The Original Pittsburgh Bible

The Original Pittsburgh Bible is a King James New Testament modified to reflect the local dialect of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.  The second person plural "you" has been replaced with "yinz."  Here's a sample:

And he saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make yinz fishers of men (Matthew 4:19).

You can see more of it on Amazon using their "look inside" feature.

Thanks to BR for finding this one.

The High-Definition King James Version of the New Testament

The High-Definition King James Version of the New Testament was copyrighted by Ted Rouse in 2012.  In a manner similar to the Amplified Bible, Rouse has inserted definitions into the King James text.  Here is Matthew 1:1:

The (book relating to) the (genealogy, manner of the birth, and coming into this world) of Jesus Christ (the anointed Messiah), who was the son of David, and the son of Abraham.

  In some cases, sentence structures were rearranged to fit modern usage.  Words in italics were added to clarify the meaning of certain phrases.  This is an expensive New Testament - $49 USD for the hardback on Amazon.  You can view a sample on Google books.

Thanks to JH for this version announcement.

The Bible Exchange

If you have visited the Bible Exchange, you might want to give it a look.  It is a new site to buy, sell and trade high quality Bibles.  Recently, they just removed seller fees and commissions on all auctions.  If you've got some good quality Bibles to sell, now is the time to reach others who also appreciate God's Word.

Shem Qadosh Version

The Shem Qadosh Version is another sacred name version.  It is the work of J. A. Brown.  It can be downloaded in PDF format here.  Here are some samples:

יהוה Elohim planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed (B'reshiyt 2:8).

 The book of the generations of ישׁוּע the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Avraham (Mattithyahu 1:1).

But when he had considered this, behold, a messenger of יהוה appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Yoseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Miryam as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is from the Set-apart Ruach (Mattithyahu 1:20).

Thanks go to JH for this find.

New Lutheran Bible translation: The Wartburg Project

The Wartburg Project is "a group of Lutheran pastors and professors who are working together to produce a new translation of the Bible."  They recently made a publication agreement with Northwestern Publishing House.  There is more information as well as a sample containing the passion history at the Northwestern Publishing House website.  The Gospel of Matthew and the Book of Psalms are available for the Kindle ($0.99 USD).  They hope to publish the New Testament and Psalms in 2017.  No date is set yet for completion of the Old Testament.

Thanks to NS for this version.

Psalms of Grace

Psalms of Grace contains the first 50 Psalms.  This work, by Justin Capdevila, is only available on iTunes. 


The description there is as follows:

 This volume is a resounding of the first 50 Psalms of the Old Testament from a New Covenant perspective. It is not a new translation or paraphrase, but partners with the passion of the original authors who looked forward to the abundant gift which we now have in Jesus Christ.




Here is a sample, Psalm 23:

 The Lord Yehovah is my shepherd. I shall not want, for He has fully satisfied me.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, He has lead me to still waters.
He restored my soul. He guides me on the path of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, for His name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for You are in Union with me. Your rod and Your staff, they protect me.
You have made me to feast together at Your heavenly table with all the most honorable ones. You have anointed my head with the oil of gladness, filling me with the fullness of Your Holy Spirit. My cup runs over with Your New Wine of intoxicating bliss.
Surely, goodness and grace shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the Celestial Heaven of Papa Yehovah for all eternity.

Twentieth Century New Testament

Many of you are familiar with the Twentieth Century New Testament.  The complete tentative edition came out in 1901 and is available here.  In 1904 a final edition was published and is available here.  There is a little more to the history, but that isn't important for this note.  What is important is something I have not noticed before.  While browsing through OpenLibrary.org, I happened upon an edition of the Twentieth Century New Testament published by Moody Press in 1961.  You can check it out of the Open Library at this page.  Readings don't match the editions I have, but the readings from my copy are included as footnotes.

International Children's Bible

The International Children's Bible is now available on Bible Gateway.  Thanks to Joshua Holman for finding this new electronic resource.

The Bible Exchange

The Bible Exchange is a new website where you can "Buy, Sell & Trade New and Used High Quality Bibles."  Part of the site is devoted to auctions of high quality Bibles.  The glossary explains all the terms used to describe Bibles.  I recommend reading it - it is well written and illustrated with clear pictures.  The site also offers new Bibles for sale, a place to list Bibles you want to trade, news about Bibles and reviews of Bibles.  The goal of the founders of the website was to provide a place where high quality Bibles can be bought and sold with honesty.  Too many have had bad experiences buying Bibles on other auction sites where they did not receive what they expected.  Now Bible lovers have a place to exchange Bibles!

Bible Giveaway Winner

And the winner is ... Neil Short. Or more accurately, Neil Short's daughter. Please send me an email with your address to receive her new Thomas Nelson NKJV Single Column Bible!

Another Queen Jane Bible

I just heard about this one this morning.  It is called the Queen Jane Bible.  I don't believe it has any relationship to the Queen Jane's Version by Douglas Rankin.  This one is by Peter Kelly who self published it on Smash Words.  He has replaced gender and names throughout the Bible, including God's name.  This will likely be offensive to most believers.  For instance in Matthew we find this:

1:22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lady by the prophetess, saying, 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a daughter, and they shall call her name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, Goddess with us.

NKJV Single Column: Thomas Nelson vs. Schuyler

I have lately been on the hunt for good single column Bibles in my favorite translations. One of those is the New King James Version. I read some excellent reviews about the Schuyler New King James Single Column Bible.  One review is by Mark Bertrand on his Bible Design Blog (the 2nd run of Schuyler NKJV) and on Beth Rhodes' Tresses' Other Corner (the 1st run of these Bibles). Both are excellent reviews and there is no need for repetition of their fine work here

Beth mentions that Schuyler NKJV single column Bible is a reprinting of Thomas Nelson's "but better." I decided to see for myself what "better" meant. My skill in photographing Bibles is negligible, but hopefully these will help illustrate some of the differences.

These Bibles have exactly the same layout.  There is no difference in page numbering or anything else.  The layout is by Blue Heron Bookcraft in Battle Ground, Washington.  The Thomas Nelson Bible is printed in the United States of America (printer isn't given).  The Schuyler NKJV was printed by Royal Jongbloed in Heerenveen, Friesland, Netherlands.  The main reason I considered the Schuyler after getting the Thomas Nelson was in hopes that it would be more readable.

Thomas Nelson (top) and Schuyler have exact same layout

I got the Thomas Nelson Bible first. Nowhere on the Bible does it mention the cover, although "Genuine Leather" is written on the box. Although the Bible is reasonably flexible, it feels more like bonded leather. I read that the Thomas Nelson Bible has a glued binding. I haven't been able to verify this.  I have to admit that I don't mind the feel of it in my hand. The Schuyler Bible is bound in soft goatskin and is very flexible. I LOVE the feel of it in my hand.   The Schuyler has a sewn binding (as do all Schuyler Bibles). Borrowing from Mark Bertrand's famous "Bible Yoga" style you can see that the Schuyler is more flexible.

Thomas Nelson (left) is less flexible.

Both lay similarly on a table.  The Schuyler has a larger margin in the gutter so there is less text curving.  Both have some trouble when you are the beginning or the end of the Bible.  When opening to Genesis or Revelation, the lighter side raises slightly off the surface. Perhaps both would settle down with use.

Both Schuyler (left) and Thomas Nelson have trouble laying flat.

When thumbing through the Bible I noticed the page edges on the Thomas Nelson are a bit rough.  It appears that they were cut poorly so the gilding didn't stick well.  It is also duller than the Schuyler. Also, the pages tend to fan out a bit right from the start.  I haven't been reading this Bible much at all yet, but already the pages fan out.  The Schuyler is art gilt red under gold.  The edges are smooth and shiny.  You can even see a bit of reflection of the ribbons!  The pages lay flat though I haven't leafed through this one as much as the Thomas Nelson.

Schuyler (bottom) has superior edging.

From another angle you can see bits of paper stick out from the page edges of the Thomas Nelson.  This is only on the bottom, so I don't feel those while thumbing through to find a verse.  Here you can also see the Schuyler is larger.  They took the same layout and increased the size.  On the right in this picture you can see where a small triangle of the Thomas Nelson cover corner sticking down.  It appears it wasn't glued properly.

Thomas Nelson (top) is smaller than the Schuyler

The Thomas Nelson Bible has a trim size of 8.4375 x 5.5 inches.  Schuyler's Bible measures 9.125 x 6.25 inches.  It doesn't sound like a big increase but it is noticeable when reading.  This is a key criteria for me in selecting Bibles.  I'll carry any size Bible if it is better for me to read.  In this picture you can also see the black genuine leather (Thomas Nelson) compared with the brown goatskin (Schuyler)

Thomas Nelson (top) and Schuyler

The increase in size made a noticeable improvement in readability.  I find the Schuyler is easier to read that the Thomas Nelson.  The Thomas Nelson has white paper which I thought I would like better.  I changed my mind once I compared it with the Schuyler's cream paper.  This is certainly subjective and your eyes may give you different results.  Here is a comparison of the two showing the slightly larger font.  Unfortunately, the page color doesn't show in my picture (TN on the right).  A problem with both Bibles is ghosting where the words on the back of the page show through.  The Schuyler may be slightly better but I am not certain.

Schuyler (left) has a slightly large font.

One problem I found with the Thomas Nelson (I wasn't able to get this to show in my photographs) was uneven print darkness.  The print on some pages was lighter.  This was noticeable when cross referencing or when flipping between two pages.  The lighter pages were still readable though it made the ghosting more troublesome.

If you like multiple ribbons, the Schuyler (right, below) wins here too.  I use differing amounts depending on the reading schedule I use.  This year my schedule works with 2 or preferably 3 ribbons.  This picture shows the similar layouts, the ribbons and perhaps you can see the difference in paper color.

Schuyler (right) has more ribbons.

As you can see, I do favor the Schuyler over the Thomas Nelson.  However, these Bibles are in two completely different classes.  The Thomas Nelson cost about $40 (USD) on Christianbook.com.  The Schuyler cost $190 (USD) on evangelicalBible.com.  If the Schuyler wasn't of superior quality there wouldn't be any reason for it to exist. 

I would still recommend the Thomas Nelson as an affordable single column reading Bible.  I do think it could have been executed better for the price range.  I have other Bibles in the same price range without these defects.  If you can afford the investment, the Shuyler is an excellent and much more readable upgrade.  It was worth the extra money for me.  I did find it more readable and believe I will use this often and long.  If ghosting is a problem for you, you make wish to wait until Schuyler releases the NKJV in their Quentel series.  I heard that it will be out in 2015-16.

Comparison Chart
Thomas Nelson (top)	Schuyler (bottom)
$40 (USD)	$190 (USD)
Genuine leather	Goatskin leather
glued binding?	sewn binding
somewhat flexible	very flexible
Trim size: 8.44"x5.5"	Trim size: 9.13"x6.25"
white paper	32 GSM cream paper
9 pt font	10.5 pt font
uneven printing	excellent printing
1 ribbon	4 ribbons
weak/faulty gilt	excellent red under gold art gilt
rough page edges	smooth page edges
Christianbook.com	evangelicalBible.com

If my review hasn't scared you off from the Thomas Nelson, here is a treat for you:  One lucky reader gets to have the Thomas Nelson Single Column Bible.  Please leave a comment with your name and BRIEFLY say why you want this Bible.  I will choose a winner next Saturday (2-28-2015).  I will post the winner's name whereupon you can email me with your address to receive your new Bible.