NASB Thinline Bible

Rating:
Summary: Paragraphs! Finally!
Review: Finally somebody has made an edition of the NASB in paragraph format! It's so much easier to read. Plus, this Bible is sturdy and lightweight, and about the size of a journal or sketchbook. It also has color maps and a concordance. It's nice, I like mine.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific translation and a great edition
Review: It astonds me to see that there are no other reviews of this particular edition of the NASB yet, as I have found not only this translation to be a wonder, but this particular edition to be, quite frankly, one of the best editions of the NASB out there.

The New American Standard Bible is, according to many religious leaders and experts in the fields of the original languages, the most literally accurate translation, true to the greatest precision to the exact words of the most reliable Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek manuscripts. Still, not only is it the most literally accurate translation, but this, especially in its newly updated form, is a very easily comprehended translation. No, it is not always as fluid on the tongue as some of the dynamic-equivalent translations, nor even the beautiful "essentially" literally accurate English Standard Version, but it is still a very understandable and well-worded literal translation. And to capture the word-for-word meaning of the original text in English is a miraculous wonder. This Bible has been embraced widely among religious leaders and theologians, prominent pastors, and others, and is gaining praise even among the lay circles. Not only is this a fully literal and readable translation, it is a very conservative translation, sticking to the widely accepted literal meanings of the words without interpretive influence. This is a translation good for anyone who really loves to throw themselves deep into the Word of God and get all that's worthwhile from it.

Above, I mentioned the beautiful, yet still literally accurate, English Standard Version (a recent 2001 literal translation from a team headed by J.I. Packer which is rapidly gaining popularity). The ESV is a superior version, in my opinion, but there is a lack of great outside resources available to complement and enhance it right now, in contrast to the long-time trusted NASB, which has a bounty of helps designed specifically for it from the Lockman foundation and Zondervan.

This edition is very worthwhile because it is compact, yet very high-quality. Zondervan, most famously noted for publishing most editions of the NIV bibles also now has secured rights to publish the NASB. This thinline edition is of remarkable quality, is quite durable (unlike some of the previously released NASB bibles from Foundation Publication and World Publishers) and also has a feature not found in many NASBs: paragraph formatting. This NASB is divided into paragraphs like the NIV and other popular translations, instead of verse-by-verse such as most NASB and King James bibles. This allows you to freely read and enjoy smoothly the rich literal accuracy of the New American Standard Bible.