December 8, 2017

The Holy Bible: A Buyer’s Guide

This free eBook guides you through 33 different Bible versions

Walk through the religion section of any major bookstore, and you’ll see an amazing array of Bibles. The broad selection of translations—and the seemingly endless ways in which they are packaged—is without historical precedent. But for many people, it is also bewildering, if not frustrating. Rather than the “blessing” it could be, it may be off-putting. When faced with a host of adjectives like “new” and “revised,” thoughtful buyers might well ask, “What was wrong with the ‘old’ or ‘traditional’ or the ‘original’?”

Some publishers put out several translations, while others put out the same translations. And sometimes publishers put out one translation under numerous different titles. How can a buyer tell when a Bible is a different translation (or version) or the same old text in a new coat? Let expert Bible scholars Leonard J. Greenspoon and Harvey Minkoff guide you through the content, text, style and religious orientation of different Bible versions in the FREE eBook The Holy Bible: A Buyer’s Guide.

After providing some basic publication data for the Bible version being reviewed, The Holy Bible: A Buyer’s Guide offers a quotation from each version’s own introduction that highlights its distinctive features or accomplishments. The eBook then cites the same verses, Genesis 1:1–2, for each version and offers useful commentary.

The updated edition of this free eBook includes additional reviews of six Bible versions by Creighton University scholar and BAR author Leonard J. Greenspoon. Organized as Literal Translations, Non-Literal Translations (with Extended Vocabulary), and Non-Literal Translations (with Limited Language), these updates fit in seamlessly with the earlier format.

The Holy Bible: A Buyer’s Guide is far from the first such effort, nor will it be the last. What distinguishes this Bible guide from others is that it allows each Bible version to speak on its own behalf.