KJV/MEV Parallel Bible Review
The KJV MEV Parallel Bible from Passio places the two translations side-by-side to make them easy to compare. This is a great way to see the beauty of the King James Version next to a modern translation from the family of manuscripts. This adds clarity to the KJV with no loss of the traditional text. In this review, I’ll take a look at this parallel edition and see how well the two translations complement each other. This is a hardcover edition, ISBN: 9781621366409, made in USA.
Charisma Media 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.
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This Bible is available at (includes some affiliate links)
and many local Bible bookstores
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Table of Contents
Video Review
Materials
This edition is hard cover with a dust jacket. The cover itself is black with the title dry-stamped into the front and the title and logos stamped in gold on the spine. It’s glued and has no trouble staying open to any page.
The overall size is 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.25. It weighs 2lbs, 1.9oz. This is an excellent size, especially considering that it contains 2 complete versions of the Bible.
The paper is probably somewhere in the low-30s in GSM, but that’s just a guess. It’s white in color and has a slightly rough texture that makes it easy to grab and turn. It has no glare under direct light. It’s decently opaque. I didn’t find the text on the other side of the page to be distracting. The show-through is most noticeable where there isn’t text print, and the text doesn’t appear to be gray when there’s text print behind it.
Typography
The two translations are presented in a double-column layout. The MEV is placed in the left column while the KJV is placed in the right column. The KJV has a touch of gray behind it to stand apart from the MEV. The MEV includes section headings and translator’s footnotes. The header includes the page number in the center and the book name, chapter, and verse number in the outer margin. The text is separated from the heater with a dotted line. Each column has the name of the translation at the top.
The font is 7 point. It’s black-letter and it’s about a medium darkness. It’s highly consistent throughout. It seems to be printed with line-matching. It has around 10 words per line. The lines do seem a little tight, but that’s due to how small the font is. Each book starts on a new page.
The KJV includes italics for supplied words. It does not include paragraph markers (pilcrows) or translator’s footnotes.
The MEV’s section headings are printed in bold include parallel passages. The footnotes are keyed to the text with numbers. The footnotes are placed under the last verse in the MEV column.
Reading Plan
It contains a one-year reading plan with readings from the Old and New Testaments every day. Each month is shown on a separate page with the month at the top. The number of each day is printed as a heading and then the readings are placed under each day. It takes you through the Bible once per year.
Conclusion
The KJV MEV Parallel Bible is an excellent resource for comparing the KJV to a modern translation. I’d like to see the MEV printed in paragraph format. That would help inform the reader about the text of the KJV. Even though the text is on the small side, it is a sharp font and doesn’t have a lot of distractions.
It’s impressive that they were able to get two translations in a Bible of this size. Of course, this also makes the font on the small side. I’d love the see a version with larger print. Even a 9-point font would be great. I realize that would make it thicker, but I’d make that trade.
This is an excellent Bible for study, reading, teaching, and preaching (as long as you don’t need a larger print). I recommend the KJV MEV Parallel Bible to KJV readers that want a modern rendering of the Textus Receptus and modern readers that want to see how a modern translation compares to the KJV.
_________________________________________________________
This Bible is available at (includes some affiliate links)
and many local Bible bookstores
_________________________________________________________
Charisma Media 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.
I’d like to know if the words of Christ are in red. Thank you.