NLT STUDY BIBLE BLTH BLACK (Bible Nlt) [Leather Bound]

I have to admit, I've been so sickened by the quality of bibles being foisted on the public, that I had about given up. Please, folks, don't buy so-called bonded leather bibles because if you mark in them and actually use them, they fall apart. I'd say in the last year I've gone through about a dozen bibles, some even marketed as genuine leather, but were still cheap, glued together, and printed in Columbia or South Korea or other countries other than the United States. Avoid those products like the plague.

Now, for the NLT bible I just received. First the one negative thing, then on to the good stuff. This is a genuine leather bible, but the quality of the leather leaves a little to be desired. It'll pass, but it could have been a little better.

For the positive features, well. what can I say!! The bible is excellent, and what outweighs the quality of the leather, is that it is SMYTH SEWN. Now I have a bible that will last a life time, and before I bought the bible I emailed Tyndale and asked them about their bible. I told them I was sick of all these foreign printed bibles that are glued together and fall apart almost immediately. The customer service person responded in a short time and went over the features of the NLT bible.

For the first time in over a year, I was not disappointed when the bible arrived. If you like the NLT, don't waste your money on the TuTone, like-leather (it isn't, and lasted about two weeks before the binding came apart), and most certainly DO NOT BUY bonded leather because they are a waste of money. Invest a little more and get quality.

I love the NLT, and the study notes in three columns at the bottom of the page. At least the NLT was honest enough to include the words that were changed, and the passages left out, and put them in the notes.

The modern translations are based, in my humble opinion, on corrupted manuscripts. They use the stuff from Westcott and Hort, and from Nestle and Aland and the United Bible Societies. While I don't believe there was anything nefarious by these people, I believe they should have stayed with the tried and true manuscripts. Yes, some manuscripts were more ancient, but they were ignored for a reason. Those manuscripts don't even agree with each other, and they make over 5,000 changes from the KJV. The OT is fine, it's the NT where the changes occur.

Mark my words, bibles in the near future are going to go back to the Majority Texts, the texts the KJV was based on.

That being said, the NLT reads really well. I have compared it with the NASB (stilted), the NRSV (not bad, but honest by including in the footnotes the changes they made), and NKJV, which keeps what the other translations change, in the main body, but has the aggravating footnotes at the end of practically every chapter saying something like "NU omits this," or "more ancient manuscripts read this," etc. After a thousand or two of those it gets annoying.

When I read the NLT it is so smooth and easy to read. I absolutely love it. Now, when I do my studying and looking up passages, I keep my OT and NT "Word study" volumes by Spiros Zodhiates, ThD handy. If I run across a passage that I think has been changed too much, I write the KJV passage in the margin. That way, I have as accurate a translation you can get. Sorta the best of both worlds.

I truly love the NLT. However, no matter what version you buy make sure of three things: 1. it must be genuine leather. 2. it must be symth sewn, and 3. it must be printed in the United States. I am very experienced with bibles, and take my word for it. If you make sure of those three things, you will have a bible that lasts a lifetime.

I am a mature Christian and did a lot of research on study Bibles, and this Bible seemed to have a lot of good reviews. I wanted to try to the New Living Translation as well. The Bible has turned out to be excellent for the following reasons:

1) Quality of the materials is high
2) Very good layout that is very readable
3) Excellent chapter overviews and notes
4) Other useful study resources (cross references, maps, etc.)
5) Just like the New Living Transaction - a dynamic transaction that reads well, is literal where called for, and more translative where needed to make things more clear/understandable

My past study Bibles included the NIV Scofield Study Bible, which I also like very much, and the Ryrie Study Bible. The NLT Study Bible is truly excellent and is helping me with my Christian walk.

The NLT translation is great for understanding the written word. The leather is stiff, but bendable pigskin. Smyth sewn binding is great for durability. Very good bible.