This Christmas, before tearing into the presents, we gathered around to read Luke 1-2. And for this, of course I had to break out my nice Cambridge NJKV. Here is an unpublished piece I wrote about it in '09 after making the decision to buy it.
If our Lord was worthy of Mary's spikenard, His Word is worthy of more than neon pleather.
If our Lord was worthy of Mary's spikenard, His Word is worthy of more than neon pleather.
So I've done it, I've bought a really fine Bible. This is my first worth more than $100, and wow - what a difference. The wide margins allow for plenty of note taking with my Pigma Micro pens, and even though it makes this masterpiece look a bit Sesame-Streetish, I color code my notes along certain themes [simple things for simple minds]. The binding is smyth-sewn, so it can be rebound and last several centuries if not abused. I'm looking forward to pouring over it, filling its margins w/ comments, wetting the fine India paper with my tears, and then passing it along to one of my sons to continue the process when I'm a pile of bones awaiting the final resurrection.
I had been in the market for this exact Bible when I found it on eBay for 1/3 cost of retail so I bought it and am very glad for it ... in fact, it's the opposite of "buyers' remorse" ... the more I use it, the more I appreciate it. If you're in the market for an heirloom-quality Bible, I highly recommend Mark Bertrand's site: Bible Design and Binding. He's a Bible connoisseur and his recommendations were the basis of my choice [especially his comment that holding this supple Bible was like trying to hold a puddle of water in your hands]. My son observed as I was reading it to him last night, that: 'Daddy, you would be really sad if a bear or something ripped your Bible, wouldn't you?'
In Martin Luther's Day, if a man wanted to own a Bible of his own, he had to pay the equivalent of 2 years' average wages to buy one [if he was able to find a seller/printer]. What an indescribable blessing that we can amass a collector's 'stack' of them - half a dozen translations -at the cost of maybe a week or two's wages. It's enough to make a postmillennialist out of even the most purse-lipped Calvinist.
[photo: Mark Bertrand]
I had been in the market for this exact Bible when I found it on eBay for 1/3 cost of retail so I bought it and am very glad for it ... in fact, it's the opposite of "buyers' remorse" ... the more I use it, the more I appreciate it. If you're in the market for an heirloom-quality Bible, I highly recommend Mark Bertrand's site: Bible Design and Binding. He's a Bible connoisseur and his recommendations were the basis of my choice [especially his comment that holding this supple Bible was like trying to hold a puddle of water in your hands]. My son observed as I was reading it to him last night, that: 'Daddy, you would be really sad if a bear or something ripped your Bible, wouldn't you?'
In Martin Luther's Day, if a man wanted to own a Bible of his own, he had to pay the equivalent of 2 years' average wages to buy one [if he was able to find a seller/printer]. What an indescribable blessing that we can amass a collector's 'stack' of them - half a dozen translations -at the cost of maybe a week or two's wages. It's enough to make a postmillennialist out of even the most purse-lipped Calvinist.
[photo: Mark Bertrand]
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