commentators telling you what they think, the Bible actually creates topical chains you can follow throughout the Bible - so it speaks for itself.

For instance, if the context of the passage you are reading is about "love", there will be a little note off to the side listing a concordance number (there is a nice concordance in the back), and the reference to another verse on "love" further up in the Bible. You can follow a chain through the whole Bible this way and get a good overview of "love".

Additionally, I've never seen a Bible with as many nifty study helps in the back. There must be a few hundred pages of character studies, book outlines, concordance, archeological helps, prophecy fulfillment charts, miracles of Jesus charts, etc in the back.

I highly endorse the NKJV because it is more replete (for whatever reason) than Thompson Chains in other translations. In the concordance, the NKJV has more thorough listings of scripture references for any given topic than the other translations.

Anyway, it's a great Bible. If you buy it, be sure to study the little one page insert on how to use/understand the study system. I didn't at first and was missing out on many of the benefits.

Brian