Review: The Essential Evangelical Parallel Bible

Last week the shipment from Christianbook.com containing The Essential Evangelical Parallel Bible arrived. With it my search for the "perfect" Bible came to an end -- or at least until something better comes along. It is available (as far as I know) only through Christianbook.com.

It isn't obviously, "perfect," but it comes fairly close. I use QuickVerse on the computer but what I've been finding is that the computer screen, no matter what the marketing materials say, is not always the best way to read and compare multiple Bible translations. I've also never gotten used to taking notes on the computer version. The few times I did, the notes got lost and I couldn't find it. (Was there a "save" button somewhere...?)

Printed Bibles, even if they are as big as a parallel Bible, are still more portable than a laptop PC: printed Bibles don't need electricity or batteries; notes don't get lost into digital ether; there is much more text that can be shown and the eyes to take in with a single glance; and sometimes, locating passages while bookmarking ones you want to return to is much easier with a printed Bible.

The Essential Evangelical Parallel Bible (EEPB) was most recently updated in 2007 and in its selection of the four translations, includes three very recent ones: English Standard Version, New Living Translation 2nd ed., and The Message. The other translation is the New King James. Also included in the preface are several introductory papers on the types of translations and why it is useful to have multiple ones.

I was looking for a parallel Bible that contained at least the ESV and the NLT. TMSG was a desirable feature, but not strictly necessary. In the EEPB I finally found the right combination. Instead of the NKJV, I would have preferred the New International Version or Today's New International Version, but alas, that was not to be. And (currently, as of this writing) at $40, I think this was a very good deal.

While reading and comparing, I discovered how many of the translation footnotes differ between the translations. This is actually quite helpful because I am able to get an even better sense of the ambiguities in the manuscripts and choices made by the translators.

The font size is fairly small. This is of no handicap to me (at least not yet) because I've always preferred really, really tiny print, even when I write my own text. But for those who prefer larger print, this may be a nuisance.

I wish the margins were a little larger so that I could write in more notes. However, because there are four translations side by side, it is fairly easy to find some whitespace in which to jot down tiny notes.

I also think that a cross reference system from one of the translations, if included, would have been useful. But I suppose that would have turned an already large Bible into an even larger one.

I heartily recommend the EEPB to anyone who needs or wants a parallel Bible containing some of the newest and (IMO) best translations of the English Bible.