As a blogger for the the Tyndale blogger program, I had the opportunity to review a modern, yet well known and reliable translation of the bible, The New Living Translation NLT. In particular, these two copies were of the NLT is the iShine Bible, a pink, flexible pocket sized bible marketed for tween girls (ages 9-13) and a blue flexible pocket sized bible for tween boys . Believing in the importance of the Good News of the bible, and having faith that the bible is the word of God to the human race, I feel it is essential that the bible is translated into easy to read language that can be understood by all. It is a grave diservice to prohibit or condemn easy to understand translations of the bible as some cults and religions do. There is no reason whatsoever to maintain the antiquated opinion that only the King James version (or other proprietary or antique versions for that matter) have a monopoly on the word of God. After all the KJV is in of itself a translation. Regrettably, the antique English style of the KJV and many other older translations, although poetic, make it prohibitive for many to read and understand the bible's message. So what's the point of having a bible if one can not understand or appreciate it.
The NLT is among one of many respected modern English translations. What makes this iShine bible stand out from other NLTs is that this is a pocket sized bible intended for young girls and boys. There are three fully colored inserts within the bible text focusing on concepts such as: value, purpose and identity. Other than the colored inserts and the attractive duo-tone pink cover for girls and blue for boys, the text/ font size is extremely small and may be too intimidating for a young pre-teen reader. There are no graphics or helpful articles within the text either. Other than the small size making it easy to fit in a backpack or pocket, this bible in particular, is proabably not the best choice for a preteen/ teen. The packaging is appealing, but beyond that, the text is not presented in an appealing easy to read format- which is essential inj order to capture the interest of this age group. For a youne teen/ pre-teen, a study bible in a larger font would be a much better choice.
In general, the only downside to this casual translation is the fact that it may not be as literal as the original texts. But this is perfect for those who wish to have an easy to understand bible. I highly reccomend this translation. It is important to keep in mind that the text is somewhat of a paraphrase- a meaning for meaning, rather than a word for word translation. This bible is perfect for reading and for drawing close to the truths of God, but not exactly the best for an indepth theological study.Supplemetal study articles add indepth information for those readers who wish to have more knowledge. As a blogger I recieved a copy of this bible for the purpose of writing this review and the opiniosn expressed are my own- other than its small easy to carry size, this particular bible is not the most suitable for a young teen.
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