KJV Large Print Thinline Reference Bible, Filament-Enabled Edition

Tyndale provided this Bible in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions are my own.

_________________________________________________________

This book is available at (includes some affiliate links)

Amazon

Christianbook

and many local Bible bookstores

_________________________________________________________

Table of Contents

1. Video Review
2. Binding
3. Paper
4. Typography
5. Footnotes
6. References
7. Tyndale Verse Finder
8. Visual Overview of the Bible
9. Filament
10. Conclusion

Video Review

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Binding

I’m reviewing two covers: brown genuine leather and imitation leather. Each are Smyth sewn and have no trouble staying open to any page right out of the box. The genuine leather especially stays open easily. The overall size is 6 3/4 x 9 7/8 x 1″.

Brown Genuine Leather

The brown genuine leather has a smooth grain that looks to be natural. It has a little bit of color variation that looks better than normal genuine leather. It’s soft to the touch. It almost feels like cowhide to me. This might be my favorite genuine leather. The front has no printing. The spine includes Tyndale, Holy Bible, and KJV printed in gold at the top. The rest is blank. The liner is brown paste-down vinyl. It has one brown 1/4″ ribbon marker. It weighs 1lb, 13.3 oz.

Ornate Burgundy Leatherlike

This is a polyurethane (imitation leather) cover. It has a little bit of grain and color texture that makes it look elegant. I love the color. What makes it stand out is the ornate part of that name. A fancy pattern with gold lines and debossed lines create an ornate design on the front, spine, and back. The front includes Holy Bible and King James Version in the center. The back prints John 3:16 in the same location. The spine places the text in the center. The liner is a copper-colored paste-down paper. It has a burgundy 1/4″ ribbon marker. It weighs 1lb, 11.9 oz.

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Paper

The paper is thin, which isn’t a surprise considering this is a thinline. I’m not sure of the GSM, but it seems to be in the 20’s. It’s off-white in color. It does have a little more show-through than I’d like, but it’s still very readable. I expected the pages to be extra difficult to turn, but it wasn’t as bad as I expected. I preached from it a couple of times and had no trouble turning the pages most of the time. It is more difficult than Bibles with thicker paper, but that’s to be expected and I can still use it.

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Typography

The text is presented in a double-column, verse-by-verse format with a few interesting features. The header places the page number in the center and the book name and chapter number in the outer corner. Translation notes are placed after the last verse on the page on the right. Cross-references are placed under that. Section headings are in bold.

The font is 10-point. This is a red-letter edition. They’re not bold, but they are dark and easy to read. I’d call it a medium-to-dark in darkness. I haven’t noticed any variation in the print. It has around 10 words per line with enough space between the words and lines to make it comfortable to read. This is a highly readable setting.

It doesn’t have a poetic setting, but it does have a feature that improves readability. If a verse continues the sentence from the previous verse, it starts with a lower-case letter. Verse numbers are small superscripts. Footnotes are keyed to the verses with an asterisk at the end of the verse. This is the only distraction within the text. There are no cross-reference keys. Italics are used for supplied words.

It’s printed with line-matching, so the lines of text are on the same place on the page. This does improve readability. The show-through is minimal enough that it doesn’t make the text gray. I did find at least one page where the lines didn’t match.

It has extra space in the gutter to bring the text out of the bend. The text never bends out of view when reading or preaching like a thicker Bible would.

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Footnotes

The footnotes show the chapter and verse number, the word or phrase from the verse in italics, and the definition. There are lots of them on almost every page. They don’t include the translator’s notes. Instead, they focus on archaic words and phrases. I like that they’re inlcuded. This makes reading and studying the KJV easier and more productive.

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References

It doesn’t have an abundance of cross-references. I’d like to see a few more. Rather than specific verses, they tend to focus on larger passages. It does have a lot more in the Filament app. The lack of references in the printed Bible makes the app more important for study and sermon prep.

Here are a few example references to help you compare:

• Genesis 1:1 – Jn 1:1,2
• Deuteronomy 6:4 – x
• Isaiah 9:6 – x
• Matthew 28:16-20 – Luke 24:36-49
• Mark 12:28-34 – Luke 10:25-28
• John 1:1 – 1 Jn 5:20
• John 3:16 – Rom 5:8
• Acts 2:38 – x
• 1 John 1:1 – x

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Tyndale Verse Finder

The Tyndale Verse Finder is a 35-page topical index. It shows the main topic with sub-topics. The sub-topics display the reference and page number. This is an excellent tool for study and sermon prep without having to open the Filament app. This is also better than having a small concordance.

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Visual Overview of the Bible

The Visual Overview of the Bible includes maps, charts, infographics, etc. printed on thick semi-glossy pages. I like this better than just maps. They help provide insights on the biblical settings and events. Being visual makes them easy to use. They include:

1. World of the Patriarchs
2. The Plagues of Egypt
3. Exodus from Egypt
4. Israel’s Annual Calendar
5. Twelve Tribes of Israel
6. Kingdoms of Israel
7. The Book of Psalms
8. The Prophets
9. The Exile
10. The Ministry of Jesus
11. Prophecies of the Messiah
12. The First Journeys of Christian Leaders
13. Paul’s Missionary Journeys
14. The Old Testament in the New Testament Letters

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Filament

The Filament app is the study and devotional side of this Bible. It provides related content for the page you scan. Content includes study notes, devotionals, videos, interactive maps, and music. This is an excellent way to provide you with a ton of information while keeping the Bible cleaner and smaller than a Study Bible. It can easily be updated with new tools and resources. Like always, I recommend that you use the tools as reference and do your own study.

This makes the KJV Large Print Thinline Reference Bible, Filament-Enabled Edition a simple reference Bible while giving you access to more information than you could get in a study Bible. It would be extremely difficult to get this amount of information in a single volume and make it usable.

Install the app on your phone or tablet, scan the code on the first page to activate the Bible, and then scan any page to see the information that’s available. When you scan a page it shows the page number and chapter number with three links: Study, Reflect, and See.

The app is free and includes:

• 25,000 study notes
• 350+ videos
• 40+ maps and infographics
• 400+ profiles and articles
• 1,500+ devotionals
• Library of worship music

Study – this is the study notes from several Tyndale resources. Click the title you want and it opens those notes.

Reflect – this is a list of devotionals that you can read by scanning Genesis 4. They’re also from Tyndale resources and include the resource name at the bottom.

See – this includes videos, infographics, and interactive maps. They show the title, Scripture reference, and a featured image.

You can also navigate by hand. Double-tap the book and chapter name at the top and you’ll see navigation for the books and chapters. Click the green check and you’re taken to the options for that page.

You can adjust the font size, choose a light or dark theme, switch between Bibles, and see a tutorial. I found the app intuitive and it has a lot of resources to use.

The app isn’t compatible with my two Fire tablets. I installed the Google Play Store and downloaded the app, but the camera on either tablet would not scan the code to connect with the Bible. It does work with Android and iOS devices. It works great on my Galaxy S8.

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Final Thoughts on KJV Large Print Thinline Reference Bible, Filament-Enabled Edition

The KJV Large Print Thinline Reference Bible, Filament-Enabled Edition is an impressive Bible. It does have thin paper, but it’s still easy enough to turn pages and the opacity is enough to make it readable. I love the clean layout. I especially like the small letters at the beginning of verses that continue a sentence. The paper doesn’t feel cheap, even though it’s thin. I especially like the genuine leather and sewn block.

The cross-references and footnotes are not identified in the text. This keeps the text clean, but it does take a little more effort to know what verses have a reference and which portions of the text the footnotes refer to. I like the clean text, so I’ll make that trade. Since it does have asterisks to identify that a verse has a footnote, I’d like to see them attached to the words in the verses rather than at the end of the verses.

Having the translation notes and cross-references in one place and separating them makes both much easier to use. As a reference edition, it doesn’t have a lot of cross-references. The app does help to make up for this. I like the topical index and visual guide. They’re better tools than having a weak concordance and a handful of maps.

With the Filament app, this can be a study Bible, devotional Bible, and a video teaching Bible while maintaining a clean layout. Since it’s keyed to this Bible, study and devotional material are always available. The Filament app is a great way to provide external material. I’d like the ability to add my own notes and thoughts, and it would be nice to have an interactive reading plan that I could check off every day.

It’s only available in large print. The NLT edition is available in large and regular print. I’d love to have the KJV in regular print. This is extremely high on my list and would be a KJV that I’d carry. Having it in large print and regular size would make a great combo.

I preached from it several times and I never wanted to grab a different Bible. There are no distractions to make me stumble while reading from behind the pulpit. If I did see an archaic word that I wanted to define and there was an asterisk at the end to the verse, the word was defined in the footnotes. I found them easy to find without taking much time.

Unless you need thicker paper or tons of cross-references, I highly recommend the KJV Large Print Thinline Reference Bible, Filament-Enabled Edition to anyone that wants a clean text with easy access to tools on their phones and tablets.

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_________________________________________________________

This book is available at (includes some affiliate links)

Amazon

Christianbook

and many local Bible bookstores

_________________________________________________________

Tyndale provided this Bible in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions are my own.