Womans Study Bible

Thomas Nelson

I spent a lot of time trying to find just the perfect woman's bible for myself. I sat at the bookstore pouring over the different options and found one thing in common throughout them all -- they are fluff! There was no depth, nothing for the serious woman of God to study.

I know there is a market for easily digestible Bibles out there. There are many women who are new or young in the faith who need milk instead of meat. But there has to be an option for those women who are looking for something deeper to help them grow in the Lord. Real food.

Then I happened upon the Woman's Study Bible from Thomas Nelson. It is a beautiful bible, physically, but that aspect of it pales in comparison to its contents. The study notes are not only thorough and many, but they are specifically geared towards the interests and concerns of women (not in a pandering or militant sort of way) and then in addition there are regular devotionals/studies throughout the Bible that focus (in a VERY balanced way) on various topics of faith, life, doctrine, etc. as well as female characters in the Bible.

As with any good study bible there are many diagrams, charts, and other helps to aid the serious reader with their understanding of biblical concepts/events.

I love this bible and I love it in this format. It is very portable and readable anywhere. I do wish the paper was a bit thicker, but then again, then the Bible would be quite a bit thicker which would take away from its convenient size.

Well done, Thomas Nelson, thanks for updating your Womans Study Bible (the original edition was good too, but not nearly as nice as this one) and for producing a product that acknowledges the dignity and desire for study of your female audience.

(posted by iPhone)

The Expanded Bible

Published by: Thomas Nelson

Okay, so unlike “The Voice” New Testament which I recently reviewed, The Thomas Nelson Expanded Bible is NOT a devotional bible. At least, not if you’re easily distracted.

This is best described as an amplified Bible and the amplifications are great. Very helpful when studying, though hard to just sit down and read.

Case in point, Romans 1:1: “From Paul a servant [slave; bondservant] of Christ Jesus. God called me [L…called] to be an apostle [messenger] and chose me [set me apart; appointed me] to tell the Good News [Gospel].”

I reviewed the electronic version of this Bible and I can say that it is definitely not the easiest e-reader Bible I’ve tried to navigate, but its not the worst either. There’s got to be a better way…oh wait, there already is! Why can’t the publishers settle on an efficient way to make it so us avid e-readers can enjoy the Bible on our devices I just can’t understand…

I think I would have enjoyed the hardcopy version – it’d be a great resource to have on the shelf or take to a Bible study. But as an e-reader? Not so much. Devotional Bibles are great on an e-reader because you can just read through them page by page, but when you’re trying to study the Bible, you’re often going from book to book, chapter to chapter. To have to go back out to the Table of Contents each time and labouriously go through the process of getting to the reference is a real chore.

Get the hardcopy. If you like the Amplified, you’ll like this.