Bible Recommendations — Life With Nikita

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Hey, y’all!

If you are new to Bible study, you may be thinking, “There are 5 different types of Bibles to choose from?” - Yes, and even more than that, but don’t worry, I am going to let you know my top 5 Bibles to study.

1. The Jesus Bible

heIf you are brand new to reading the Bible, I recommend The Jesus Bible, in the NIV print. A lot of times, new readers (and seasoned readers) miss seeing Jesus in ALL parts of the Bible. The Jesus Bible does a great job pointing out where Jesus is in every book of the Bible, including Old Testament scripture - it really puts him as the focus throughout the entire book. A bonus to The Jesus Bible is that it also has wide margins for journaling (my favorite!).

2. A journaling Bible

I recommend a journaling bible - any version that you are comfortable reading, such as NIV or ESV. The reason I love journaling Bibles so much, is because it allows you to interact with the word in a deeper way than than reading alone. If you a verse stands out to you, highlight it and dig deeper - writing what the Holy Spirit is leading . It’s also a great way to go back and have a visual of your journey through the word with God.

3. The Amplified Bible

My everyday, go-to Bible that I use at church on Sundays is my Amplified Bible. This version was written to help the readers understand the meaning of scripture as it was written in the original language. The format is also really cool, because as you read, it lays out notes of the original meaning and how the verses are connected to other books in the Bible, while staying easy to read. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a link to my exact version, but here is another version without the note taking margins.

4. The Message Bible

My next recommendation is basically the opposite of the Amplified Bible - instead of picking each verse apart to gain original meaning, the Message Bible summarizes the text into everyday conversational English making it easy for the readers to understand. The version I got is split, one column is NIV and the next column is The Message. It’s a great way to read to word twice in order to help develop a deeper grasp.

5. The Chronological Bible

Many readers do not realize that the Bible is not laid out chronologically. You have your Old Testament that includes the law, history, poetry, and the prophets and the New Testament that includes the gospels, history of the church, letters, and the final prophecy. So, my last is not for the faint at heart - The Chronological Bible. I personally use this version in the Bible app because it can jump around so much - for example, you will start in Genesis, jump to Job, and then go back to Genesis. I will say, after completing a round of reading this Bible in a year, I felt that I learned so much more than reading book by book and in a random order. This Bible helps tie all of the stories together. A good plan is the Bible Recap. There is an introductory video before starting a new book in the Bible and a podcast that you listen to after every daily reading to “recap” what you read. I 100% recommend!